So, to sort of show whether this theory about whether this
coloration was some sort of warning to insects, the scientists actually put aphids on these
two different types of trees. They put aphids, which are sort of a pest of apple trees, on
trees with leaves that really didn’t change colors, so leaves were mostly green, and they
put the aphids on trees which have a lot of these really bright red leaves. And what they
found was that – come Spring – 60% of the aphids in the green trees survived versus only
29% of those in the red trees. So, even though the scientists didn’t show it specifically, it
seems to argue that maybe there is something poisonous about these red leaves or just
something undesirable about these leaves that’s harmful to the insects, so when the trees
get, you know, bright red, when the leaves get bright red in the Autumn, they’re saying to
insects, “Hey, you’d better stay away.”
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