Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11

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Environmental Pollution
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol

Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter

of particulate matters in the urban environment
Lixin Chen, Chenming Liu, Rui Zou, Mao Yang, Zhiqiang Zhang*
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

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Studies focused on pollutants deposition on vegetation surfaces or aerodynamics of vegetation space
Received 12 April 2015 conflict in whether vegetation planting can effectively reduce airborne particulate matter (PM) pollution.
Received in revised form To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the conflict, we conducted experiments during 2013
18 August 2015
and 2014 in Beijing, China to evaluate the importance of vegetation species, planting configurations and
Accepted 3 September 2015
Available online xxx
wind in influencing PM concentration at urban and street scales. Results showed that wind field pre-
vailed over the purification function by vegetation at urban scale. All six examined planting configura-
tions reduced total suspended particle along horizontal but not vertical direction. Shrubs and treesegrass
Keywords:
Particulate matter (PM2.5 & total suspended
configurations performed most effectively for horizontal PM2.5 reduction, but adversely for vertical
particle(TSP)) attenuation. Trapping capacity of PMs was species-specific, but species selection criteria could hardly be
Species differences generalized for practical use. Therefore, design of planting configuration is practically more effective than
Spatial planting configuration tree species selection in attenuating the ambient PM concentrations in urban settings.
Wind effect © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Biofiltering

1. Introduction Vegetation captures gases, particulates and aerosols from the

Rapid urbanization over past decades has increased urban
population with inhalation exposure to hazardous air pollutants
(Du et al., 2014). Widespread breakouts of smog events across
China have drawn increasing public attention to airborne particu-
late pollutants. The fine (aerodynamic diameter of
particles&2.5 mm) and ultrafine (particles<0.1 mm) particles origi-
nated from anthropogenic sources can be transported further in
human pulmonary alveoli resulting in more serious health impacts
(Hofman et al., 2013). Complications of chronic PM exposure
include premature deaths, allergy, cardiovascular and respiratory
diseases, even lung cancer (Cohen et al., 2005; Hofman et al., 2013;
Remy et al., 2011). With realization of the adverse health effects, a
number of measures have been taken to mitigate particulate air
pollution at the source to constrain atmospheric concentration
levels, including emission reductions, limitations and targets (e.g.
WHO Air Quality Guidelines (WHO, 2006)). Exploration of the po-
tential mitigation effect of vegetation is one of these efforts (Beckett
et al., 1998; Litschke and Kuttler, 2008; Yang et al., 2005).
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhqzhang@bjfu.edu.cn (Z. Zhang).
atmosphere more effectively than other land surfaces (Tallis et al.,
2011). Therefore, vegetation surfaces can serve as a sink for atmo-
spheric particles and an interface where some elemental nutrients
adhering to the particulate matters (PMs) can be absorbed. Forests
are efficient sinks for most atmospheric pollutants (Nowak et al.,
2000; Nowak and Crane, 2002). Studies showed that trees can
reduce concentrations of ammonia plume by deposition to plant
cuticles and stomatal uptake (McDonald et al., 2007; Tiwary et al.,
2006). Assessment found that urban vegetations in Guangzhou,
China can eliminate 312.03 Mg of SO2, NO2 and total suspended
particles (TSP) on an annual basis (Jim and Chen, 2008). PM
removal by urban trees in the United States has been estimated at
711,000 tones (t) per year (Nowak et al., 2006). It has been esti-
mated that existing urban forests in Chicago have removed 212 ton
of PM10 each year (McPherson et al., 1994). Moreover, model results
estimated that urban trees improve air quality by removing
0.2e1.0% for PM10 (Nowak et al., 2006).
However, some studies on aerodynamics demonstrated that
vegetation can also be negative in reducing atmospheric pollution.
For example, trees along the street canyon block effective ventila-
tion and thus lead to higher local concentration of pollutant
(Gromke and Ruck, 2007, 2009). It is known that vegetation design
and structure can influence the microclimate. Meteorological

