Tree growth recovery, resilience and resistance Following Lloret et al. (2011) three plot-level metrics based on changes in tree ring growth were calculated by comparing tree growth in a low-growth year to the mean growth in the preceding or following 5 years (depending on the metric). The year with the lowest growth across the regions was 2003, with the exception of Germany and Spain, where the lowest growth was in 1998 and 2005, respectively. 1998 and 2003 were known as drought years across Europe, with the exception of Spain where 2005 was a drier year. Resistance is the reversal of the reduction in growth during the drought. It calculated as the ratio of the growth during the low-growth period and the growth during the previous five year high-growth period. The larger the value the greater the resistance of tree growth to the drought. Recovery is the ability to recover growth rates relative to the decline in growth experienced during the low-growth period. It corresponds to the ratio between the post – drought growth and the growth during the respective low-growth period. The index is positive, with values less than 1 indicating a decline in growth after the episode. Resilience is the capacity of the forest stand to reach pre-drought growth levels, and is estimated as the ratio between growth after and before the low-growth period.