How trees clean the air. What trees are good for purifying the air

The role of plantings in the fight against air pollution. One of the main advantages of green spaces in urban areas is their high activity in capturing harmful substances released into the atmosphere due to transport and industrial emissions. The role of plants in absorbing carbon dioxide, reducing air pollution with dust (harmful gases are absorbed by plants, and solid particles of aerosols are deposited on the leaves, trunks and branches of plants) and reducing its bacterial pollution by enriching the atmosphere with various phytoncides is well known.

Forests, parks, gardens, boulevards and squares greatly affect the composition of atmospheric air. During the growing season, their vegetation enriches the air with oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide. In one warm sunny day, a hectare of forest absorbs 220-280 kg of carbon dioxide from the air and releases 180-200 kg of oxygen. Poplar has the highest productivity in the process of oxygen evolution. Different species of trees and shrubs have different intensity of photosynthesis and therefore emit different amounts of oxygen, for example, trees with a larger deciduous mass release more oxygen.

Plantations purify the air from industrial and exhaust gases (the effectiveness of the struggle of green spaces with harmful emissions from road transport can vary over a fairly wide range - from 7 to 35%). Green spaces located in the path of the polluted air flow break the original concentrated flow into different directions. Thus, harmful emissions are diluted with clean air, and their concentration in the air is reduced.

The gas absorption capacity of individual tree and shrub species of plants, depending on various concentrations of harmful gases in the air, is not the same and depends on the degree of their sensitivity to various pollutants. It must be taken into account that plants with an increased intensity of photosynthesis have a lower resistance to gases.

Studies and long-term observations have shown that small-leaved linden, ash, common lilac and honeysuckle have the best absorption qualities.

Slightly damaged species include elm (rough and smooth), prickly spruce, tree willow, ash-leaved maple, aspen, poplar (Berlin, balsamic, Canadian and black), Siberian apple tree, yellow acacia, Siberian hawthorn, wild cherry, common viburnum, black currant , juniper (Cossack and virgin); to moderately damaged - warty birch, Engelman spruce, Siberian larch, mountain ash, basket willow, Tatar maple and other species.

Of the grasses, meadow fescue has the greatest resistance to gases, and the least is white bentgrass. Top dressing with nitrogen fertilizers, as well as liming, which improves the water regime of soils, significantly increases the resistance of plants to gases.

Table 4The best green filters for biological air purification in Russian cities

1 hectare of coniferous trees retains 40 tons of dust/year, and deciduous trees - about 100 tons of dust/year - the results of studying the dust-retaining role of tree and shrub plantations indicate that in the green areas of microdistricts, air dust content is 40% lower than in open or built-up sites.

Dust, carried away by descending air currents, settles on the leaves, but even in the leafless period, trees reduce the dust content of the air by 37%. Species of trees and shrubs with rough, hairy leaves (elm, linden, maple, lilac) have the highest dust-holding capacity.

The lawn, along with trees and shrubs, also retains dust. It is no coincidence that recently in the practice of landscaping, preference is increasingly given to a landscape or free style of design, in which 60% or more of the landscaped area is given over to the lawn.

Phytoncides of plants and air ionization. Many plants emit volatile biologically active substances into the air - phytoncides, which kill and inhibit the growth and development of microorganisms. Many of the phytoncides were isolated in pure form, and their chemical nature was established. It turned out that in some plants phytoncides are organic acids, while in others they are essential oils and alkaloids; and in the tissues of various plants, phytoncides are unevenly distributed.

Phytoncides include both volatile and non-volatile plant substances. These are all herbal antibiotics. Volatile phytoncides are able to exert their effect at a distance; non-volatile ones are formed in the tissue sap at the time of damage to the cell membranes of the plant, but in addition, phytoncides can also be released by intact leaves (for example, phytoncides of oak and birch leaves). The amount of these substances varies depending on the season, the physiological state of the plant, time of day, and soil and climatic conditions. Most of them occur during flowering.

Initially, it was believed that only ethereal plants have phytoncidal properties, but studies have shown that this phenomenon is characteristic of the entire plant world to one degree or another. Therefore, the air in parks contains 200 times less pathogens than on city streets, while in green areas already at a distance of 30 meters from the roadway there are 2 times less microbes than on highways. Moreover, in pure pine forests and forests with a predominance of pine (up to 60%), bacterial air pollution is 2 times less than in birch forests. No wonder many sanatoriums and hospitals were built in pine forests. Phytoncides of this tree, as a rule, increase the body's defenses, tone it up.

Juniper emits phytoncides about 6 times more than other conifers, and 15 times more than hardwoods. There are more than 20 species of juniper in our country, but this plant is very sensitive to air pollution from industrial waste. Therefore, its planting, unfortunately, is not acceptable in large industrial cities and in the territories of sanitary protection zones.

Of the 15 species of eucalyptus, only eucalyptus globulus is able to destroy the influenza virus. And the fastest destroy microbes and viruses leaves of poplar and birch - within 3 hours.

Due to the very rapid spread of information that plant phytoncides, penetrating through the lungs and skin into the human body, protect it from infectious diseases, have a positive effect on metabolism, have a beneficial effect on the psyche, spruce and other special dwarf conifers began to be grown everywhere on balconies. species that fill the apartments with a life-giving forest aroma. In this case, do not forget that the compatibility of phytoncides of various plants is of great importance. So, oak, birch and poplar help each other: the volatile substances contained in these trees fall into the same spectrum. But plants of different spectra, for example, lavender and rose, oppress each other with their phytoncides. A new biological method - ecological phytodesign - deals with the issues of the correct combination of plants with pronounced phytoncidal and gas-absorbing properties used for sanitation and improvement of indoor air.

So, from trees and shrubs with antibacterial properties that positively affect the state of the air environment of cities, one should name white acacia, barberry, warty birch, pear, hornbeam, oak, spruce, jasmine, honeysuckle, willow, viburnum, chestnut, maple, larch, linden, juniper, fir, plane tree, lilac, pine, poplar, bird cherry, apple tree. Phytoncidal activity is also possessed by herbaceous plants - lawn grasses, flowers and creepers.

Urban vegetation contributes to another phenomenon that is beneficial for humans - an increase in air ionization. Ionization is the process of air purification by enriching it with light negatively charged particles or ions.

There are air ions that can carry a negative or positive charge. Negative ions (lungs) have the most beneficial effect on the environment. Carriers of positively charged (heavy) ions are usually ionized molecules of smoke, water dust and vapors that pollute the air. Consequently, the purity of the air is largely determined by the ratio of the amount of light and heavy ions.

An essential qualitative feature of oxygen produced by green spaces is its saturation with ions that carry a negative charge, which manifests the beneficial effect of vegetation on the state of the human body. For a clearer idea of the ability of plants to enrich the air with negative light ions, the following data can be given: the number of light ions in 1 cm 3 of air over forests is 2000 - 3000, in a city park - 800, in an industrial area - 200 - 400, in a closed crowded room - 25 - 100.

The ionization of air is influenced by both the degree of landscaping and the natural composition of plants. The best air ionizers are mixed coniferous-deciduous plantations. Pine plantations only in adulthood have a beneficial effect on its ionization, since due to the turpentine vapor emitted by young weeds, the concentration of light ions in the atmosphere decreases. Volatile substances of flowering plants also contribute to an increase in the concentration of light ions in the air. The ionization of forest oxygen is 2–3 times higher than that of the sea and 5–10 times higher than that of the urban atmosphere.

The greatest contribution to the increase in the concentration of light ions in the air is white acacia, Karelian and Japanese birch, red and pedunculate oak, white and weeping willow, silver and red maple, Siberian larch, Siberian fir, mountain ash, common lilac, black poplar.

