Why Do Quaking Aspen Quake?
Why do aspen leaves flutter? It’s in both their common name (quaking aspen) and scientific name (Populus tremuloides). The leaves are undeniably built for it; the leaf stalks are flattened, allowing the leaves to twist and bend from side to side in the slightest breeze (which thermals reliably provide each and every sunny afternoon in the mountains). Sure, poets would claim there’s something pleasant about taking a nap beneath their glowing foliage while they rustle and sparkle in the clear mountain air. But natural selection awards little value to deciduous trees for giving bipedal mammals a relaxing siesta. Why, then, do the scientists think they flutter? Photosynthesis, like any other chemical reaction, proceeds optimally in certain ranges of conditions there’s an optimal temperature, humidity, wavelength of light, abundance of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and so on. Heat for example: chemical reactions slow down as the temperature drops, yet if you raise the temperature too much unde
