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Why are autumn leaves red in America and yellow in Europe?
Date:8/13/2009

tions do not help us understand why the process of creating anthocyanin, the red pigment, does not occur in Europe.

An evolutionary ecology approach infers that the strong autumn colors result from the long evolutionary war between the trees and the insects that use them as hosts. During the fall season, which is when the insects suck the amino acids from the leaves and later lay their eggs, the tree colors its leaves in red because aphids are attracted to yellow ones, so as to advertise to the insects as to the defensive quality of the tree in order to lower the tendency of the insects to occupy the leaves for nutrition and the bark for breeding. In this case too, the protective logic of red pigmentation may be sound, but the yellow leaves cannot be reconciled with this approach. But to settle this point, the new theory can be applied.

According to the theory provided by Prof. Lev-Yadun and Prof. Holopainen, until 35 million years ago, large areas of the globe were covered with evergreen jungles or forests composed of tropical trees. During this phase, a series of ice ages and dry spells transpired and many tree species evolved to become deciduous. Many of these trees also began an evolutionary process of producing red deciduous leaves in order to ward off insects. In North America, as in East Asia, north-to-south mountain chains enabled plant and animal 'migration' to the south or north with the advance and retreat of the ice according to the climatic fluctuations. And, of course, along with them migrated their insect 'enemies' too. Thus the war for survival continued there uninterrupted. In Europe, on the other hand, the mountains the Alps and their lateral branches reach from east to west, and therefore no protected areas were created. Many tree species that did not survive the severe cold died, and with them the insects that depended on them for survival. At the end of the repeated ice ages, most tree species that had survived in Europe had
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Contact: Rachel Feldman
rfeldman@univ.haifa.ac.il
972-482-88722
University of Haifa
Source:Eurekalert

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