Stem responses to damage: the evolutionary ecology of Quercus species in contrasting fire regimes

* The ability of tree stems to recover from damage is critical for tree survival and may explain species distributions across disturbance regimes. Two primary responses to stem damage, decay compartmentalization and wound closure, act in concert to limit decay and pathogen spread. A previous study demonstrated a tradeoff between wound responses that varied with anatomical traits, but its wide taxonomic range made it hard to analyze responses in …