
A picture showcasing some of the lovely fall colors. Since it’s warmer in south Alabama our fall colors really hit off early winter. I’m looking forward to diving into the chemistry and natural history of pigments this upcoming year. As many of us know there are three primary pigments in leaves. The main one people are aware of is c

rophyll. C

rophyll ( is the green pigment of photosynthesis found in the organelles c

roplast that helps absorbs the wavelengths in stronger longer hours of sunlight. As the nights grow longer and the angle of sunlight due to earths tilt changes , the weather grows colder the c

rophyll begins to break down and this is when the carotenoids ( yellow and orange pigments of photosynthesis) which is slightly more color tolerant and is good at absorbing weaker sunlight. But not all leaves have very much carotenoid in them and so they often have anthocyanins ( red pigments involved in cold weather photosynthesis).
Though before I dive to deeply into pigments I am going to dive deeper into the four main forms of photosynthesis which is c3, c4, CAM and Algal. I have small but very technical book that touches up on it a bit. There are some good episodes also on “ The Common Descent Podcast “.
Listen to Episode 145 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! We live in a solar-powered world. This episode, we discuss the process that provides the energy…
commondescentpodcast.com
In defense of Plants also talks about it .
www.indefenseofplants.com
www.indefenseofplants.com
