![]() During this period they play a vital role in a tree’s life as the factories for many essential processes. Maple leaves remain on the tree until late fall. Leaves as Solar Collectors, Food Producers, and Power Plants Red pigment may protect young tender structures from radiation damage. Inside the leaves xylem tissue conducts fluids throughout, filling the veins and pumping up the leaves. Figure 2 shows the form used by the Garden’s Budburst program to record the various phenological events.Ģ1. One of the distinct advantages of observing bigleaf maple structures is that they are large and easy to see. Bigleaf maple is one of the species tracked in a nationwide citizen science project of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Botanists and climate scientists are keen to study these cyclic stages in different species and what effect climate change will have upon them. Together these events make up the tree’s phenology- the timed response of plants to the cues of natural conditions like day length, temperature, rainfall, etc. Focusing on Phenology: Buds, Flowers, and LeavesĮach year, in the span of 6 months from March through October, the bigleaf maple passes through a series of crucial events: from budding and bud burst to flowering, leafing out, pollinating, fruiting, changing leaf color to leaf drop. The maples we encounter in the Gualala River watershed are smaller, commonly up to 40 feet or so in height but with broad canopies where space allows. It began producing flowers and seeds at around 10 years of age, perhaps some time in the early 1800s. This tree is very old-perhaps 200 years or so. ![]() A student measures the circumference of the state’s largest bigleaf maple–18 feet! ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |