Answer: c. Deciduous trees lose their leaves to prevent nutrient and water loss.
Deciduous trees are trees which shed their leaves once in a year. The trees in the deciduous forest shed their leaves in the dry and winter seasons. The reason behind this is to conserve water and nutrients. The leaves during dry and winter months does not receive proper sunlight and water to carry out photosynthesis. The nutrients from the leaves are transported to the root. When all the nutrients are transferred to the roots and the leaves are unable to synthesize more food. The chlorophyll pigment of the leaf is entirely consumed up, and the color of the leaf changes from green to red. The nutrient lacking leaves fall down. This process of storing nutrients and shedding of leaves is called as abscission. This abscission process is necessary adaptation of deciduous trees for surviving in dry and winter months, these trees conserves energy and nutrients to regrow leaves in the springs.
