Quantifying particulate matter accumulated on leaves by 17 species of urban trees in Beijing, China

Abstract

Airborne particulate matter (PM) has become a serious environmental problem and harms human health worldwide. Trees can effectively remove particles from the atmosphere and improve the air quality. In this study, a washing and weighing method was used to quantify accumulation of water-soluble ions and insoluble PM on the leaf surfaces and within the wax of the leaves for 17 urban plant species (including 4 shrubs and 13 trees). The deposited PM was determined in three size fractions: fine (0.2-2.5 μm), coarse (2.5-10 μm), and large (> 10 μm). Significant differences in the accumulation of PM were detected among various species. The leaves of Platycladus orientalis and Pinus armandi were the most effective in capturing PM. Across the species, 65 and 35% of PM, on average, deposited on the leaf surface and in the wax, respectively. The greatest PM accumulation by mass on leaves was in the largest PM size fraction, while the accumulation of coarse and fine particle size fractions was smaller. Water-soluble ions accumulated on the leaf surfaces contributed 28% to the total PM mass, on average. This study demonstrated that leaves of woody plants accumulate PM differently, and the most effective plant species should be selected in urban areas for attenuating ambient PM.

The Effect of Vegetation Enhancement on Particulate Pollution Reduction: CFD Simulations in an Urban Park

“…Recently, numerous studies have discussed the deposition velocity or particulate capture efficiency of various tree species through wind tunnel experiments or field studies [22][23][24][25][26][27]. Methods include mass subtraction [28,29], membrane filters [30][31][32][33][34], and elution weighing coupled with particle size analysis by electron microscopy [35][36][37][38][39][40], along with other direct measuring methods with aerosol instruments [41][42][43]. These studies largely analyze the deposition rate of PM on leaves [44,45], as well as changes in retention duration of different PM sizes on leaf surfaces [46].…”

Iptu: Instrumento Legal De Preservação Do Meio Ecológico

“…al 2018). O material particulado levado pelo ar é prejudicial aos seres humanos e as árvores podem remover as partículas da atmosfera, melhorando a qualidade de vida humana (Xu et al 2018).…”

Urban Vegetation in Air Quality Management: A Review and Policy Framework

“…Plant level study [10][11][12][13][31][32][33][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]65,69,73] Local scale [14][15][16][17]19,[21][22][23][24][26][27][28][29]34,44,63,75,76] Neighbourhood scale [18,…”