[SoFlaVeg] The Benefits of Autumn Colors

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone... I just love fall... I have a tradition of making

split green pea soup stemming from growing up with my mom whose from

the North East, cuddling up under a blanket and enjoying the crisp

fall air. Split pea soup can be brought to the desert, but bringing

the fall folliage is much harder... While we have lots of yellow

Aspens, New Mexico only has 1 spot to see the red maples!! How I can

miss those days of Virgina... But still, I get much better fall

colors here than I did in Florida... So, for everyone out there who

loves fall, and may or may not live in it's glowing, firey splendor,

I thought I would turn Searching-Alternatives into a gallery so we

can all enjoy the changing of the season... So please check in daily

to see new and different pictures of fall's finest...

Best wishes,

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

The Value of Autumn

Scientists know how leaves change color, but they don't know why

 

http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?

issueid=20 & articleid=669

 

Like the painters, poets and leaf peepers, photographers have long

been inspired by fall color. Take, for instance, Whit Bronaugh, whose

images of leaves brighten these pages. Bronaugh grew up in the East,

where he developed a deep appreciation for the visual spectacle that

surrounded him each autumn. He later moved to Washington State and

carved out a career as a nature photographer who captures a variety

of themes on film. But one subject seems to be more compelling to him

than any other: the simple beauty of autumn leaves. That's why every

year he heads for the woods with his cameras, searching for

extraordinary color. " It's a labor of love, " he says.

 

He is, of course, far from alone. Getting out for the annual

extravaganza is a joyful experience for millions--especially for

those of us who live and work in heavily populated places where the

colors are mostly those of concrete, steel and glass. I know

something about that, having lived for one period of my life in

Manhattan. Every October, religiously, I'd head north with my wife to

Vermont to spend a weekend in the embrace of autumn.

 

During those outings, the sun seemed particularly brilliant, the

skies intensely blue--a perfect backdrop for the hues that adorned

the maples, birches and other plants of the region. For us, the trips

north were both a pilgrimage and a desperately needed escape.

Photo: NWF

 

Therapists explain that the positive feelings people experience in

autumn are hardly exclusive to those who wander in the woods. Studies

show that fall colors have a mood-elevating effect on just about

anyone, anywhere. " Put people in a room decorated with certain shades

of red and they immediately feel less aggression and a sense of

tranquillity, " says Bernard Vittone, director of the National Center

for Treatment of Phobias, Anxiety and Depression in Washington, D.C.

 

Like many other psychiatrists, Vittone believes a walk in the woods

during autumn can be therapeutic. " We encourage our patients to take

advantage of fall color, " he notes. " A drive in the country makes

people feel better, takes their mind off their troubles. "

 

Autumn can also stimulate scientific musings: What causes leaves to

change color in the first place? Where does the color come from? Does

the change have a practical purpose in nature's scheme of things? And

why are the colors spectacular one year, but in another year just

so-so?

 

Essentially, leaf colors begin to change because chlorophyll--a

substance that makes them green--begins to diminish as a result of

shorter days and cooler weather. As daylight shortens, the growth

system in many trees begins to shut down. Tiny cells at the base of

each leaf, known as the abscission layer, begin to dry out,

chlorophyll dissipates and the photosynthesis process comes to a

halt.

 

The colors that now begin to emerge are actually present in the

leaves all year long; they are pigments masked by the chlorophyll

during the warmer months. The yellows of such species as birch, aspen

and hickory are caused by carotene, the same pigment that gives color

to corn, carrots and egg yolks. The autumn reds and maroons in sugar

maples, sumac and other species derive from the pigment anthocyanin,

formed from sugar compounds stored in the leaves. This chemical's

effect on color depends on the acidity or alkalinity of the tree. Red

maples, which are more acidic, turn red; ash trees, being alkaline,

become purplish.

 

While scientists understand what causes the leaves to change color,

they know virtually nothing about why they change. What role does

this phenomenon play in nature's broad scheme of things? The answer

may be none at all. In his book Leaves: Their Amazing Lives and

Strange Behavior, researcher James Poling writes: " This is both

surprising and puzzling, since nature seldom wastes energy to no

purpose. Yet as far as botanists can determine, the chemical energy

that goes into the painting of a leaf is of no benefit at all to the

plant. The colors seem merely to herald the end of a leaf's life

cycle. "

 

While the phenomenon of autumn foliage may not have a purpose in

nature's grand scheme, falling leaves (regardless of color) do

perform an important role in forest ecology. As leaves decompose,

they release carbon, nitrogen and other chemicals, providing

nourishment to the soil that tree roots can assimilate the following

season. Falling leaves also play an important role in forest stream

ecology: As the wet leaves decompose, they are fed on by a group of

aquatic insects and crustaceans called shredders--creatures including

stone fly nymphs, isopods and crane fly larvae. Shredders, in turn,

are an important food source for fish. Without them, fish would have

a tough time of it.

 

Some years, leaf watchers have a tough time of it, too. That's

because fall colors can sometimes be downright dull. The reason has

to do with weather. Excellent color requires excellent conditions--a

stretch of mostly sunny days and cool, but not freezing, nights.

Excessive rain, a prolonged period of drought or an early freeze can

each diminish autumn leaf color.

 

Meteorological vagaries, however, are not the only threats to

widespread autumn color. Since the early 1980s, scientists have noted

that in some areas of the country, sugar maples and some other

species of trees have been declining. The result is wide swaths of

dead and dying sugar maples, marring otherwise healthy forests.

According to Susan Stout, a U.S. Forest Service researcher in

Pennsylvania, 400,000 acres across the state's northern tier have

been affected in recent years by such a blight, including about

90,000 acres of the Allegheny National Forest.

 

Scientists at the Environmental Resources Research Institute (ERRI)

at Pennsylvania State University have found several possible causes

for the sugar maple decline, including repeated attacks by pests,

competition from invasive plants and low nutrient availability. The

latter may be due in part to acid rain. " Acidification of the soil

removes nutrients that are important to a tree's health, " says ERRI

researcher Patrick Drohan. " And to compound the situation, acid rain

allows other harmful elements, such as aluminum, to increase in the

soil solution, which can then become toxic to the tree's roots. "

 

Because the problem is so complex, with so many possible causes,

finding definitive answers can be tricky. " Acid rain, for instance,

is a provable phenomenon, " notes Drohan, " but the magnitude of its

impact is hard to determine. We just don't know what role it plays in

the big picture. "

 

There is even uncertainty about the extent of the decline of sugar

maples. Some woodlands that appeared to be hard hit a few years ago

are now looking much better, leading some observers to suspect that

much of the damage may be only a short-term problem rather than a

sign of a long-range trend. One recent joint study between the United

States and Canada--the North American Maple Project--concluded that

in the last few years the annual mortality rate for sugar maples was

" normal. " Which, if so, is great news for photographers like Whit

Bronaugh and leaf peepers like myself.

 

For those of us who eagerly await the annual autumn spectacle, there

is little need for scientific explanations about what purpose

changing leaf colors play in the environment. That it happens is

perhaps reason enough to marvel at the power and unpredictability of

nature.

 

Virginia writer Richard Busch formerly was editor of National

Geographic Traveler.

 

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