Someone did a book like the Secret Life of Trees but just for Oaks. There are a thousand critters and microbes adapted to oak habitation and/or parasitizing.

The tannins in oak are an arms race to slow many of them down. As is the thick epidermis on mature leaves. And then there are the adaptations to prioritize roots over leaves when young, which both helps them tap into the wood wide web but also I suspect helps them deal with deer. Stay small until you can get tall and then jump out of reach as fast as you can.