COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

The Rate of Color Change in Sugar Maple Leaves with Differences in Upland and
Lowland sites in the Grand Valley State University Ravines
Nicole Denny, Breanne Arnold & Hannah Groce
Grand Valley State University
COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

On the Grand Valley State University campus there is a wooded ravine forest with many
peaks and valleys. In this ravine system there is a variety of vegetation, with many deciduous
trees including sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum). Most deciduous trees go through a process
of change in leaf color at the end of a growing season, called senescence (Naschitz 2014). During
the growing season, chlorophyll is produced and carbohydrates are stored in the roots and shoots
(Tackett 2011). Once the nights become longer, Tackett (2011) also states that the cells in the
leaf begin to divide, producing a layer of cells at the base of the petiole, called the abscission
layer, that blocks off the supply of nutrients. The author goes on to explain that this blockage
causes the production of chlorophyll to slow down, and finally be cut off completely. When the
chlorophyll stops being produced, it allows for the other less dominant pigments to become
visible, producing various leaf colors (Tackett 2011). There are four main pigments that
determine leaf color - chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and xanthophylls (Junker 2016).
Xanthophylls produce a yellow pigment, often covered by the chlorophyll which produces the
dominant green pigment (Tackett 2011). Carotenoids produce red, yellow, and orange, and
anthocyanins produce reds and purples (Junker 2016). This process is shown in maple trees on
the Grand Valley State University campus, as they are one of the most abundant species found in
its forests.
Tackett (2011) suggests that cooler temperatures and abundant sunlight are factors that
promote senescence. Anderson (2015) found that an open canopy was related to an early onset of
senescence. Meaning that more access to open sunlight results in leaves changing colors sooner.
Anderson (2015) also found that when these conditions are present, a large amount of sugars are
being produced in the leaf, but the cooler temperatures do not allow the sugars to move into the
leaf. Instead, they become a part of the abscission layer (Anderson 2015). This causes the
chlorophyll to break down and the other pigments to become visible (Tackett 2011). Pellet
(2017) states that the amount of soil moisture has an effect on color change. His study says that
as elevation increases, soil moisture will decrease. Research from Yang (2017) emphasizes the
importance of air temperature, finding that warm days and cool nights provide the best setting for
color change.
In the ravine system on the Grand Valley State University campus, the forest has a
variety of changes in light intensity, soil moisture and air temperature because of changes in
elevation. This could affect the rate at which the leaves change color.
Based on research, we chose to investigate how the difference of upland and lowland
trees in the ravines affect the rate of change of maple leaves. To do this, we will investigate air
temperature, soil moisture and light intensity at upland and lowland sites. We will answer the
following questions to support our hypothesis:

 Is there a difference in the light intensity between upland and lowland sites?
 Is there a difference in the soil moisture between upland and lowland sites?
 Is there a difference in the air temperature between upland and lowland sites?
 Is there a difference in the rate of leaf color change upland and lowland sites?

We hypothesized that these element changes between upland and lowland sites will result
in the rate of leaf change to be increased in maple tree leaves at the lowland sites. Furthermore,
we predicted that that we would find higher light intensity at lowland sites, along with higher
percentages of soil moisture and lower temperatures at the lowland sites.
COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

We predicted there would be more exposure to light intensity because at the lowland site
there is less competition for sunlight by competing vegetation. The research we found for soil
moisture indicated that a dry growing season can delay autumn senescence (Naschitz 2014). The
findings from Pellet and his team found that as elevation increased, soil moisture decreased.
Based on this research, we thought there would be more soil moisture at our lowland site. We
believed air temperatures would be colder in the lowland because as the air warmed it would
become less dense and it would rise above the colder more dense air.

Methods
We designated ten trees of relative size (17 - 27 cm in diameter at breast height), in order
to have trees of similar size to compare for data analysis. Five trees were selected at upland site
and five trees at the lowland site. Figure 1. shows the location on Grand Valley State
University’s campus where the upland and lowland sites are located. We chose trees that were
short enough for us to take sample leaves from and had all of the leaves visible. We chose trees
with leaves that were all visible so that we could determine the rate of color change for the whole
tree. These trees were all below the canopy. Our upland and lowland sites were chosen because
they were typical environments of the upland and lowland sites in the ravines. The difference in
elevation of our upland and lowland sites is 30.48 meters. We took sample leaves and identified
the ten trees as sugar maple trees (Barnes and Wagner 2004). Identifying our sample trees as the
same species eliminated a chance of error in our data resulting from the trees being different
species.

