Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, and additional information follow below.
All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 10-9-15.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of October 12, 2015.
MUSIC – 4 sec
This week, we repeat an episode from October 2014, featuring
music about an annual turning point that inspires humans but shuts down
trees. Have a listen for about 40
seconds.
MUSIC – 40 sec
You’ve been listening to part of “Colors” by John McCutcheon
on his 1998 album “Four Seasons: Autumn Songs,” from Rounder Records. Prior to moving to Atlanta in 2006, Wisconsin
native John McCutcheon was a long-time resident of Charlottesville, Virginia. The song’s full lyrics portray a person’s
growing appreciation of the variety of fall leaf colors and their power to
inspire and invigorate people. But for
the trees, autumn colors and falling leaves are signs of internal changes
leading to the relative inactivity of
winter dormancy. Stopped water movement is one of the key
changes. Leaf drop follows the sealing
off of a leaf’s veins from the stem vessels that carried water and dissolved
materials to and from the leaf during the growing season. Left behind on winter twigs are
characteristic marks called leaf scars and bundle scars marking these
fluid-transfer points. Above or beside these
leaf scars are cold-resistant buds, harboring
the tissues that will become next year’s
leaves and colors. Thanks to John McCutcheon and Appalseed
Productions for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with a few
more seconds of “Colors.”
MUSIC – 15 sec
For more Virginia water sounds, music, and information, visit
us online at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. Virginia
Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part
of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo
version of Cripple Creek to open and close the show. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you
health, wisdom, and good water.
AUDIO NOTES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“Colors” and
“Four Seasons: Autumn Songs” are copyright by John McCutcheon/Appalsongs and Si
Kahn/Joe Hill Music, used with permission of Appalseed Productions. More information about John McCutcheon is
available from his Web site, http://www.folkmusic.com/.
This week’s episode replaces Episode 234, 10-6-14.
PHOTOS
 |
| Black Gum twig showing bud above a crescent-shaped leaf scar; the leaf scar contains three white bundle scars. Photo by John Seiler, Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Conservation; used with permission. |
 |
| Sugar Maple in early stages of changing colors in Blacksburg, Va., October 5, 2014. |
 |
| Twin Red Maples in full autumn color at Bissett Park in Radford, Va., October 18, 2011. |
 |
| Sugar Maple in Blacksburg, Va., October 21, 2014. |
SOURCES
Used in Audio
J.R. Seiler, J.W. Groninger, and J.A. Peterson, Forest
Biology Textbook (compact disk), Virginia Tech Department of Forest
Resources and Conservation, Blacksburg, 2008, online at http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forestbiology/syllabus3.htm.
“Why Leaves Change Color,” U.S. Forest Service/Northeastern
Area, online at http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/pubs/leaves/leaves.shtm.
Other Sources of
Information about Trees and Water
“Virginia Tech Dendrology Tools,” online at http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/tools.htm. This Web site, part of the dendrology course by Dr. John Seiler in Virginia Tech's Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, offers identification keys and fact sheets to trees and other woody plants throughout North America.
Jacob Demmitt, “Professor's leaf peeping is down to a
science,” Roanoke Times, 10/18/14.
This article discusses details of fall colors in tree leaves with John
Seiler, Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental
Conservation. The article is available online at http://www.roanoke.com/news/local/blacksburg/virginia-tech-professor-has-leaf-peeping-down-to-a-science/article_b3c9127b-6594-50cc-9e4c-856b007bd755.html.
Sanglin Lee and Alan Raflo, “An Introduction to Trees in
Virginia and Their Connections to Water,” Virginia Water Resources
Research Center, December 2011; available online from from the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/an-introduction-to-trees-in-virginia-and-their-connections-to-water/.
RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES
Other Virginia Water
Radio episodes on trees include the following:
Ecological and human benefits of trees: Episode 153, 3/18/13, featuring “Grandad Planted Trees” by Bob Gramann;
Ecological and human benefits of trees: Episode 153, 3/18/13, featuring “Grandad Planted Trees” by Bob Gramann;
Forests and forestry in the southeast: Episode
160, 5/6/13, featuring “Piney Mountains” by Bruce Molsky;
Maple trees: Episode
84, 10/17/11, featuring “Wind in the Maples/Sugartree Branch” by Timothy
Seaman;
Sycamores: Episode
176, 8/26/13, featuring “Sycamore Rapids” by Timothy Seaman.
Please also see the “Plants” category at the Virginia Water
Radio Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).
SOLS INFORMATION FOR
VIRGINIA TEACHERS
This episode may help with the following Virginia’s 2010 Science
Standards of Learning (SOLs):
Grades K-6 Earth
Patterns, Cycles, and Change Theme
K.10 – Changes in natural and human-made things over time.
2.7 – Weather and seasonal changes affecting plants and
animals.
3.8 – Basic patterns and cycles in nature.
Grades K-6 Life
Processes Theme
K.7 – basis needs and processes of plants and animals.
2.4 - life cycles.
3.4 - behavioral and physiological adaptations.
Grades K-6 Living
Systems Theme
2.5 - living things as part of a system, including habitats.
4.4 – basic plant anatomy and processes.
5.5 - organism features and classification.
Life Science Course
LS.6 - ecosystem interactions, including the water cycle,
other cycles, and energy flow.
LS.9 - adaptations for particular ecosystems’ biotic and
abiotic factors.
LS. 10 - changes over time in ecosystems, communities, and
populations, and factors affecting those changes.
Biology Course
BIO.8 - dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations,
communities, and ecosystems; including nutrient cycling, succession, effects of
natural events and human activities, and analysis of the flora, fauna, and
microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.