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
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Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
2 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11
parameters, such as precipitation, wind speed, turbulence and air
humidity, are important factors (Litschke and Kuttler, 2008). Sta-
tistical analysis indicated that temperature and wind direction
were significant factors influencing PM10 attenuation. Therefore,
one thing should be considered is the spatial planting configura-
tion. During dry periods, planting configurations influence wind
speed that cause interception or re-suspension of particles. Another
aspect that should be considered is the species selection. It is
important to note that different species have different properties,
such as leaf size, stomata, vegetation structure and leaf micro-
structure which will affect the capture efficiency (Freer-Smith et al.,
2004; Mori et al., 2015; Ra€ sa
€nen et al., 2013). The inertia of particles
travelling in an air stream as it curves around an object, such as a
leaf or stem, forces them through the boundary layer and onto the
object. For example, as a result of their large canopy surface area of
leaves, stem and branches and the air turbulence created by their
structure, trees are more effective in the uptake of these materials
than shorter vegetation (Lovett, 1994). It was found that woodlands
collected three times more PM10 than grassland in the West Mid-
lands of England (Fowler et al., 2004).
As an important urban morphological mechanism that provides
both social and ecosystem services in metropolitan areas, the con-
flicting influences of urban green spaces in reducing PM pollution
poses a conundrum for using them in urban planning. To understand
this confliction and facilitate effective use of vegetation in PM
pollution control, this study was conducted during 2013 and 2014 in
Beijing, China, aiming to evaluate the importance of species, spatial
planting configuration and wind effect in influencing PM dispersion
on urban and street scales specifically by answering two questions:
(1) at urban scale, which is more effective in influencing PM pollu-
tion concentration, physical characteristics of large area of vegeta-
tion or the ventilation effect of urban wind field? If the previous is
the case, maximization of green space can bring ideal effect. If the
latter is the case, importance should be attached to the urban
planning configurations that optimize pollution-diluting micro-
meteorology. (2) On the street scale, what are the roles of species
differences and spatial planting configuration in removing air PM
pollution? This also responds to practical needs in detailed green
space design and further understanding under what circumstances
and at what scale vegetation may capture enough PM to improve air
quality and under what circumstances vegetation has no or maybe
even a negative effect on air quality (Buccolieri et al., 2009).
2. Materials and methods
The study contained three major parts corresponding to the
raised questions: 1) Exploration of the relationship between
meteorological factors, vegetation coverage and PM2.5 concentra-
tion at urban scale. On a finer scale, we designed 2) Leaf-washing
experiments to determine the role of species differences; and 3)
on-site street-monitoring to test the differences of planting con-
figurations in affecting air PM concentration.
2.1. Green space, wind data and PM concentration distribution at
urban scale
The study was conducted in the city of Beijing, China, during
2013e2014. We included all blocky green space over 10 m2 as a
whole subject for study at urban scale. The original green space
data within 5th ring road was obtained from Google and extracted
using ArcGIS 10.2 (Fig. 1). Combined with PM2.5 data, this enabled
us to examine the correlation between vegetation layout and PM2.5
distribution across the urban area.
Daily PM2.5 concentration from June 2013 to May 2014 was
collected from the website of Beijing Municipal Environmental
Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
Monitoring Center (http://www.bjmemc.com.cn/). The daily values
were computed into seasonal average (Summer(2013): 1st June to
31st August; Autumn: 1st September to 31st November; Winter: 1st
December to 29th Feburary; Spring (2014):1st March to 31st May).
Intepolation analysis was conducted in ArcGIS 10.2 using data from
all 21 sites (Fig. 1) and thus derived the spatial distribution char-
acteristics of urban Beijing (within 5th Ring Road). We used Original
Kriging for the interpolation approach because of its proved flexi-
bility and effectiveness in quantifing the spatial auto-correlation
based on observed samples. Moreover, it had high accuracy in
predicting normalized data (Zhao et al., 2014).
Corresponding to the PM data at urban scale, daily wind data
(accuracy: 1 m/s) of urban Beijing from June 2013 to October 2014
were downloaded from China Meteorological Data Sharing Service
System (http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/home.do). The monitoring instru-
mentation is not given by the system but the data were already
processed to represent the whole area within the 5th ring road
when downloaded from the website. To study the seasonal rela-
tionship between the wind and the pollution distribution, daily
data were divided into two periods, winterespring (WeS) period
which started from 1st December to 31st May next year and sum-
mereautumn (SeA) period which lasted from 1st June to 31st
November the same year.
2.2. PM comparison by different planting configurations
Traffic (47.9%) and combustion (29.7%) aerosol were found to
dominate the particle number concentrations (Liu et al., 2014).
Therefore, we chose road scenario to conduct on-site study. Previ-
ous analysis revealed seven structural types of urban green spaces
in Beijing (Zhao et al., 2014), which included Tree (as a category),
Shrub, Grass, TreeeShrub, ShrubeGrass and TreeeGrasseShrub.
Therefore, six greenbelts of different planting configurations along
the same main road were selected as the monitoring sites (Fig. 2).
The greenbelts were over 50 m in length and 1 m in width. The
species information can be found in Table 1.
The monitoring campaigns were conducted during daytime
(7:00e19:00) when the relative humidity was low (RH<60%) and
the wind speed was below 6 m/s from March to April. Study
adopted stationary monitoring approaches to determine the ef-
fects of existing, mixed-species tree stand on near-road particu-
late matter concentrations. Wind direction and source pollution
concentration influence the dry deposition on the plants. Given
that the wind field in streets can be complicatedly various, only
data from days without prevail wind direction was used. More-
over, we hypothesized that the source concentration along the
main road is uniform because it is impossible to find a site with
all sorts of planting configurations in real situation. Sites are
500 m away from each other in average (890 m from site A to site
B, 360 m from site B to site C) and background differences among
the sites are minimized. Parallel to the greenbelts and perpen-
dicular to the main road, the PM monitoring equipments (Dust-
mate, Tunkey Co., UK) were deployed in alignment at 10 m and
20 m away from the curb (Fig. 3). At each monitoring point, two
Dustmates were installed at the height of 1.5 m and 3 m,
respectively, to sample PM concentration. A portable meteoro-
logical station (NK4500, Kestrel Co., USA) was also fixed at the
height of 1.5 m to collect on-site environmental information.
Linear regression was used to test the relationship between
micrometeorological and PM data to explore the contributors to
PM concentration changes.
In order to characterize the ability of greenbelt to remove PM,
the PM removal ratio or reduction rate (P, purification efficiency)
along the horizontal and vertical direction at each test point was
calculated as follows:
 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11 3

