It's that time of year again, when the green of leaves slowly burn away to reveal a red undercoat or brighten in to a sunny yellow. It seemed strange to me when I was younger that the leaves waited until autumn to turn those beautiful and vibrant colors? Why, I wondered, did the leaves go through the effort to change their color anyway? They change because they have too
In autumn, the days slowly become shorter, the tempature colder, and that feeling of stiff, dry air become more apparent. These conditions are not very good for the trees, or more so, for their photosynthesis. Autumn is the time of year when making food from those green pigments becomes too much of a hastle and for a much smaller reward. To conserve energy, the trees stop making clhoroplasts(what makes plants green). Slowly the remaining chloroplasts deteriorate, letting the more vibrant pigments in the leaves to be seen. From here, the leaves are chemically self-cut from the tree, letting them flutter down to clutter the forest floor and litter our not-so-green-anymore lawns. I used to find it odd that the trees would shed their leaves in the autumn just to grow them back in the spring, but the leaves in winter cause a major problem- they create a large surface area for snow and ice to accumulate, and with enough weight can break branches.
Even though trees change their colors out of practicality, I always have, and will, love gazing at the bright canopies that stretch over the horizon.
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