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Plan your fall trip today! Aspen leafs: fall colors. Beaver Ranger District, Fishlake National Forest. (Forest Service Photo by Scott Bell) Science of Fall Colors For years, scientists have worked to understand the changes that occur in trees and shrubs during autumn.
Although we don't know all the details, we do know enough to explain the basics to help you enjoy nature's multicolored display. Three factors influence. In the fall, trees put on a pretty impressive fashion show.
Leaves that were green all summer long start to turn bright red, orange, and yellow. But where do these colors come from? It all starts inside the leaf. Leaves have color because of chemicals called pigments, and there are four main types of pigment in each leaf.
Have you ever wondered why leaves change from green to an amazing array of yellow, orange and red hues during the fall? Leaves get their brilliant colors from pigments made up of various color-creating molecules. During the warm, sunny months, plants use their leaves to turn sunlight into food energy, a process called photosynthesis. Leaf color changes are among the most visually striking phenomena in the natural world.
From the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows of autumn foliage to the subtle shifts in green hues during various growth stages, these transformations tell a compelling story about plant biology, environmental conditions, and ecological interactions. Leaves change color during the autumn because the amounts of pigments change as the leaves prepare to fall from the trees. All leaves gradually lose chlorophyll during the growing season, and this loss accelerates before leaf fall.
Under optimal conditions this process of chlorophyll loss is very orderly and allows the plants to resorb much of the nitrogen in the structure of the pigment. The factors that influence autumn leaf color are shorter day lengths, weather (primarily cooler temperatures and less moisture) and changing lev-els of leaf pigments. The only constant factor from year to year is the short-ening day length.
As days become shorter and nights grow longer, bio-chemical processes in the leaf initiate changing leaf color. All the other factors vary annually, making. Autumn leaf color Japanese maple autumn leaves Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, various shades of yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown.
[1]. Learn why leaves change color in the fall and see the chemistry of the pigment molecules responsible for different leaf colors.