The acceleration of global warming due to human activities has made the pace of tree evolution and adaptation a core concern of researchers and foresters. Researchers from INRAE, the ONF, the CEA and the universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Zhejiang (China) studied the evolution of oak trees in three French forests over the last three centuries, from the cold period of the Little Ice Age to the warming caused by human activities. Their results, published on 6 January in Evolution Letters, show that oaks evolve rapidly and can adapt to climatic changes in just a few generations. According to these findings, forest managers should shorten generations and promote natural forest regeneration to facilitate rapid stand evolution.