While it still feels like summer outside, the annual changing of the seasons is coming this Saturday.
One of the most telling signs it is autumn is the leaves turning color, and Professor of Biology at Central College Paul Weihe tells KNIA/KRLS News leaves are already starting to turn after a dry spell in July and August put additional stress on most trees. He believes that could make the peak season a bit earlier than average.
Weihe says there are two primary drivers in how leaves turn from green to various colors.
“One of those would be sort of the yellows, oranges, and golds, and those really are pigments that were present in the plant all along, but those were masked by the green, and that’s what most of us were taught about how color change works,” he says. “But there’s the whole category of colors which are the reds, purples, and some of those really vibrant ones–those are actually produced in response to the changing conditions as we enter the autumn, so those are really acting as a sunscreen to protect the tissues within the leaf, while the tree is recovering some of those materials that the leaf is made out of for recycling and use the following year.”
Hear more about the changing of the season on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.