Recovery of European temperate forests after large and severe disturbances

As climate change progresses, there is increasing concern that large and severe disturbances may diminish the resilience of forest ecosystems and alter their recovery dynamics. We investigated recovery of temperate forests in Europe following large and severe disturbance events (more than 70 % canopy cover reduction in patches larger than 1 ha) that span a time since disturbance range of one to five decades. Across a ground-based plot network at 143 sites, featuring various forest types and management practices, subjected to 28 disturbance events, including windthrow, fire, and bark beetle, we studied post-disturbance tree density and composition, which are key indicators of forest resilience. We used this dataset to qualitatively assess forest recovery in structure and composition by comparing plot-level post-disturbance height-weighted densities with site-specific pre-disturbance densities. Additionally, we analyzed ecological drivers of post-windthrow tree density, including forest m..., , , ## # Recovery of European temperate forests after large and severe disturbances

The csv file \"Post_disturbance_recovery_dataset\" include all the data necessary to carry out the analyses performed in the manuscript that we are going to submit to the journal \"Global Change Biology\". Analyses include the statistical modeling of tree densities (i.e.response variables) after wind disturbances and their climatic, topographic and management drivers (i.e.explanatory variables); and the assessment of forest recovery in structure and composition, by comparing forest density and composition before and after the disturbance.

## Description of the data and file structure

The csv file \"Post_disturbance_recovery_dataset\" include plot-level data
to carry out the aforementioned analyses:

* \"site\" is the site identifier
* \"plot\" is the plot alphanumeric identifier
* \"Pre-disturbance management\" indicates the type of forest management
before the disturbance happened, it's a categorical varia...