title: Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in the urban environment.
abstract: Studies focused on pollutants deposition on vegetation surfaces or aerodynamics of vegetation space conflict in whether vegetation planting can effectively reduce airborne particulate matter (PM) pollution. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the conflict, we conducted experiments during 2013 and 2014 in Beijing, China to evaluate the importance of vegetation species, planting configurations and wind in influencing PM concentration at urban and street scales. Results showed that wind field prevailed over the purification function by vegetation at urban scale. All six examined planting configurations reduced total suspended particle along horizontal but not vertical direction. Shrubs and trees-grass configurations performed most effectively for horizontal PM2.5 reduction, but adversely for vertical attenuation. Trapping capacity of PMs was species-specific, but species selection criteria could hardly be generalized for practical use. Therefore, design of planting configuration is practically more effective than tree species selection in attenuating the ambient PM concentrations in urban settings.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Soil & Water Conservation & Desertification Combating, Ministry of Education, College of Soil & Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Qinghua East Road 35, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Soil & Water Conservation & Desertification Combating, Ministry of Education, College of Soil & Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Qinghua East Road 35, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China.
authors.forename: Chenming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Soil & Water Conservation & Desertification Combating, Ministry of Education, College of Soil & Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Qinghua East Road 35, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Soil & Water Conservation & Desertification Combating, Ministry of Education, College of Soil & Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Qinghua East Road 35, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China.
authors.forename: Mao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Soil & Water Conservation & Desertification Combating, Ministry of Education, College of Soil & Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Qinghua East Road 35, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: zhqzhang@bjfu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D000068476:Beijing; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D006109:Poaceae / Q000254:growth & development*; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*; D014507:Urbanization; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter
keywords: Biofiltering; Particulate matter (PM2.5 & total suspended particle(TSP)); Spatial planting configuration; Species differences; Wind effect