Slow and fast drivers of the natural disturbance regime in Central European forest ecosystems

Our results indicate that important drivers of the disturbance regime can be influenced by forest management directly, but also underline that response times are likely to be slow. Furthermore, fast, inciting factors - although largely beyond the influence of management - have the potential to be used as early warning indicators of impending disturbance damage. Overall, disturbance regimes were found to be highly sensitive to both climate means and extremes, emphasizing the importance for improved risk management in forestry in the face of climate change.