Autumn Reds Fall to Climate Change

Climate change has many seeing red, but in New England warming temperatures have people seeing less scarlet this season.

The iconic fiery fall foliage of the Yankee forest is showing up later as falls get warmer and winters milder.

Though there hasn't been a comprehensive study of U.S. forests, the AP noted three studies which suggest New England's autumn colors are falling victim to climate change:

• Massachusetts – leaves change three days later than they did 20 years ago in Harvard Forest, according to a retired Harvard professor's data
• New Hampshire – Sugar maples are going dormant five days later than they did two decades ago, says data from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
• Vermont – Sugar maple growing season ended later than the statistical average seven years out of the last ten in the Proctor Maple Research Center

Though many trees now change into their autumn wardrobes later, the red maple may loose its brilliant blush altogether.

PHOTOS: Why Do Leaves Change Color?

In autumn, as trees lose their green chlorophyll most turn shades of yellow, brown and orange due to the carotenoid chemicals left behind. But red maples are different, they turn a brilliant crimson.

Anthocyanins, the same chemical that gives cherries and strawberries their tint, also paint the red maple's leaves. But anthrocyanins aren't present all year. They are produced in response to bright light and excess sugar in the maple's leaf cells.

“A succession of warm, sunny days and cool, crisp but not freezing nights seems to bring about the most spectacular color displays,” according to the U.S. Forest Service's website.

A changing climate puts New England's spectacular maples in peril, because nights aren't as crisp as they once were.

BLOG: Iconic Pine Trees May Vanish

“If cold tends to promote the red color, it would be natural inference that if we had less cold temperatures during autumn, then that might impact the level of development,” Abby van den Berg of the University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center told Slate.

A failed fall could mean financial woes for New England tourism, a $1 billion industry according to Slate.

IMAGES:

Fall foliage autumn leaf color Vermont Hogback Mountain one hundred mile lookout (Wikimedia Commons)

A red maple leaf in New Jersey (Wikimedia Commons)

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