Fig. 1. Spatial pattern of green space within 5th Ring road (black lines) of Beijing and locations of PM2.5 observation sites (red stars). (For interpretation of the references to color in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

of 1.5 m (in the case of vertical examination) and C2 represents PM

C1  C2 concentration 20 m away from the benchmark (in the case of
P¼  100% (1)
C1 horizontal examination) or at the height of 3 m (in the case of
vertical examination). Due to the equipment limitations, the ver-
where C1 represents PM concentration 10 m away from the tical purification rate was only examined at the test spots 10 m
benchmark (in the case of horizontal examination) or at the height

Fig. 2. Study sites for PM purification efficacy among different plant configurations. Red squares indicate location of study plots. Detailed species information is listed in Table 1. (For
interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Table 1
Species information of different spatial planting configurations.

Planting configurations Green belt attributes Component species Rank Species Attributes (H:Height; DBH;
(L: Length; W: Width; H: Height) CD: Canopy density)

Treeeshrub L ¼ 52 m; W ¼ 1 m; H ¼ 13 m Fraxinus rhynchophylla Tree H ¼ 13 m; DBH ¼ 23 cm; CD ¼ 0.7

Sabina vulgaris Shrub H ¼ 0.3 m
Treeeshrubegrasses L ¼ 53 m; W ¼ 1 m; H ¼ 11 m Sophora japonica Tree H ¼ 11 m; DBH ¼ 13 cm; CD ¼ 0.9
Buxus megistophylla Shrub H ¼ 0.3 m
Bromus inermis Grassses
Treeegrasses L ¼ 52 m; W ¼ 1 m; H ¼ 12 m Sophora japonica Tree H ¼ 12 m; DBH ¼ 14 cm; CD ¼ 0.7
Liriope platyphylla Grasses
Grasses L ¼ 52 m; W ¼ 1 m Liriope platyphylla Grasses
Shrubs L ¼ 52 m; W ¼ 1 m; H ¼ 0.3 m Chaenomeles speciosa Shrub H ¼ 0.3 m
Tree L ¼ 53 m; W ¼ 1 m; H ¼ 11 m Sophora japonica Tree H ¼ 11 m; DBH ¼ 13 cm; CD ¼ 0.7

Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
4 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11
Fig. 3. Diagram of equipment deployment for the monitoring of purification effect of air PM2.5 by different plant configurations. Trees in the diagram represent vegetation included
in this study in general.
away from the benchmark. Because the reduction amount is
normalized by the corresponding source concentration (C1), the
absence of reference case without any vegetation does not influ-
ence between-group comparison.
2.3. Leaf-washing experiments for species comparison
2.3.1. Sampling
We conducted sampling in the campus of Beijing Forestry Uni-
versity (40 000 N,116 340 E) for leaf-washing experiments due to
abundant species resources. Since the species were closely
distributed (within a radius of 500 m), it was valid to assume that
they are exposed to a uniform environment. Therefore, all species
were deemed to have the same background PM concentration.
Thirty-six species (specific species were given in the results) were
tested for their capacity to accumulate particulate matter (PM) on
the leaf surface, including arbors, shrub and lianas. These species
were chosen because the wide use in urban green areas in northern
China, due to their attractive shape, shade and tolerance to with-
stand detrimental urban conditions without visible physiological
stress.
Leaves were collected every month within the campus during
24th April to 31st October 2014. Days of collection must meet the
following criteria: sunny, dry and no rain or high wind (<6 m/s,
measured in the campus using portable meteorological station
(NK4500, Kestrel Co., USA) in the middle of an open green space
and at the height of 10 m) in the 5th day after an event of effective
rainfall (>5 mm). The leaves were assumed clean after rainfall and
experienced same exposure duration to PM pollution. Therefore,
daily deposition can be calculated by average the leaf washing re-
sults (see Leaf washing and PM filtration for detail approaches) into
5 days. Due to limitation in reaching upper crown and the
consideration of preventing dust from being shaken, branches were
collected from the height of 1.5e2.5 m (lower crown). Eight small
branches at four azimuth angles were cut from one sampled tree.
This sample quantity allowed a range of leaf area between 300 and
500 cm2. During collection samples were immediately closed and
labeled in plastic bags to avoid contamination, and stored in the
freezer(18  C) after being brought to the lab in the campus. Given
the relative stable weather condition of pre-sample days and that
the campus allowed a uniform pollution environment, we assumed
that different sample dates across months did not influence the PM
deposition on the leaves. Therefore, every species was sampled
only once during the study period.
Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
2.3.2. Leaf washing and PM filtration
PM can be tracked both on leaf surface and in the leaf wax.
Therefore, chloroform is needed to dissolve the epicuticular wax
_
layer and release the trapped particles (Dzierzanowski et al., 2011).
But due to environmental health concern, we decided only to assess
PM deposition on leaf surface. Taken out of the freezer, leaves on
each branch sample were first washed in distilled water. In order to
get liquid with enough PM weight that are detectable by the bal-
ance, preliminary tests were conducted to determine the times
used for filter drying, cooling, and leaf rinsing with water. Ten gram
(fresh weight) leaves were washed with distilled water and the
leaves were brushed carefully so that the PMs were fully removed
from the leaf surface. The rinse water run through metal sieve with
mesh diameter of 100 mm to get suspension liquid sample I. Ten
percent of the liquid sample I was injected into pre-weighted PP
plastic bag (W1) and dried. The dried bag was weighted again (W2).
Difference between W2 and W1 is the 10% weight of TSP in the
rinsing water. The other 90% of water sample I was pump through
filters (PTFE membrane, Whatman, UK) of 10 mm and then of 2.5 mm
and then to separate two fractions of particles: those with diameter
10e100 mm and those with diameter 2.5e10 mm, respectively
_
(Dzierzanowski et al., 2011).
The filters used for the analysis were first dried for 30 min at
105  C in a drying chamber for 3 hs and then put in a weighting
chamber for 30 mins to stabilize humidity change. Filters were
weighed before and after filtration (XS105DU balance, Mettler-
Toledo International Inc., Switzerland). The resulting weight of
the PM10 and PM2.5 only account for 90% of the original rinsing
liquid, and therefore should be divided by 0.9 to derive the total
weight.
2.3.3. Calculation of leaf area
Species do not grow to similar size under different environ-
ments. Therefore, the accumulation per leaf area was used as a
comparison unit. The amount of PM was expressed per unit leaf
area (as measured by image analysis) (in the unit of mg cm2).
Leaves were dried at the ambient temperature after washing and
pasted on the blank paper for scanning to generate digital images
which were then processed with Photoshop (version: Photoshop
CS5) to get the accurate leaf area. Magic wand tool was used to
select leaves on the image and then the actual area was obtained
from infor window by entering shortcut F8 on the keyboard.
Branches were excluded from quantification of PM deposition due
to the obstacle in accurate assessment of branch area and potential
low ratio in total plant area index (Van der Zande et al., 2009). For
 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11
needle leaves, we took water displacement for leaf volume and
converted the volume to leaf area according to the following
formula:
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

