How do maple trees adapt in winter?
Maple trees adapt like all other deciduous plants. 1. the leaves start to shut down with the cold so they draw in the energy costly chlorophyll first, then the other pigments that contribute to photosynthesis thats why leaves turn colors in the fall. 2. apoptosis at the petiole, that means the cells that attach the leaf to the stem starts to die, this doesn’t happen to all plants, oaks for instance keep their brown dead ugly leafs until the spring when they are pushed out. Water can freeze inside the tree but this is rare, wikipedia “frost flowers”. For the most part everything just slows down: nutrient movement, stem growth, and root growth.
