1. Trees must functionally respond to dynamic abiotic and biotic challenges in their environment. Heart rot decay is a common disease in adult trees in forests, but the functional responses of individual trees to rot is rarely quantified. 2. Here we tested the hypothesis that heart rot should impact the water status, as measured by water use efficiency, and stress and defense responses, as measured using transcriptomics in the ecologically and economically important tree species Acer saccharum. 3. We found that 5536 genes are differentially expressed between trees that have no decay and those that do have rot, while leaf water use efficiency was not related to the level of heart rot. The genes that were differentially expressed were annotated to core physiological processes and stress, plant-pathogen interactions and transcription factors and demonstrate a widespread functional genomic response to heart rot. 4. Heart rot decay is relatively common in adult trees in natural stands and while the functional consequences of this disease can be difficult to detect with a measure of water use efficiency, there are genome-wide changes in expression that provided detailed insights into how trees provide an initial and often sustain response to rot.

Seed-based restoration is the most efficient and cost effective method for restoration across large spatial scales but is often unsuccessful due to differences in species-specific requirements for germination and establishment. Application of smoke to enhance germination has been demonstrated across numerous plant lineages and ecosystems, although the majority of studies focus on Mediterranean vegetation types. In some cases, smoke exposure may also inhibit germination. Here, we experimentally test 203 species widely available on the North American seed market to evaluate their reponse to smoke application, measured as germination rate and germination fraction. We also evaluate the predicitive power of several plant traits in relation to smoke-induced germination, including life history, functional group, wetland status, native status, ecosystem type, seed size, and taxonomic class. Of the germinating species, 31% exhibited a significant response, with 20.4% stimulated by smoke and 10.9% inhibited by smoke. These responses were highly species specific, with hypothesized influential traits having little predictive power for smoke-induced germination. Our study represents a large sample of commonly used restoration species across North America and will inform strategies for seed mix treatments and future studies of this fire cue.