Mysterious deciphers' autumn leaves fall yellow

Have you ever wondered where yellow, the brilliant red color of autumn tree leaves comes from? The answer is gradually being discovered by researchers .

Those charming colors are the result of the arduous efforts to survive the species .

Recalling from high school biology, we all know that the green color of the leaves is produced by chlorophyll. When the weather changes to autumn, the leaves begin to turn yellow or red. That absolutely does not prove that they are dying but instead is an external expression of a series of very clever processes taking place inside the leaf.

You wouldn't be surprised to know that yellow leaves and red leaves undergo two different metabolic processes. When chlorophyll is no longer active, most types of leaves turn yellow. This is a kind of color that already exists in the leaves but is overwhelmed by green in the growing season of the tree.

But in the past decade or so, researchers have discovered a very different mechanism in red leaves. When chlorophyll stops functioning, the leaves will turn yellow if there is no very rapid production of a colorant called Anthocyanin . It is a substance that is not available in leaves.

There is a hypothesis, suggesting that the red color of autumn leaves is the result of 35 million years in the struggle between plants and insects as they search for food and where to lay eggs in the fall. Red leaf color will make it difficult for insects to identify, so they tend to look for plants with yellow leaves.

The difference between autumn leaf colors in North America and Europe can be seen as evidence for this assumption. In Europe, indigenous tree leaves mostly turn yellow. However, in North America, the number of red leaf trees is much equivalent to the number of yellow leaves.

The reason for this may be in North America, as well as in East Asia, the mountains running in the north-south direction, along with the different regions of the weather distribution. As a result, the trees in the forests also change according to the weather where they grow, along with the insects and the sky war with this species.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the mountains run east-west. So when the weather becomes warm or cool, the trees have no choice but to die, along with the insects that live on them. So in Europe, the war between plants and insects has a much shorter history.

This hypothesis was made by Professor Simcha Lev-Yadun, currently working at the Department of Education - Biology, Haifa - Oranim University and Jarmo Holopainen, part of the Kuopio University system in Finland. This hypothesis was published in the New Phytologist newspaper.

Another hypothesis is that the difference between the amount of anthocyanin pigments in the leaves of a plant in the same area may be related to the fertility of the soil where the plant grows. They reflect efforts to retain the amount of leaf nutrients that have been synthesized in their life cycle.

A preliminary survey of red maple leaf and sweeg gum (red leafy green leaf-shaped tree) of a student in Charlotte, NC showed the color of autumn leaves and soil quality. Where lowland is more nutritious, leaves almost turn yellow in autumn. In the arid highlands, the leaves turn red.

'The relationship is expressed very clearly,' said Bill Hoch, a plant physiologist at the University of Montana in Bozeman. Moreover, these findings are similar to the results he found about the function of the miraculous Anthocyanin.

'Experimental results are a very clear testament to how Anthocyanin helps plants get the maximum nutrient intake from leaves before they leave the branches,' Hoch told Discovery News in a October report. 2007.

Hoch explains that the longer the photosynthesis process in leaves in autumn goes, the more nutrients are stored for use in the spring. So, in many places as barren as the hills of North Carolina (USA), people realize autumn when the leaves turn to bright red.

When autumn comes, Anthocyanin protects the remaining green chloroplasts in the leaves. This is especially meaningful for plants that grow in extreme conditions, where soil is poor in nutrients, as it allows them to produce more organic compounds.