Synchronous vegetation response to the last glacial-interglacial transition in northwest Europe

The North Atlantic region experienced abrupt high-amplitude cooling at the onset of theYounger Dryas stadial. However, due to chronological uncertainties in the available terrestrialrecords it is unclear whether terrestrial ecosystem response to this event was instantaneousand spatially synchronous, or whether regional or time-transgressive lags existed. Here weuse new palynological results from a robustly dated lake sediment sequence retrieved fromlake Hämelsee (north Germany) to show that vegetation change started at 12,820 cal. yr BP,concurrent with the onset of changes in local climate. A comparison of the Hämelsee resultsto a compilation of precisely dated palynological records shows instant and, within decadalscale dating uncertainty, synchronous response of the terrestrial plant community to Late-Glacial climate change across northwest Europe. The results indicate that the environmentalimpact of climate cooling was more severe than previously thought and illustrates the sensitivity of natural terrestrial ecosystems to external forcing.