Rain and wind are buffeting the trees. Slowly the chlorophyll comes out of the leaves and other coloured photosynthesis pigments remain. Xanthaphyl and Ceratines are some of these. They are the pigments that cause yellows and reds. They are the chemicals that transfer energy from sunlight and convert Carbon Dioxide and Water to sugars and Oxygen. The sugars feed the plants and the Oxygen helps supply the air that we breathe. If plants stopped providing Oxygen and sugar we would run out of Oxygen (21% in air) and the food we get from plants. They are essential for life. And if when the Nothern Hemisphere lost leaves in Autumn, the South didn’t have a Springtime we would be in trouble