Ah, Autumn.
Who doesn't look forward with eager anticipation to that familiar period following the autumnal equinox at which the Sun is located at a point directly above the equator when the period of night lengthens to such a degree as to signify to many species of broadleaved plants whose veins extending into the leaves carrying fluids to and from the extremities of the plant primarily for purposes of photosynthesis, the process through which plants use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen thus providing energy to the plant for growth, that it is time to begin restricting the diameters of these veins so as to prohibit the transport of fluids that would otherwise freeze in the winter causing damage to the leaves and ultimately the entire organism in conjunction with the decrease in production of chlorophyll, the chemical ever crucial to photosynthesis that also gives leaves their familiar green color throughout the spring and summer months, giving way to the traditional array of red, orange and yellow hues resulting from what is now a surplus of sugars or more specifically carotenoids (yellows, oranges) and anthocyanins (reds) which now become dominant in the leaves with the increasing absence of chlorophyll, all preceding the leaves' eventual fall from the tree and recycling of nutrients to the soil in preparation for the stagnant winter months followed by a season of regrowth in the spring?
More simply put, look at all the pretty colors!
(photo from 2007)
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