More than Magic: The Importance of Fall Colors
Introduction It's that time of year again! Cooler temperatures, the low hum of leftover crickets and katydids in the trees, pumpkin spice everything, and that sweet smell of decaying leaves that permeates local parks and yards. But best of all are the striking fall colors in parks and woodlots across the northeastern United States (figure 1). Figure 1: Fall color at sunset at Sand Ridge Nature Center in Illinois, 2016. Every fall in eastern forests, what was once a garden of green transforms to a gallery of color, ranging from bright yellow to blood red to a variegated orange. The glory doesn't last long, and soon the trees are barren and browned as dried leaves flutter to the forest floor (or into your gutters or on your car's windshield!). I've always had a love-hate relationship with fall, and in an earlier blog post I admitted my distaste for nature's summer finale. But the one thing I will agree on with autumn-enthusiasts is the showy bl