Late Quaternary chironomid community structure shaped by rate and magnitude of climate change

Much is known about how climate change impacts ecosystem richness and turnover, but we have less understanding of its influence on structures. Here, use ecological metrics (beta diversity, compositional disorder network skewness) to quantify the community structural responses temperature-sensitive chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae) during Late Glacial (14 700–11 700 cal a bp) Holocene (11 bp present). Analyses demonstrate high turnover diversity) chironomid composition across both epochs; however, stayed relatively intact. Compositional skewness show greatest in Younger Dryas, following rapid, high-magnitude at Bølling–Allerød Dryas transition. There were fewer climate-related changes early mid–late Holocene, where was more gradual lower magnitude. The reduced impact could be due greater functional resilience provided by wider community, or replacement same functional-type taxa structure. These results provide insight into future rapid may alter communities suggest that while remain under rapidly warming climate, dynamics retain some resilience.