Summer to autumn

Autumn is when trees preparefor winter. For deciduous trees, this means preparing for hibernation.Conifers, however, don’t enter dormancy, instead continuing to draw waterthrough their roots.

Deciduous trees shed leavesas they would expend more energy keeping them. This also reduces surface areaexposure, leading to less branch damage from high wind, and protects fromgreater water loss.

The process of leaf-sheddingto conserve water and energy is called abscission.

The reds, oranges and yellowsof autumnal deciduous leaves are caused by the cessation of chlorophyllproduction. Certain trees, however, use red anthocyanins which turn leaves red,pink and purple.

This colourful autumn markeris known as tinting.

Deciduous trees use extracellular freezing and supercooling to deal with cold. The formerfreezes cell layers to protect tissue while the latter enables internal watertemperatures to drop well below zero without freezing.

Jaysbury thousands of acorns for winter but leave many of them in the ground,making them an important contributor to woodland regeneration. Anabundance of beech nuts has also been linked to the improved survival rate ofadult great tits in the UK.

Conversely, the UK mushroom season has increased to 75 days fromonly 33 in the 1950s; continuation of this trend is likely to negatively affecttrees as aggressive fungi proliferate.