Earlier this year I drove down to Newcastle from the Gold Coast and during the trip stopped at the very beautiful town of Armidale in NSW.
Now although in the last 10 years I have come to truely appreciate the dry tropical ecology of the Townsville and Northern Brigalow region of Queensland, this reminder of the breath taking beauty that is autumn leaf colour change left me (almost) speechless.
The change in leaf colour in autumn is a very interesting phenomenon, there have been quite a few explainations put forward over time....
Every autumn across the Northern Hemisphere, diminishing daylight hours and falling temperatures induce trees to prepare for winter. In these preparations, they shed billions of tons of leaves. In certain regions, the shedding of leaves is preceded by a spectacular color show. Formerly green leaves turn to brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red. These color changes are the result of transformations in leaf pigments.
The green pigment in leaves is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light from the sunlight that falls on leaves. Therefore, the light reflected by the leaves is diminished in red and blue and appears green. The molecules of chlorophyll are large (C55H70MgN4O6). They are not soluble in the aqueous solution that fills plant cells. Instead, they are attached to the membranes of disc-like structures, called chloroplasts, inside the cells. Chloroplasts are the site of photosynthesis, the process in which light energy is converted to chemical energy. In chloroplasts, the light absorbed by chlorophyll supplies the energy used by plants to transform carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates, which have a general formula of Cx(H2O)y.
In this endothermic transformation, the energy of the light absorbed by chlorophyll is converted into chemical energy stored in carbohydrates (sugars and starches). This chemical energy drives the biochemical reactions that cause plants to grow, flower, and produce seed.
Interestingly for such a significant player Chlorophyll is not a very stable compound; bright sunlight causes it to decompose. To maintain the amount of chlorophyll in their leaves, plants continuously synthesize it. The synthesis of chlorophyll in plants requires sunlight and warm temperatures. Therefore, during summer chlorophyll is continuously broken down and regenerated in the leaves of trees.
Another pigment found in the leaves of many plants is carotene. Carotene absorbs blue-green and blue light. The light reflected from carotene appears yellow. Carotene is also a large molecule (C40H36) contained in the chloroplasts of many plants. When carotene and chlorophyll occur in the same leaf, together they remove red, blue-green, and blue light from sunlight that falls on the leaf. The light reflected by the leaf appears green. Carotene functions as an accessory absorber. The energy of the light absorbed by carotene is transferred to chlorophyll, which uses the energy in photosynthesis. Carotene is a much more stable compound than chlorophyll. Carotene persists in leaves even when chlorophyll has disappeared. When chlorophyll disappears from a leaf, the remaining carotene causes the leaf to appear yellow.
A third pigment, or class of pigments, that occur in leaves are the anthocyanins. Anthocyanins absorb blue, blue-green, and green light. Therefore, the light reflected by leaves containing anthocyanins appears red. Unlike chlorophyll and carotene, anthocyanins are not attached to cell membranes, but are dissolved in the cell sap. The color produced by these pigments is sensitive to the pH of the cell sap. If the sap is quite acidic, the pigments impart a bright red color; if the sap is less acidic, its color is more purple. Anthocyanin pigments are responsible for the red skin of ripe apples and the purple of ripe grapes. Anthocyanins are formed by a reaction between sugars and certain proteins in cell sap. This reaction does not occur until the concentration of sugar in the sap is quite high. The reaction also requires light. This is why apples often appear red on one side and green on the other; the red side was in the sun and the green side was in shade.
The shortening days and cool nights of autumn trigger changes in the tree. One of these changes is the growth of a corky membrane between the branch and the leaf stem. This membrane interferes with the flow of nutrients into the leaf. Because the nutrient flow is interrupted, the production of chlorophyll in the leaf declines, and the green color of the leaf fades. If the leaf contains carotene, as do the leaves of birch and hickory, it will change from green to bright yellow as the chlorophyll disappears. In some trees, as the concentration of sugar in the leaf increases, the sugar reacts to form anthocyanins. These pigments cause the yellowing leaves to turn red. Red maples, red oaks, and sumac produce anthocyanins in abundance and display the brightest reds and purples in the autumn landscape.
The range and intensity of autumn colors is greatly influenced by the weather. Low temperatures destroy chlorophyll, and if they stay above freezing (in areas where such extremes are possible!), promote the formation of anthocyanins. Bright sunshine also destroys chlorophyll and enhances anthocyanin production. Dry weather, by increasing sugar concentration in sap, also increases the amount of anthocyanin. So the brightest autumn colors are produced when dry, sunny days are followed by cool, dry nights.
Areas that do have dramatic displays of autumn colour do attract tourists, and
frankly I can understand why.....
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