Figure 1. Locations of upland and lowland sites.

COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

We used a light intensity meter, soil moisture meter, and a thermometer to take
measurements in the soil moisture and air temperature by each tree. We took all of our
measurements on the east side of the tree to keep the data consistent. On dry days, we used a
trowel to loosen the dirt and take measurements. When soil was too dry and stiff to insert the soil
moisture meter effectively, we assumed a zero percent moisture. Having shorter trees meant that
we could take air temperature and amount of light intensity closer to the leaves. We took
measurements around the same time each data collection day. To account for possible
differences occurring in upland and lowland locations due to time of day we started half of our
data collection at the upland and the other half at the lowland site first.
According to Henneka (2013), the amount of light intensity and the weather conditions
the trees are experiencing can make determining color change more difficult. As a result, we
took a sample of two leaves per tree on each day of data collection, and analyzed and compared
color change once we returned to the lab to keep conditions consistent. We used the Tighe
(2010) color change chart to decide if the leaves had changed color. This is shown in Figure 2.
The Tighe color change chart assigns a number value to the degree of color change between
leaves. We used this chart to determine the value of each leaf, and then a mean was taken
between the two leaves.
COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

Figure 2. Tighe color chart.

We used random sampling to select the leaves we picked, by selecting leaves from a
variety of the trees branches. After selecting the leaves, we examined them in the classroom for
color change. We collected our data over a period of seven weeks when color change was
optimal. The peak color change in Michigan for fall 2017 was predicted to be October 1-October
21st (Torregrossa 2017). We used t-Tests to determine if there was a significant difference
in light intensity, soil moisture, air temperature, and color change between higher and lower
elevation sites with sugar maples.
COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

Results
The mean light intensity is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Mean, standard deviation, and range of light intensity (foot-candles) between
upland and lowland.
Statistical Test Upland Lowland

Mean 3.4 4.8

Range 6.0 6.1

Standard Deviation 1.6 2.3

Light intensity was found to be significantly greater at the lowland site. The mean light intensity
had a significant difference (p = 0.005).

The mean soil moisture is shown in table 2.

Table 2. Mean, standard deviation, and range of soil moisture between upland and
lowland.
Statistical Test Upland Lowland

Mean 33.1 47.1

Range 72.1 98.0

Standard Deviation 27.3 39.1

There is no significance difference between the upland and lowland sites soil moisture
(p = 0.087).

The mean air temperature (celsius) is shown in table 3.

Table 3. Mean, standard deviation, and range of air temperature (celsius) between upland
and lowland.
Statistical Test Upland Lowland

Mean 17.1 17.7

Range 24.1 24.5

Standard Deviation 7.55 7.14

Our results for air temperature at our upland and lowland sites showed no significant difference
(p = 0.362).

Figure 3 displays the mean range of leaf color between the upland and lowland sites for
six days of data collection. The figure displays the two leaves from each tree. In each picture,
leaves 1-10 in the first row are from the first 5 trees in the upland site, and leaves 11-20 are from
the 5 trees in the lowland site.

Figure 3. Maple leaf color change in upland and lowland sites.

COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

Leaf color of the leaves collected from the upland and lowland sites is recorded in Table 4.
Table 4. Mean, range, and standard deviation for leaf color between upland and lowland.
Statistical Test Upland Lowland

Mean 1.1 1.9

Range 6.6 8.1

Standard Deviation 1.4 2.5

Our results for leaf color showed no significant difference (p = 0.087) in our upland and lowland
sites.

Figure 4 shows the mean rate of color change for both the upland and lowland sites on each of
the days that we visited. Color change is determined based on the Tighe color chart in Figure 2.

