Climatic and hydrological variability as a driver of the Lake Gościąż biota during the Younger Dryas

•July temp. dropped at the YD onset, then increased up to the Holocene onset.•There were four cold and four warm summer temp. oscillations during YD.•Seasonal contrast was higher at the AL/YD and YD/Hol. transitions than in mid-YD.•Water level fluctuations, TP content and winds also drove lake biota in the lake.•Lake ecosystem transition from the YD to Holocene took place in four stages. The Younger Dryas (YD) is a roughly 1,100-year cold period marking the end of the last glaciation. Climate modelling for northern Europe indicates high summer temperatures and strong continentality. In eastern Europe, the scale of temperature variation and its influence on ecosystems is weakly recognised. Here, we present a multi-proxy reconstruction of YD conditions from Lake Gościąż (central Poland). The decadal-resolution analysis of its annually varved sediments indicates an initial decrease in Chironomidae-inferred mean July air temperature followed by steady warming. The pollen-inferred winter-to-summer temperature amplitude and annual precipitation is highest at the Allerød/YD transition and the early YD (ca. 12.7–12.4 ky cal BP) and YD/Holocene (11.7–11.4 ka cal BP) transition. Temperature and precipitation were the main reasons for lake level fluctuations as reflected in the planktonic/littoral Cladocera ratio. The lake’s diatom-inferred total phosphorus decreased with increasing summer temperature from about mid YD. Windy conditions in the early YD until ∼12.3 ka cal BP caused water mixing and a short-lived/temporary increase in nutrient availability for phytoplankton. The Chironomidae-inferred summer temperature and pollen inferred summer temperature, winter temperature and annual precipitation herein are one of only a few in eastern Europe conducted with such high resolution.