Fall colours and climate change
Climate change, through changes in temperature and precipitation, has impacts on fall foliage. As autumn rolls around, a variety of cues—including the shortening days and falling temperatures—tell trees that it is time to begin shutting down for the winter and preserving their nutrients for the next growing season. The trees stop producing the chlorophyll that makes their leaves green, and is a key part of the photosynthesis that provides them with food. Left behind in the leaves of some tree species are carotenoids, which colour the leaves orange and yellow.
