As temperature rises, fires in the western United States are (a) more frequent, (b) larger, and (c) comprising a higher percentage of severely-burned patches. As fire is the main disturbance initiating new stands in these western forests, it is not surprising we are already seeing species compositional change. The problem for species reliant on post-fire sexual reproduction is compounded by increasing temperatures during the summer germination period. . Here we focus on post-fire regeneration (asexual or sexual) in severe patches as the stage where the primary sorting takes place for competing species in fire-driven systems and thus where the subsequent canopy stratum composition is determined. We begin with an examination of relevant life history traits (seed size, dispersal capacity, tolerance, age of first reproduction) to create theoretical predictions of compositional change, and then turn to recent empirical work to test the predictions.