p nV
S ¼ 2L 1 þ
n pL
where S is leaf area, V is water displacement volume as the sub-
stitute of needle-leaf-volume, n is the amount of needle leaves in a
single bundle and L is the average length of the needle leaves (Li
et al., 2001).
3. Results
3.1. Wind statistics and urban green space coverage
Based on the data from the national data sharing service system,
the wind distribution was examined in winterespring (WeS) and
summereautumn (SeA), respectively, corresponding to the sea-
sonal seriousness pattern of particulate pollution. Statistics showed
that the most frequent wind direction was from the north, ac-
counting 80.71% and 76.82% of wind events during WeS and SeA,
respectively. However, the prevailing direction of daily maximum
wind during the two generally-divided seasonal periods were from
the SSW, accounting for 15.38% and 16.88% of all wind events
during the WeS and SeA, respectively (Fig. 4).
The vegetation coverage of suburban Beijing decreased from the
north to the south (Liu et al., 2014). Structural type of green space
within 5th Ring Road (major urban area) of Beijing showed the same
pattern (Fig. 1). Large area of consecutive green space located in the
northeast corner of urban Beijing. By contrast, green space scat-
tered below the horizontal central axis, leaving large area of green
space window.
3.2. Spatial distribution of the particulate pollution
To understand variation in particulate pollution within areas of
different green space coverage, it is necessary to know the space
structure of pollution. Compared with decreasing green space
gradient from north to south, statistics demonstrated a clear
increasing gradient of PM2.5 from north to south across urban
Beijing. The northern part of the city was less afflicted with the
particulate pollution in all seasons (Fig. 5), and the northwest part
Fig. 4. Occurrence frequency of maximum daily wind from the 16 directions.
Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
5
was least affected by particulate pollution. The PM2.5 pollution was
most sever in winter, followed by spring, autumn and summer in
sequence. The average air concentration of PM2.5 reached
112.80 mg m3 and 85.69 mg m3 during WeS and SeA period,
respectively.
3.3. Purification efficiency of spatial planting configurations
Significant diurnal variation was observed in both PM2.5 and
TSP (Total Suspended Particles) concentrations, but no clear pattern
emerged. The inter-day differences of PM2.5 change were more
fluctuant than that of TSP.
We examined whether the plant barrier would act as TSP filter
along the horizontal and vertical direction. The removal percent-
ages i.e. the purification efficiency are different among the tested
spatial planting configurations (Fig. 6). All planting configurations
demonstrated significant horizontal deduction function over TSP
(Fig. 6). But all planting configurations failed to create lower TSP
concentration environment at the breath height of 1.5 m since the
TSP concentration was higher at the height of 1.5 m than that at the
height of 3 m (Fig. 6).
The results were more complicated when considering the hor-
izontal and vertical deduction rate of air PM2.5 concentration. The
results showed that shrubs and Treesegrass groups were the most
effective configurations in preventing PM pollution from further
horizontal transmission. With the presence of these two structures,
the PM2.5 deduced at the spot further away from the green belt.
However, other configurations failed to yield constant alleviation
effect (Fig. 7). In most cases, PM2.5 concentration in the air was
elevated at the breath height behind the belt, which was detri-
mental to pedestrian health. But this was reversed in the exami-
nation of vertical PM2.5 reduction efficiency. Shrubs and
treesegrasses groups exhibited the worst performance. The vertical
reduction rates of these two configurations were positive, which
means that the air PM2.5 concentration was higher at the breath
height than that at the height of 3 m at near-source location. It
indicated that these two structures failed to assist PM transmission
to layer above breath height. By comparison, other configurations
universally had lower air PM2.5 concentration compared with 3 m
monitoring spot (Fig. 7), which means an environment of well-
ventilated PM2.5 concentration for pedestrians.
Normally, the weather factors such as temperature, relative
humidity and wind speed would affect pollutants attenuation to a
certain extent. However, our study failed to observe the significant
impact of such weather factors on removal rate. Significant corre-
lation only was found between some configurations and meteo-
rological factors (wind speed, relative humidity and temperature
for PM2.5, temperature for TSP). Moreover, the correlations (posi-
tive or negative) were highly case-independent (Table 2).
3.4. Species differences in PM removal
Leaf PM in different particle size fractions (TSP, PM10 and
PM2.5) differed among the species. Also, differences among species
within the same genus were also observed, e.g. Magnolia sou-
langeana V.S. Magnolia denudate.
For trees, moderate positive correlations between accumula-
tions of PM2.5 and PM10 fractions were observed across sample
species. The species with the largest accumulation (above
30 mg cm2 d1) of these PM fraction included Ulmus pumila,
Catalpa speciosa, Magnolia denudate, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Pinus
tabulaeformis, Liriodendron chinense, Syringa reticulate, Robinia
pseudoacacia, Populus tomentosa, Eucommia ulmoides and Meta-
sequoia glyptostrodoides.
However, the sequencing of species' PM-capturing ability was
6 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11

Fig. 5. Spatial distribution of PM2.5 pollution (mg m3) within 5th Ring Road of Beijing. Black lines indicate the ring roads.

