Sunday, November 6, 2016

Autumn in Munich. Why leaves change their color? 23-10-16



Today there has been a beautiful autumn day with a lot of sunshine. With the sun shining brightly and surrounded by vibrant fall leaves - jogging during such a day was a pleasure! For the jogging, I took a camera with me to capture the beauty of autumn ;)

Have you ever wondered why leaves change their color during autumn?

Leaves are the parts of a tree that are responsible for the production of nutrients. Leaves contain chlorophyll, which is a green pigment. Chlorophyll is extremely important for the plants, because it enables the conversion of H2O and CO2 into glucose, which is known as photosynthesis. For this reaction, the sunshine is necessary. During autumn and winter the temperature drops and exposure of trees to the sunlight is decreased, therefore trees change their metabolism (´´go slow´´) and prepare for a dormancy period. One sign of such a preparation is degradation of chlorophyll in the leaves. This results in unmasking of other pigments, such as carotenoids and anthocyanins, and thus leaves turn yellow, orange or red! :-) :-) :)


The formula for photosynthesis:
 







Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Alpine fauna and flora_Partenkirchner Dreitorspitze_Germany/Austria_August 2016



Munich, where I currently live, has a great location as it is near the mountains, Alps. The Alps are located in the south-central Europe. The Alps are a result of the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, that occured approximately 65-55 million years ago. Interestingly, the formation of mountains is not a single event. Moreover, the Alps are constantly changing: on one hand they undergo the erosion (e.g. due to glaciers and rivers), and on the other hand they undergo a regeneration from the Earth´s crust. Excitingly, it is estimated that the Alps ´´grow´´ 0.5 millimeter per year.
Last Sunday I got up at 4 am, which is not so easy for me, because usually I am a ´´night person´´. However, with a great aim (of exploring the Alps), it is always easier to overcome the obstacles! ;) After 1.5h ride by car we (me and my three colleagues – one of them was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the Africa’s highest mountain, which is my dream) finally reached Leutasch/Reindlau, from which we started our tour. Our destination was the peak ´´Partenkirchner Dreitorspitze´´ (2633 m) and a hut ´´Meilerhütte´´ (2366 m). The tour was very long and challenging (climbing, stones falling down; not stabile ground), but we managed! ;)
Here, I would like to share with you several photographs that I took during this tour.

An anthill

 Cows

 A horse

 A horse


 
A sheep

Sheeps
Myself & sheeps ;)

 A sheep

 Sheeps
 A sheep

A view from the Partenkirchner Dreitorspitze (2633 m)

Alpenrose
Campanula