Climate change delays fall color palette in US forests

Environmentalists fear that this New England forest landscape will become a memory because of climate change.

archival

Climate change is delaying her stunning painting of red, orange and yellow leaves in the New England American forests during the fall, changing the timing of these colors during the season on her trees, threatening a natural tourist attraction in the northeastern United States. A number of American ecologists and climatologists note that rising temperatures and rains that become stronger at the end of summer clearly lead to keeping the leaves green for longer, if the trees themselves are not damaged by heat waves and frequent storms.

"We're not confident (given by climate change) that we'll still be able to enjoy these beautiful landscapes of fall color" in the forests of the northeastern United States, said Andy Fenton, an ecologist with the Massachusetts Nature Conservancy.

For decades, American visitors, and foreigners who flock to New England, have been enjoying the red, orange, and yellow foliage, which, from mid-October to early November, covers Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, as well as parts of New York and Connecticut.

Chlorophyll and carotenoids

As the temperature cools and the nights get longer, the forests of ash and birch trees naturally turn golden, the green of chlorophyll giving way to the yellow and orange of carotenoid pigments.

But what tree experts are concerned about is a more complex and fragile natural chemical process, which is the emergence in autumn of the leaves' red anthocyanin pigments, which are found in maple sugar and black gum.

Warmer days and nights, up to October, along with increased precipitation, would slow photosynthesis and threaten the appearance of these unique red hues.

This frustrates the hopes of nature lovers who flock to photograph the colors of autumn, and are called "leaf peppers" in American slang, or "leaf peepers."

Colors fade

Andy Fenton predicts that bright colors will one day become just a memory.

A number of websites in the northeastern United States are vying to inform viewers with pinpoint accuracy when they best see foliage coloration in the coastal region, from the Canadian border to New York State.

But scientists point out that these predictions are becoming more and more risky in terms of their accuracy, and the time available to see colored leaves before winter is getting shorter.

Stephanie Spira of the University of Richmond studies the effects of climate warming in Acadia National Park, Maine, and tells AFP that the color change is occurring "a week later than it was in the 1950s", in the second week of October.

Even worse, according to Barbara Brummer, a biologist at the Nature Conservancy in New Jersey, nature is at least two weeks later “than it was 100 years ago.”

However, this reality worries not only environmentalists, but also others.

tourism industry

Autumn foliage is also very popular in the New England tourism industry, generating $300 million in annual revenue for Vermont alone.

“In the fall we have our biggest sales, and customers ask us when is the best time to come,” says restaurateur Katie, noting that she is “really concerned about climate change.”

Even in the heart of the greater New York City, Central Park, which constitutes the "green lung" of the city, seems to be suffering from climate warming, according to the Argentine tourist, Alejandro Bertanoli.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news