Abstract

VASQUEZ-BEDOYA, Manuela et al. Atmospheric particulate matter deposition in herbaceous species on a university campus in Colombia. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2024, vol.40, 54845.  Epub Aug 12, 2024. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.54845.

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is one of the most harmful atmospheric pollutants with implications for human health. Plants have been used as an alternative for the removal of atmospheric PM in urban environments. The removal of PM depends on different plant morphological traits, including trichomes and epicuticles evaluated on trees. However, leaf traits for herbaceous plants commonly used in urban gardens have not been fully explored. This study used filtering to quantify the PM deposition and to describe leaf morphological traits throughout optical devices on 20 leaves from six herbaceous species -Calathea rufibarba, Calathea zebrina, Heliconia psittacorum, Heliconia rostrata, Philodendron sp. and Dieffenbachia sp. Our results suggest that structures such as trichomes -C. rufibarba- and epicuticle -H. psittacorum- play a role in PM deposition. On the other hand, large leaf size did not influence the deposition of PM per leaf unit area. Therefore, for improving city air quality, our study suggests selecting species with epidermal traits independent of leaf area. This is the first study focusing on ornamental herbaceous species ability for PM deposition in urban environments in Medellín, Colombia.

Keywords : Leaf area; inhalable particles; morphological traits; ornamental species; urban greening.

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