| I've occasionally wondered about that, but never to the point of wanting to give somebody money to find out. I guess somebody else wondered, too... |
That maple tree in your front yard may be magnificent this time of year, cloaked in the colorful robes of splendor that herald the transition from one season to the next, but you might want to give it even more respect. It could be a killer.
Researchers at New York's Colgate University have found evidence that the brilliant red hues of autumn aren't just there for our personal enjoyment. They're engaged in a kind of chemical warfare, releasing poisons that could kill off the competition. Thus maple trees, and probably some other species that turn crimson in the fall, join a growing list of plants that don't just beat around the bush when other plants start intruding into their space. They kill them off. Scientists call it "allelopathy."
For years scientists have known that black walnut trees are lethal when it comes to protecting their turf. And more recently, the mighty chestnut tree that once blanketed the Appalachians has come under suspicion. But the maple tree adds a surprising twist. How could anything that lovely be deadly?
It all began when Colgate biology professor Frank Frey and a former student, Maggie Eldridge, started looking into a peculiarity involving plants that turn red in the fall. The predominant colors of autumn break out when chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down and exposes remaining pigments, which are often yellow or orange. But it takes a different process to produce red. That isn't a pigment that is left over when everything else is gone. Instead, it's produced in the fall, at the very time when the tree is struggling to cope with the energy demands of a changing and challenging season.
Why, Frey and Eldridge wondered, did the maple go to all that trouble at a time when it needed its metabolic energy for other purposes, like stimulating the growth of its root system? So they collected chemical extracts from red and green maple leaves and yellow and green beech leaves and poured it over lettuce seeds. Some previous research had shown that wood extracts from red maple and red cedar inhibited the growth of lettuce.
But Frey and Eldridge found that red maple is the clear winner. It "dramatically reduced germination and growth compared to all other treatments," they say in a study that is soon to be published. "When scarlet-tinted autumn leaves are dropped in the fall, it appears that anthocyanins (molecules that produce the red color) leach from the leaves into the soil and protect seedlings and saplings from interspecific competition the following spring," Frey says. In other words, no one but maples allowed.
All of this has a practical purpose. As Frey notes, other research shows that anthocyanins may inhibit the growth of some cancer cells in vertebrates, so eventually there may be a medicinal application. Other researchers see this kind of chemical warfare as a possible pathway to better weed control. And it has opened a surprising window on just how ruthless some species may be when it comes to protecting their turf.
More at link... |