Flee or fight uncertainty: plant strategies in relation to anticipated damage

In order to cope with damage, plants have evolved a number of strategies. W e incorporate two of those strategies, compensatory regrowth and escaping d amage in time, into a mathematical model in an attempt to outline under wha t circumstances one or the other of these phenotypic traits will evolve. Es caping damage in time is accomplished by flowering and setting seeds at a p oint of time when the risk of damage is low, whereas a compensatory capacit y is made possible by activating a proportion of meristems that are left do rmant. Our analysis suggests that damage that is predictable in time will f avour phenotypes that flower late in the season and that have a good compen satory capacity. As damage becomes less predictable in time, a strategy tha t implies flowering as early as possible in the season and with no compensa tory capacity at all, becomes advantageous.