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The myth of red leaves

Despite this document being aimed at terrestrial plants I like the point he makes at the end, "There is no single reason why leaves turn red". :thumbup:
 
Hi,
Sounds reasonable to me. Some of the causal factors have relevance to aquatic plants and the production of anthocyanins or related pigments may be a direct result of response to environmental stress such as high lighting which may help with antioxidant response. We have to be careful when looking at data for terrestrial plants, so that the listed causal factors such as drought, cold temperatures, wounding and pathogens are most likely not relevant. Factors such as anoxia, herbicides, nutrient deficiency/toxicity and salt stress would be marginally relevant whereas factors such as normal juvenile reddening and normal leaf morphology would have greater relevance. Based on evidence alone I'd agree with the authors conclusions - at least the first three anyway since they have the most relevance.

There does not seem to be a single cause. For example, you can see Viktorlantos's experiment with high light in the thread Plants with less and more light whereas JamesC has found that using less light actually made his rotala green go more red in green rotal rotundifolia. James also claimed that spectrum might play a role, while Plantbrain cautions that clever photographers can make any plant look red in the thread Achieving redish color in plants such a eleoharis and glosso

Cheers,
 
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