Urban trees & Particulate Matter: how to estimate tree PM removal efficiency

Speaker: Dr. Chiara Baldacchini

Particulate matter (PM) is one of the main atmospheric pollutants, especially in urban environments, where the majority of anthropogenic PM sources can be found. It is well known that plant leaves can interact with PM, accomplishing an important removal action of particles from the atmosphere. This occurs based on two main mechanisms: plant respiration (only for fine PM, smaller than 1 micron) and surface deposition (for larger particles). Different methods have been developed to quantify the amount of PM removed by trees, with the final aim of better understanding this phenomenon and help stakeholders and planners in suitably using trees for air quality mitigation. In this lecture, the pros and cons of different methods will be presented and discussed.

Presentation

Lesson video