reorganized in the comparison of TSP, especially among the species
with greatest capturing potential (Fig. 8). It indicated that for a
certain species, its capturing ability of one particle size fraction
could not necessarily be inferred from that of other fractions.
Among the most commonly used greening species in urban Beijing,
Ulmus pumila, Magnolia denudata, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Lir-
iodendron chinense showed high TSP accumulation (calculated as
daily mean value), being over 200 mg cm2 d1 (Fig. 8). Koelreuteria
bipinnata, Phyllostachys praecox, Amygdalus triloba, Diospyros kaki,
Broussonetia papyifera, Quercus variabilis, Taxus cuspidata var. nana,
Toona sinensis, Amygdalus persica var. persica and Cotinus coggygria
had considerably lower TSP accumulation (below 30 mg cm2 d1),
while the remaining species showed intermediate TSP
accumulation.
But in comparison with other plant life forms from the
perspective of PM deposition on unit leaf area, trees did not
necessarily strip more pollutants from the air. In some cases, shrub
and lianas performed better in capturing PM than some tree spe-
cies. In the shrub group, Sorbaria sorbifolia and Ilex chinensis could
reach the top rank in capturing all examined PM fractions. In the
liana group, Parthenocissus quinquefolia demonstrate the capturing
potential equal to the moderate level of that of trees (Fig. 8).
4. Discussion
4.1. Implication of species differences
Vegetation, particularly trees, can reduce people's exposure to
air pollution through the interception of airborne particles
(Brantley et al., 2014; Petroff et al., 2009) or through the uptake of
gaseous air pollution via leaf stomata on the plant surface (Brantley
et al., 2014). From the perspective of PM capturing on unit leaf area,
the highest PM deposition was found among tree species in our
study. Trees have a larger collecting surface area than other life
forms. Due to the elevation from the land, trees create greater
roughness than shrubs and lianas, therefore, promote air turbu-
lence that increases the probability of particles impaction with the
trees surface. Trees are therefore more efficient at capturing par-
ticles from the atmosphere by dry deposition relative to short
vegetation (Gallagher et al., 1997). For example, (Jim and Chen,
2008) concluded that tree cover and pollutant concentration
constituted the main factors in pollutant removal by urban trees. In
addition, it has been shown that the deposition velocity (Vd) in a
woodland is three times that of adjacent grassland areas (Fowler
et al., 2004).
We acknowledged the underestimation in our study since only
the washable fraction of particulate matters was evaluated. Results
from other leaf-washing experiments showed that the PM 10
fraction was many folds of PM2.5. But in our study the deposition
amount of the two fractions were close for a same species. The
differences are highly probable due to the lack of examination of
particulates encapsulated in the wax layer in our study. Actually,
this part can account for a significant amount, e.g. 40% was included
in the wax layer, with a large variance between species(Popek,
2013). For example, Betula pendula accumulated 82.6% of PM in
the wax fraction, whereas Fagus silvatica accumulated only 25% in
the waxes (Sæbø et al., 2012). Therefore, our results cannot be used
for quantity estimation of total particulate matter removal by a
whole plant or on a larger scale. But it is still useful for species
comparison as the treatments are uniform.
Our daily values were in the same range of whole growing
season (Sæbø et al., 2012) or longer exposure (Song et al., 2015)
deposition values reported by others. This can be attributed to the
fact that the leaves have maximum loading capacity. For example,
the plant leaves reached the saturated loading capacities after 26
days of no rainfall in Guangzhou (Liu et al., 2013). During the period
before or after attaining the saturation, wind and rainfall remove
the particulates on the leaves. Because of this non-linear relation

Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11 7

Fig. 6. Horizontal (a,b) and vertical (c,d) deduction rate of TSP by different planting configurations.

between PM accumulation on leaves and exposure duration, annual
values obtained via leaf-washing method only reflect a certain
stage in the dynamic cycle, and so does values of other temporal
scales (daily, monthly). Therefore, it is valid that values of different
temporal scale are in the same range.
Taking tree species as the reference range, shrubs demonstrated
moderate performance in PM removal except for Lonicera maackii.
This could at least be partially explained by the fact that plant
species growing low to the ground were presumably more exposed
to soil splash on the leaves than trees with an upright growth habit.
Low growing shrubs (Spiraea) was observed to have more amount
_
of PM as compared to trees (Dzierzanowski et al., 2011). It is out of
our expectation as L. maackii is covered with short hairs, which is an
important trait for PM capturing. By contrast, Cercis chinensis,
I. chinensis and Syringa microphylla have more smooth leaf surface
but displayed greater ability in PM capturing. No significant
connection was observed between species leaf features and PM
capturing amount. Therefore, we believe factors beyond leaf char-
acteristics have greater influence over PM deposition on plant
surface.
The examined liana species did not show systematic difference
within liana group and among different life forms in the amount of
PM capturing. Even the limitation of species sampling of
lianas existed, our results indicated that lianas could be valued as
an effective vegetation filter in PM pollution control. Such species
are suitable for vertical and roof greening. Although having disad-
vantages in lower surface roughness lengths and increased distance
from sources (Speak et al., 2012), they can be considered for
remediation of urban air pollution because of the flexibility in
covering different topographic forms and lower requests of the
urban built environment.
The weak correlation between the PM size fractions showed
that it is meaningful to characterize the plant species for particles of
different fraction. But in the present study, some species within the
same genus or with similar leaf surface characteristics differed in
the PM accumulation. This poses obstacles in forming general rules
in species selection. Theoretically, the capacity of foliage accumu-
lation through dry or wet deposition or absorption depends on
species features, such as surface area (single leaf and whole foliage),
surface texture (roughness and pubescence), plant habitus (ever-
green or deciduous), and gas exchange (rate between leaf and at-
mosphere, multiple stress responses) (Ugolini et al., 2013).
However, these factors can vary greatly even for the same species in
different phases and locations, making the species comparison
difficult to be generalized for practical uses. Therefore, from the
perspective of urban green design for air pullotion control, proper
spatial planting configurations should be prioritized.
4.2. Spatial planting configurations
Study observed varied purification effects of PM2.5 and TSP by
spatial planting configurations. The differences in removal rates of
different particulate fraction can be explained by different move-
ment mechanisms. Larger sized particulates in the air were the first

Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
8 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11

Fig. 7. Horizontal (a,b) and vertical (c,d) deduction rate of PM2.5 by different planting configurations.

Table 2
Significant correlations between meteorological factors and horizontal/vertical deduction rate of PM2.5/TSP.

Planting configuration PM2.5 TSP Sample size (n)

Wind speed (horizontal) Relative humidity (horizontal) Temperature (vertical) Temperature (vertical)

Treeseshrubs 0.023 0.101** 0.676** 0.119** 720

Treeseshrubsegrass 0.120** 0.140** 0.243** 0.016 719
Treesegrass 0.237** 0.673** 0.550** 0.198** 680
Grass 0.098** 0.419** 0.261** 0.142** 721
Shrubs 0.343** 0.862** 0.936** 0.270** 721
Trees 0.531** 0.926** 0.02 0.025** 719

to be deposited on leaf surfaces with a lower wind flow, and caused
a great decrease of TSP concentration within the canopy (Mitchell
et al., 2010; Yin et al., 2011). But the situation is more complex
for PM2.5 removal. Fine particles are more sensitive to even minor
air turbulence and hard to deposit. The complicated structures
(arbor-shrub-grass) created constant turbulence that prohibits
particulate deposition or oriented ventilation, and the simple
(grass) produces relative stagnant air movement that facilitates
suspension. Therefore, these two structures were not effective in
removing air PM2.5. In the street canyon, structures that had tree
component appeared less effective in removing air possibly due to
the trapping of the air by canopy. Considering the limitation in
location sampling, the effect of shrubs still need further examina-
tion even though it seemed to be the best option to reduce air
PM2.5 pollution along the street.
Because of its high leaf area per ground area, vegetation can
influence local atmospheric PM concentrations through lowering
ambient particle concentration by PM capturing on its surface, as
well as affecting wind speed and direction and therefore the
dispersion of PM polluted air (Langner, 2008). Green vegetation
could greatly speed up/slow down the wind under different con-
figurations, and consequently air pollutants are either better
ventilated out of the area or deposit on plant surface (Ozolincius
et al., 2005). The complex and porous structure of trees and
shrub can modify near-road concentrations via pollutant capture or
through altering air flow, which can result in either diminished
dispersion through the reduction of wind speed and boundary layer
heights (Nowak et al., 2000; Wania et al., 2012) or in enhanced
dispersion due to increased air turbulence and mixing. Some re-
searches also indicated that this wind filed effect can also lead to
the concentration of atmospheric particles. The effect of trees on air
quality is extremely dependent on the spatial distribution of the
trees, mostly due to complex wind flow patterns (Amorim et al.,
2013) induced by heterogeneous positioning of trees. Study in
Lisbon showed that where the wind direction is not aligned with
the street canyon, the average concentration in the domain is 12%
higher because of the aerodynamic action of trees, while in Aveiro,
where there is an approximate alignment, it is 16% lower (Amorim

Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11 9

Fig. 8. Species comparison of accumulation of different particulate fractions.

