If the trees burn, is the forest lost?

The paleorecord shows that ongoing change is the norm, not the exception. In the past, rapid climate change and positive biophysical feedbacks have led to abrupt shifts in ecosystem dynamics with profound consequences for the persistence of species, biomes and societies. While the characteristics of the shift depend on the intensity of the forcing, the intrinsic properties of the ecosystem, and the legacy of past events, its abruptness is scale-dependent. Scale-dependency might result in a divergence of the ecological and societal definitions of ‘abruptness’ and ‘change’, which has large implications for management.