how do trees know how and when to change color?

Question

trees must know its fall now time to change how does this happen are trees inteligent?

Answer 1

God tells them.

Answer 2

Normal 1, has the right idea and that is it in a very simple way. Yes trees are intelligent in a way.



It is not actually that the leaves can't get enough light to live. Just like most people when it becomes dark each day it is time to think about going to bed for the necessary sleep.



Trees do the same and know when the days get shorter and colder it is time to shut down and prepare for winter so they can survive and grow again in the spring.



I live in the tropics and there is very little difference from winter to summer in the amount of sunlight but trees know when to slow down or even shut down because of the changes in the normal weather patterns. During the monsoon season plants an trees grow very quickly and very soon after they shut down some to conserve energy and wait for the next monsoon season. Many trees do loose a great number of their levees to save energy and water. They keep enough to keep them alive ad the growth nearly stops for some trees during the dry time.



Plants and trees are intelligent in a way. Trees can actually communicate wit each other. Yes this is true and it has been proved many times.

Answer 3

The length of the day and the cool weather. A deer will only come into heat when the day is a certain length. There are a lot of things in nature that take hints from the length of the day. Think about geese that fly south, and other birds migrate too. There are lots of animals building nest to hibernate. The days will continue to shorten until spring.

Answer 4

I'm 100% sure it has nothing to do with temperature. It has to do with the amount of daylight. Since the days get shorter in the fall, the tree isn't able to do photosynthesis as much and the leaves begin to lose their chlorophyll and food, so they die and fall off. In the spring, the tree starts to do photosynthesis more as the days get longer and is able to regrow it's leaves to give itself more food.

Answer 5

this isnt exactly an answer to your question, but it is related. i just learned this recently during our buffalo ny october surprise storm. we got alot of heavy wet snow and tons of tree limbs broke off from the weight and made a huge mess declaring the area a disaster area. what i learned tho is that a tree will create a bump on the stem of the leaf which pushes the leaf off, in order to save itself. it knows that the leaves must go before snow comes or the tree may be destroyed. this info was on i think Nova. as far as the changing color goes, i forgot why lol. sorry. hope this helped somewhat.

Answer 6

It would be controlled by hormone levels sensitive to the average daily sunlight and/or the average daily temperature.



An autumn day is lower average temperature and less average daily sunlight so deciduous tress lose their leaves. A spring day is a higher average daily temperature and sunlight so deciduous trees grow more leaves.



It depends on what you call intelligence, they can be burnt to crisp and yet still grow and have babies. They know how to stop bugs and insects and animals eating them and they know how to make oxygen from carbon dioxide.

Answer 7

If a man-made object or robot could be designed to change at will, the way a plant does, it would be considered...intelligence!



If I can remember my science leasons..... the leaves change because of the amount of sunlight and temperature?



How is not a problem, they just do!

Answer 8

period of daylight decreases in daily duration until it doesn't sustain photosynthesis - at that point the leaves die and the tree sheds them as it goes dormant. Daylight increases in the spring and process reverses

Answer 9

By daylight and temperature

maybe...we really don't know!

Answer 10

they depend on season... and major temperature changes..

Answer 11

LIKE SUNLIGHT GOT A TIMEX AND TIPS THEM OFF.