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Forests
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Effects of Urban Forests on Air Pollution
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Effects of Urban Forests on Air Pollution

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 8472

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Emeritus Joe R. McBride

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departments of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Interests: urban forestry; forest succession

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Trees in urban areas can both contribute to and remove pollutants from the air over cities. Unprecedented levels of air pollution have occurred in major cities around the world in recent years. This trend has been accompanied by the growth of municipal areas and the loss of tree canopy cover in urban areas. Research is needed to better understand the mechanisms employed by trees to remove pollutants form the air and the biochemistry of pollutant production by trees. We are also in need of a greater understanding of the differences in air pollution removal and production by different tree species and tree characteristics account for these differences. Additionally, research is needed to extrapolate individual tree characteristics to an entire urban forest to better understand the capacity of existing or planned urban forests to effect air pollution in our cities. Climate change is another factor that will influence both tree canopy cover in urban areas and the capacity of tree to effect air pollution. We encourage studies from all field related to the effects of trees on air pollution to contribute to this special issue. Such information will inform researchers in the fields of air pollution, tree physiology, and urban forestry as well as landscape architects, arborists, and urban planners. 

Prof. Emeritus Joe R. McBride
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Air pollution
  • Urban forests
  • Volatile organ compounds
  • Ecosystem services
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Absorption
  • Adsorption
  • Microclimate

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 9915 KiB  
Article
Relationship between Remotely Sensed Ambient PM10 and PM2.5 and Urban Forest in Seoul, South Korea
by Jincheol Park and Peter Sang-Hoon Lee
Forests 2020, 11(10), 1060; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101060 - 30 Sep 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2869
Abstract
Currently particulate matter (PM) is one of the major threats to public health and safety in urban areas such as Seoul, South Korea. The limited amount of air-quality monitoring systems may not provide sufficient data or coverage, in particular on the spots of [...] Read more.
Currently particulate matter (PM) is one of the major threats to public health and safety in urban areas such as Seoul, South Korea. The limited amount of air-quality monitoring systems may not provide sufficient data or coverage, in particular on the spots of urban forest. Considering urban forest as a possible contributor to mitigate PM in an urban area, this study investigated the relationship between the size and topography of urban forests near the air-quality monitoring stations and PM measurements from those stations. The average of PM measurements during the study period of August 2017 to July 2019 was computed into three different domains by using three concentric buffers from 25 monitoring stations distributed across Seoul. To estimate PM concentrations, multiple linear regression models were developed by using satellite-borne multi-spectral band data retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer onboard Terra (MODIS) and Landsat 8 in conjunction with meteorological data sets. Overall, PM10 and PM2.5 measurements significantly varied with season and tended to be lower with large urban forests than small ones by 5.3% for PM10 and 4.8% for PM2.5. Overall, PM10 and PM2.5 measurements were lower at the domains encompassing high urban forests in elevation than those of relatively flattened forests by 9.1% for PM10 and 3.9% for PM2.5. According to the findings from this study, the topographical difference among urban forests could exert a more significant influence on PM mitigation. The result from correlation analysis between the PM estimates from Landsat 8-based models and ground-based PM measurements was considered reliable based on Pearson’s coefficients of 0.21 to 0.74 for PM10 and −0.33 to 0.74 for PM2.5. It was considered that using a satellite imagery-derived PM model could be effective to manage urban forest over a large area which in general implies the limitation of data collection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Urban Forests on Air Pollution)
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20 pages, 4875 KiB  
Article
Surface-Based Analysis of Leaf Microstructures for Adsorbing and Retaining Capability of Airborne Particulate Matter in Ten Woody Species
by Myeong Ja Kwak, Jong Kyu Lee, Sanghee Park, Handong Kim, Yea Ji Lim, Keum-Ah Lee, Joung-a Son, Chang-Young Oh, Iereh Kim and Su Young Woo
Forests 2020, 11(9), 946; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11090946 - 29 Aug 2020
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 4763
Abstract
We evaluated surface-based analysis for assessing the possible relationship between the microstructural properties and particulate matter (i.e., two size fractions of PM2.5 and PM10) adsorption efficiencies of their leaf surfaces on ten woody species. We focused on the effect of [...] Read more.
We evaluated surface-based analysis for assessing the possible relationship between the microstructural properties and particulate matter (i.e., two size fractions of PM2.5 and PM10) adsorption efficiencies of their leaf surfaces on ten woody species. We focused on the effect of PM adsorption capacity between micro-morphological features on leaf surfaces using a scanning electron microscope and a non-contact surface profiler as an example. The species with higher adsorption of PM10 on leaf surfaces were Korean boxwood (Buxus koreana Nakai ex Chung & al.) and evergreen spindle (Euonymus japonicus Thunb.), followed by yulan magnolia (Magnolia denudata Desr.), Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata Siebold & Zucc.), Japanese horse chestnut (Aesculus turbinata Blume), retusa fringetree (Chionanthus retusus Lindl. & Paxton), maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba L.), and royal azalea (Rhododendron schlippenbachii Maxim.). There was a higher capacity for the adsorption of PM2.5 on the leaf surfaces of B. koreana and T. cuspidata, followed by A. turbinata, C. retusus, E. japonicus, G. biloba, and M. denudata. In wax layer tests, T. cuspidata, A. turbinata, R. schlippenbachii, and C. retusus showed a statistically higher PM2.5 capturing capacity than the other species. Different types of trichomes were distributed on the adaxial and abaxial leaves of A. turbinata, C. retusus, M. denudata, pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott), B. koreana, and R. schlippenbachii; however, these trichomes were absent on both sides of the leaves of G. biloba, tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera L.), E. japonicus, and T. cuspidata. Importantly, leaf surfaces of G. biloba and S. japonicum with dense or thick epicuticular leaf waxes and deeper roughness revealed lower PM adsorption. Based on the overall performance of airborne PM capture efficiency, evergreen species such as B. koreana, T. cuspidata, and E. japonicus showed the best results, whereas S. japonicum and L. tulipifera had the lowest capture. In particular, evergreen shrub species showed higher PM2.5 depositions inside the inner wall of stomata or the periphery of guard cells. Therefore, in leaf microstructural factors, stomatal size may be related to notably high PM2.5 holding capacities on leaf surfaces, but stomatal density, trichome density, and roughness had a limited effect on PM adsorption. Finally, our findings indicate that surface-based microstructures are necessarily not a correlation for corresponding estimates with leaf PM adsorption. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Urban Forests on Air Pollution)
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