Evaluating the potential of vegetation to capture pollutants in urban environment

Abstract

Urban environments are subject to a concentration of air pollutants that may cause several health problems and discomfort to their inhabitants. Pollutant emissions are related with several anthropogenic sources, such as biomass heat-ing systems in buildings, the vicinity of industries and especially the intense road traffic. Improvements in air quality and consequent mitigation of climate changes are essential to achieve a more sustainable urban environment. The presence of vegetation sprawled in urban areas is important to achieve this goal. This paper analysis the capacity of several plant species to capture atmospheric pollutants, and specifically Particulate Matter (PM) in urban environment. The adopted methodology focuses on measuring and calculating the ability to absorb PM by three plant species - Parthenocissus quinquefólia, Hedera Helix and Quercus pal-ustris Muenchh - in periods of exposure to pollutants from 3 to 14 days. The specific removal of air pollutants by plants is a parameter influenced by several factors, such as the type of associated green infrastructure, leaf area, leaf density, plant species, location, exposure time and the type of the polluting source. From this research it can be concluded that the type of plant and its morphological characteristics are more influential than the size of its leaves.