Anthonares

I have wondered for a long time what exactly causes leaves to change colors. I remember reading several years ago about the color change being associated with the reuptake of cholorplasts by the trees in preparation for winter. If this is true, then there must be some reason, energetically, why trees reabsorb their cholorplasts. The answer must be that in doing so, some of the energy that was spent producing the cellular bodies in such vast quantities can then be stored for the photosynthesis-less winter. During this time, trees must respire to survive, so they need stores of sugar, and chloroplasts provide that.

Okay, simple enough, but why is this process beautiful? Continue Reading »