et al., 2013). Moreover, several studies namely suggest that trees in
street canyons reduce the air circulation and therefore lead to
higher local PM concentrations (Vardoulakis et al., 2003).
Still, trees can also act as barriers between sources and pop-
ulations(Janha €ll, 2015). In practical designing, vegetation type,
height, and thickness should be considered as factors that influence
the extent of mixing and pollutant deposition experienced at the
site. In particular, planting density can be very important in influ-
encing pollution ventilation. Increasing planting density can result
in the better the purification effects. However, the configuration of
the vegetation cannot be too dense to deter the air diffusion in
greenbelts, which is also detrimental to the growth of the trees and
will cause degradation of green space. The built environment also
matters greatly. The bulky building blocks, compacted urban vol-
umes and very limited open spaces seriously block the pollutant
dispersion. Therefore, air flow and impacts of trees are substantially
different for such environments than for an open space (Buccolieri
et al., 2011). Planting spaces should be designed in the way that
aims at improving ventilation.
4.3. The role of vegetation and wind in urban scale PM pollution
People living in high-density cities suffer from both short and
long term exposure to ambient air pollution. This causes severe
public health problems. Understanding the problem from the urban
and city scale is therefore paramount. The seasonal mean values of
PM2.5 over the city of Beijing are found on the following
descending order: winter > spring > fall > summer. This type of
pattern of other pollutants has in fact been commonly reported at
Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks, USA (Ray
and Kim, 2014) and in Beijing, China (Lin et al., 2012). The cause of
persistent pollution episodes can be accounted for by the combined
effects of high emission rates and frequent occurrences of in-
versions during winter (Khoder, 2002; Nguyen and Kim, 2006).
Climate change could also cause an increase of episodes in summer,
as one of the predicted weather changes is an increase in the
likelihood of stationary air masses (Ray and Kim, 2014).
The spatial increasing gradient of PM2.5 from north to south is
mainly attributed to wind. Geologically, Beijing sits on the north-
west verge of North China Plain. The central and eastern area of
plain is embraced by the mountain area at the west and north,
forming a bay shape. The special bay characteristics of Beijing
generate significant wind field pattern especially for areas along
mountain valley. The wind here is strong than the surrounding
areas, and thus creates a good ventilation condition for PM pollu-
tion dilution. With such topographical conditions, Beijing is under
control of the north or northwest wind (Fig. 4) formed by cold & dry
air mass from Siberia every year from late November to February
next year. A large number of particles might then being entrained to
and accumulated at the southern part of the city. Moreover, the rich
vegetation coverage around the north boundary can also act as
preliminary air filter. This and wind direction might be

Please cite this article in press as: Chen, L., et al., Experimental examination of effectiveness of vegetation as bio-filter of particulate matters in
the urban environment, Environmental Pollution (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.006
10 L. Chen et al. / Environmental Pollution xxx (2015) 1e11
subsequently reducing PM2.5 concentration in the northern region.
But we believe that wind is the main regulator of PM2.5 concen-
tration because (1) PM pollution is not significantly lower in the
northeast area of the city where large area of green spaces locate.
For example, if vegetation can exert significant in-situ purification
effect of the PM2.5 pollution, the PM2.5 concentration should have
been higher in the center than at the northeast edge of the city. By
contrast, the observation showed just the opposite during the
spring. (2) Even though the pollution was generally lower during
summer and autumn, the pollution spread more evenly. Should the
vegetations capturing ability be enough in removing air PM2.5, the
least affected area by the pollution should be at the northeast
corner of the city where the largest urban green forest locates.
Moreover, this area has the lowest pollution sources due to lack of
manufacturing companies and low traffic. Other study also
observed limited pollutants removal effect from the plants. Study
showed that the tree stand did not appear to modify concentrations
of any pollutant during low speed wind conditions (<0.5 m/s).
Moreover, the vegetation had a trapping effect for local coarse-
mode particle emissions (Brantley et al., 2014). In addition to
already known ecosystem services like carbon sequestration,
micro-climate regulation, noise reduction, rainwater drainage,
psychological and recreational values (Jim and Chen, 2008), the
mitigation of air pollution can serve as an important additional
ecosystem service of urban green.
5. Conclusion
At urban scale of Beijing, the PM pollution reduction depends
more on local wind field rather than the passive filter effect of
vegetation. Trees varied greatly in their ability of PM capturing. But
when compared with shrubs and lianas, the advantages of trees
were not obvious. Given the flexibility in living conditions and good
performance in PM capturing, lianas should be considered as
important PM-filtering species candidates. Species differences in
removing particulate matters are clear, but limited in practical
application due to the highly individualities and specific habitat
conditions. Therefore, designing proper configuration of planting
spaces that facilitate ventilation would be a more effective
approach to employ the PM purification function of vegetations.
Tall trees are not recommended in the street canyon due to its
trapping effect over air ventilation. The function of shrub belts
should be further explored to validate its use in PM pollutant
removal. Efficient plant species and configuration designs that can
shield vulnerable areas in urban settings from polluting traffic etc.
can be used to decrease human exposure to anthropogenic
pollutants.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Forestry Public Welfare
Project of China (Grant No. 20130430103) and National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31400615 and 41401013)
for funding the research. The authors also thank Assistant Professor
Qun'ou Jiang for refining Fig. 1.
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