How to work with Adaptations of Leaves

Have you ever wondered why leaves change colour in autumn, from green to orange and red? Photosynthesis is the process trees use to make their food. Using energy from the sun, water from the ground, and carbon dioxide from the air, they make glucose. This glucose is then used by the tree for energy and growth.
Photosynthesis happens in the leaves of plants, because they contain chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is also what makes leaves green. As long as there are plenty of daylight hours, the leaves can absorb enough energy from the sun for photosynthesis to take place. This means the leaves on the tree stay green.

As the days grow shorter, there are not as many hours of sunlight, and the days get colder. Leaves will start to change colour. This is because it is harder for the chlorophyll in the leaves to make glucose. Instead the leaves start using food they have stored away. As the leaves use glucose they have stored instead, a layer of spongy cells forms at the bottom of each leaf called the abscission layer. These cells act like a door between the leaf and the rest of the tree, which is closing really slowly. It stops water and nutrients getting to the leaf, and will shut when all the leaf’s food is gone. While this happens, the red, yellow, orange and gold colours which are already in the leaves, will start to show. This is because the green chlorophyll has been broken down into colourless pigments. When all the food is used up, the leaves turn brown, and fall off the tree.

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How to work with Adaptations of Leaves

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