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The effect of particulate air pollution on hospitalization and effect modification by green space
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Urban trees perform a number of ecosystem services including air pollution removal, carbon sequestration, cooling air temperatures and providing aesthetic beauty to the urban landscape. Trees remove air pollution by intercepting particulate matter on plant surfaces and absorbing gaseous pollutants through the leaf stomata. Computer simulations with local environmental data reveal that trees in 86 Canadian cities removed 16,500 tonnes (t) of air pollution in 2010 (range: 7500–21,100 t), with human health effects valued at 227.2 million Canadian dollars (range: $52.5–402.6 million). Annual pollution removal varied among cities and ranged up to 1740 t in Vancouver, British Columbia. Overall health impacts included the avoidance of 30 incidences of human mortality (range: 7–54) and 22,000 incidences of acute respiratory symptoms (range: 7900–31,100) across these cities.
Human health risks caused by PM2.5 raise awareness to the role of trees as bio-filters of urban air pollution, but not all species are equally capable of filtering the air. The objectives of this current study were: (1) to determine the foliar traits for effective PM2.5-capture and (2) explore species-to-species differences in foliar PM2.5-recapture capacity following a rain event. The study concluded that overall, the acicular needle shape made conifers more efficient with PM2.5 accumulation and post-rainfall recapture than broadleaved species. The foliar shape and venation of broadleaved species did not appear to influence the PM2.5 accumulation. However, the number of the grooves and trichomes of broadleaved species were positively related to foliar PM2.5 accumulation, suggesting that they could be used as indicators for the effectiveness of tree PM2.5 capture. Furthermore, the amount of PM2.5 removal by rainfall was determined by the total foliar PM2.5. Not all PM2.5 remained on the foliage. In some species, PM2.5 was resuspended during the growing season, and thus reduced the net particular accumulation for that species. These findings contribute to a better understanding of tree species potential for reducing PM2.5 in urban environments.
Pollution caused by particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) is now a major environmental problem in many Asian cities. Planting more trees has been suggested as an unconventional approach to alleviate the problem. In this study, we developed a ranking approach to evaluate the PM2.5removal efficiency, negative impacts on air quality, and the suitability to urban environments of commonly occurring urban tree species. The results showed that the most frequently occurring tree species in global cities were not the best performers in removing PM2.5. Among the ten most frequently occurring tree species, only London plane (Platanus acerifolia (Aiton) Wild.), silver maple (Acer saccharinum L.) and honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) were ranked above average. However, there is great potential for improving the removal of PM2.5from urban air by using species that have high PM2.5removal efficiency, especially conifer species. Use of conifer species requires choosing the correct gender and matching trees with appropriate sites. The results from this study can assist environmental management agencies in the selection of tree species for urban greening projects focusing on PM2.5control. © Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
• Recent studies have shown interests in beneficial effect of green space on human health in urban cities and improvement in general health
- Nowak
• Recent studies have shown interests in beneficial effect of green space on human
health in urban cities and improvement in general health (Nowak et al.,, 2006).