ts the time of year for colorful fall foliage, but it turns out leaves dont actually change color. Instead, the red, orange and yellow colors that you see in the fall are always present, just usually hidden by the green. Leaf color comes from two main pigments, chlorophyll and carotenoids. Chlorophyll (green) is the most important, and without it trees could not produce food from sunlight and water using photosynthesis. Carotenoids are the pigments that create the bright yellows, reds and oranges when autumn rolls around. In the fall, trees respond to a decreasing amount of sunlight by producing less and less chlorophyll, eventually stopping all together. This is when the carotenoids already in the leaves can finally show through, leaving us with a beautiful spectrum of sparkling oranges, glowing yellows and warm reds. A certain Cyndi Lauper song comes to mind.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 10:38:56 +0000
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