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: