a b s t r a c tTrees remove air pollution by the interception of particulate matter on plant surfaces and the absorption of gaseous pollutants through the leaf stomata. However, the magnitude and value of the effects of trees and forests on air quality and human health across the United States remains unknown. Computer simulations with local environmental data reveal that trees and forests in the conterminous United States removed 17.4 million tonnes (t) of air pollution in 2010 (range: 9.0e23.2 million t), with human health effects valued at 6.8 billion U.S. dollars (range: $1.5e13.0 billion). This pollution removal equated to an average air quality improvement of less than one percent. Most of the pollution removal occurred in rural areas, while most of the health impacts and values were within urban areas. Health impacts included the avoidance of more than 850 incidences of human mortality and 670,000 incidences of acute respiratory symptoms.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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1Urban trees can help mitigate some of the environmental degradation linked to the rapid 2 urbanization of humanity. Many municipalities are implementing ambitious tree planting 3 programs to help remove air pollution, mitigate urban heat island effects, and provide other 4 ecosystem services and benefits but lack quantitative tools to explore priority planting locations 5 and potential tradeoffs between services. This work demonstrates a quantitative method for 6 exploring priority planting and ecosystem service tradeoffs in Baltimore, Maryland using 7 spatially explicit biophysical iTree models. Several planting schemes were created based on the 8 individual optimization of a number of metrics related to services and benefits of air pollution 9 and heat mitigation ecosystem services. The results demonstrate that different tree planting 10 schemes would be pursued based on the ecosystem service or benefit maximized, revealing 11 tradeoffs between services and priority planting locations. With further development including 12 consideration of additional ecosystem services, disservices, user input, and costs of tree planting 13 and maintenance, this approach could provide city planners, urban foresters, and members of the 14 public with a powerful tool to better manage urban forest systems.

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