Hi folks,

 

This is my first post on this forum. I hope this is the appropriate place. Now for my question... On Earth deciduous plants and trees lose their leaves in the fall and grow back in the spring (as we all know). What would happen if we grow deciduous plants and/or trees on Mars, in a protective structure? Would they "know" when to lose their leaves and grow them back? In other words, how would they behave?

 

-grecinos

The gravity may make minor differences. ie. on earth plant roots are pulled down by gravity. so a change in gravity may effect how the roots will grow.

 

how would they behave?

 

That depends they may change color etc we don't know until we try it.

 

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plants_in_spacethe roots may still grow normally but then there are many different plants

Edited January 10, 201510 yr by fiveworlds

In the Fall, deciduous plants and trees are responding primarily to the increasing length of night, but also to changes in temperature, intensity change of sunlight, moisture availability, daytime versus nighttime temperature differential, and other factors.

 

The behavior of these plants on Mars would therefore depend in large part on how they experienced the above mentioned factors.

The gravity may make minor differences. ie. on earth plant roots are pulled down by gravity. so a change in gravity may effect how the roots will grow.

Plant roots are pulled down by gravity in exactly the same way that plant stems are pulled down by gravity. It is the cellular response to gravity and sunlight that determine the direction of root and stem growth.

 

See Gravitropism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitropism

and Phototropism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phototropism

On Earth deciduous plants and trees lose their leaves in the fall and grow back in the spring (as we all know). What would happen if we grow deciduous plants and/or trees on Mars, in a protective structure? Would they "know" when to lose their leaves and grow them back? In other words, how would they behave?

 

Some information on this could be found by looking at plants that are grown outside their native areas: e.g. northern deciduous trees grown in the tropics.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=522037