Figure 4. Rate of color change in maple leaves in upland and lowland sites.
COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

Discussion
The results of our research supported our prediction that there was a difference in the
light intensity between the upland and lowland sites with sugar maples. We believe the
significant difference between the upland and the lowland sites was a result of the lesser
competition for sunlight in the lowland area. In the upland area there is a larger, more established
forest with a thicker canopy. As a result, there is less light penetrating the large canopy to the
shorter trees below. In the lowland area, there is a less established forest. The trees have much
smaller stature, leaving more gaps for light to get through. This difference in forest structure
caused the observable difference in light intensity between the upland and lowland sites seen in
Table 1.
The results of our research did not support our prediction that there was a difference in
the soil moisture between the upland and lowland sites with sugar maples. The p-value is
approaching significance in the soil moisture between the upland and lowland sites. With more
data collection and a larger sample size it is possible that the difference in the soil moisture
between the upland and lowland sites in sugar maples would become significant. Pellet (2017)
and his team found soil moisture decreased as elevation increased, it is possible that if we had a
larger difference in elevation we would observe a larger difference in soil moisture.
We predicted that we would find lower air temperatures at our lowland sites. The lack of
a significant differences left our hypothesis unsupported in regards to our questions. We
predicted lower temperatures in the lowland sites because as air warms it becomes less dense and
rises above the more dense cooler air. However, because the elevation difference was only 30.48
meters, we concluded that it was not a large enough difference to make much of an impact. In
fact, the lower sites actually had a higher mean temperature than the upland sites. To account for
rising temperatures as the morning goes on, we would change which site we visited first. For half
of the time, we would begin upland, and for the other half we would begin lowland. The
difference in temperature could have been more accurate if we had visited our sites at exactly the
same time each day.
We predicted that our lowland sites would have their leaves change faster because of
more exposure to light intensity, more soil moisture, and lower temperatures. The results showed
that there was not a significant difference between the upland and lowland sites, but the p value
COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

is approaching significance. With a bigger sample size and more time, it is possible that the
number would become significant. Our findings showed that while the lowland trees changed
sooner, they still changed at roughly the same rate. This is seen in the slope of the two lines in
Figure 4. The two lines follow the same trend, but the lowland sites appear to be changing sooner
than the upland sites. In particular, from October 10 to October 16, the slopes are nearly parallel,
showing that they are changing at the same rate. After October 16, there was a shift in
conditions, primarily a decrease in temperature and an increase in soil moisture, which likely
lead to the increased color change in the lowland sites. After this shift, our leaves became more
vibrant shades of yellow, which was then an increase in our color change value. If given more
time, we suspect that the leaves would have continued to change on this trend.
We are rejecting our hypothesis that lowland sites will have an increased rate of color
change. Because we found evidence to support that the lowland sites leaves changed first, but
once the leaves began to change they both changed at the same rate. Part of our hypothesis, that
air temperature would increase leaf color change in maple trees, was supported.
We believe that the unique weather patterns during our investigation period influenced
the results of our study. Abnormally high air temperatures and low precipitation rates affected
the rate of color change and vibrance of colors. For the first four weeks of our study we
experienced abnormally high temperatures. Out of the first thirty one days of our study, twenty
six of those days were above the average historical temperatures for our region (AccuWeather,
n.d.). Along with the statistically high temperatures came low precipitation levels giving us low
soil moisture readings. Soon after, we experienced high precipitation rates giving us much higher
soil moisture levels. These temperature and precipitation patterns are what we believe caused the
delayed and dull color change. The amount, duration and brilliance of autumn color depend on
weather conditions that occur before and during the time chlorophyll in the leaves is declining.
(Clatterbuck, n.d.) If we did this experiment again we would track the daily precipitation and
high/low temperatures to determine how large of a role these elements have in the timing of
color change and the vibrancy of the colors.
Throughout our investigation, new questions were generated that could be answered with
further investigation. One future investigation could be how different facing slopes affect the rate
of color leaf change. The ravine system at Grand Valley State University campus is an ideal
location to conduct research like this. Using one slope facing north and one slope facing south,
test the rate of color change of the different facing slopes. Each slope would receive very
different light intensity because of where the sun rises and sets, possibly resulting in different
rates of leaf color change. We thought it would be interesting to do a future test on the
comparison of how the biomass of the leaf relates to its stem. We found when we took leaf
samples, that two leaves from the same tree were ranged greatly in size of the leaf and size of the
stem. Using samples from trees we could dry leaves out and weigh them to find how the biomass
of the leaf related to how long the stem is.
 COLOR CHANGE IN SUGAR MAPLE LEAVES

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