Leaves during fall season

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September 23rd was the first official day of fall. I started to see leaves changing colors and falling down. I was never curious why leaves do such things: changing color and falling down. Then when I was thinking about blog, I decided to write about leaves. Today’s blog will contain, why do leaves change color, which leaves of tree survive during winter, and what happens to fallen leaves.

 

To begin with, as we all learned in high school biology class, we see the leaves and plants as color green, because they reflect the green light. Also, chlorophyll is the main pigment of leaves and other plants that has green color. During spring and summer, as the weather gets warm and temperature rises, the chlorophyll becomes active and it allows the foliages to sustain their color for that season. However, when autumn approaches, there are some natural changes to nature: the change in temperature, length of day and night, moisture in soil and other more. When temperature falls and chlorophyll stats to breaks down. This is the time when we see the change in leaves color. When chlorophyll breaks down, carotene pigment (orange color pigment) and anthocyanin (red color pigment) increases. When chlorophyll slowly vanishes and carotene and anthycyanin appears, we see the color difference. However, not all leaves turn orange and red, but also brown. Oak trees for instance, it changes from green to brown, this is due to the mixture of different amount level of chlorophyll and other colored pigments.

 

Interestingly, we see some trees with foliages during autumn and winter. Pine trees, cedars and other conifers do not lose leaves during colder seasons. This phenomenon is due to, the plant cells of these conifers are covered with hard wax that it allows them to keep their temperature to stay green all year around. Individual leaves on these trees can able to stay at least two years and four years of maximum.

 

Those leaves which have fallen down from trees give people hard time to clean up the streets; they play vital role in ecosystem. Those leaves are not wasted, but they become good food sources to organisms that live under the soil.

 

In conclusion, in today’s blog I have talked about leaves during fall season. As I was doing this research, I have learned that, although we usually see foliages change colors and fall down from tress, here are also exceptions like conifers. Also, there is more than one factor that leads leaves to change color. And lastly, the most surprising thing that I learned today was, the dead leaves could be beneficial to our nature and other tiny organisms under the soil.

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