How many different pigments (spots) were present in your leaf?
Analysis and Discussion
1. How many different pigments (spots) were present — in your leaf? — in the leaf of the other species?
2. What causes the differences in color?
3. The two spots closest to the source point are usually “chlorophyll a” (bluish green) and “chlorophyll b” (a pale green). Any other spots indicate the presence of “auxiliary pigments”. — Are the colors of chlorophyll and the auxiliary pigments similar or different? — Why would having more than one color of pigment be advantageous?
4. Compare the pigments found in your two species of plant. — Are the colors of the chlorophylls similar in the two species? — Are the colors of the auxiliary pigments similar in the two species? Why fall colors? We didn’t see the auxiliary pigments in the intact leaf because they are masked by the presence of chlorophyll, which is much more abundant. However, the auxillary pigments do become visible in autumn, just before the leaves fall off the trees, because the chlorophyll breaks down first.