🍁 Redwoods grow new leaves to adapt to drought

Humans aren’t the only ones changing with the climate. According to the American Journal of Botany California’s iconic redwood trees adjust their leaves’ capacity for water depending on their environment.

Yahoo! Finance writes that the redwood leaves have two types of shoots: “axial shoots, which are bunched together and located close to the twig, and peripheral shoots, which are longer and more commonly identified as leaves. The axial shoots are major sources of water. They absorb water at four times the rate of peripheral shoots, which have other critical functions like powering photosynthesis”.

New research found that trees which live in a drier location are growing axial leaves higher on the tree trunk. This makes it easier for them to absorb moisture from rain or fog. In locations where drought isn’t as harsh the trees tend to grow their axial leaves lower down on the stem.

This means that trees are adapting to drought and climate change in real-time.

Picture: UC Davis