Instruction

At the beginning of summer, poplars begin to bloom. Their fluff circulates through the streets, irritating many residents. However, local authorities are not always in a hurry to cut down these trees. There is a good reason for this: poplar can be called the champion among trees for air purification. Its wide and sticky leaves successfully trap dust by filtering the air.

Poplar grows rapidly and gains green mass, which absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen through photosynthesis. A hectare of poplars produces 40 times more oxygen than a hectare of coniferous trees. Oxygen, which is released by one adult tree per day, is enough for 3 people during this time. At the same time, one car burns as much oxygen in 2 hours of operation as one poplar synthesizes in 2 years. In addition, poplar successfully moisturizes the air around it.

A special advantage of poplar is its unpretentiousness and vitality: it survives along highways and next to smoking factories. Limes and birches die under these conditions. The problem of poplar fluff, which irritates many, can be solved by replacing black poplar with “non-fluffy” species - silver and white.

Rosehip, lilac, acacia, elm cope well with the absorption of harmful substances from the air. These plants also survive in high dust conditions. They can be planted along motorways as a green shield against exhaust fumes. Elms with their wide leaves hold 6 times more dust than poplars.

Chestnut is very useful in urban conditions. It is almost as unpretentious as poplar. At the same time, an adult tree cleans about 20 cubic meters of air from exhaust gases and dust per year. It is estimated that a hectare of deciduous trees holds up to 100 tons of dust and airborne particulate matter per year.

Although coniferous trees do not capture dust as successfully as deciduous trees, they produce phytoncides - biologically suppressing pathogens. Thuja, juniper, fir and spruce will help residents cope with pathogenic microbes. In addition, they purify the air throughout the year, and not just in warm weather. Birches also produce phytoncides, but these trees, like lindens, are best planted away from roads and “dirty” industries - they are not as hardy as poplars or chestnuts.

Very healthy lead, which enters the atmosphere as a result of the combustion of fuel in a car. In a year, one car can emit up to 1 kg of this metal. You can often see that the leaves on the trees along the highways curl up and fall off - this is the result of lead poisoning. Larch and a variety of mosses absorb lead best. It takes 10 trees to neutralize the damage from 1 car.

Tip 2: Top 5 Indoor Plants for Clean Air in Your Apartment

House plants and indoor flowers are not only a pretty part of the interior. They are able to influence in a certain way both the atmosphere in the room and the person himself. Among the variety of plants suitable for growing and keeping at home, there are those that purify the air in rooms especially well.

Aglaonema. This indoor tree is worth having in your home for those people who often use lighted candles. The fact is that this plant frees the air from such hazardous substances as toluene and benzene, which are formed during the combustion of paraffin and other candles. However, such harmful components are able to penetrate into the house and from the street. Aglaonema is a home plant that loves high humidity and does not need a constant source of bright light. However, with caution, this indoor tree should be planted if the family has pets, small children. The fact is that the juice of the plant is toxic. Its ingestion into the body can provoke severe intoxication.

Begonia. This pretty indoor flower is very easy to grow and easy to care for. Begonia does not require frequent and abundant watering, however, it is better not to allow the land to dry out in the summer. This home flower is a leader among natural air purifiers that destroy a variety of chemicals. Begonia should be in the house where air fresheners, fragrances, various household chemicals, which can be extremely toxic, are regularly and in large quantities used.

Philodendron. Like the mentioned aglaonema, this houseplant should not be placed in apartments / houses where there are pets and children. However, at the same time, the philodendron is a very unpretentious plant that survives in various conditions. He does not need constant bright light, there is no need to provide increased heat. At the same time, the philodendron effectively purifies the air in the apartment, rids it of harmful volatile substances that can cause various diseases, including bronchial asthma or allergies. It is recommended to start this plant if people often smoke in the premises, use a hookah or burn incense.

ficus. This is a very harmless house plant that does an excellent job of cleaning the air. Ficus easily and quickly absorbs ammonia vapor, destroys benzene and formaldehyde. At the same time, such a houseplant exists without any problems in almost any conditions. Ficus can be placed in dark rooms, as it will not wither from lack of lighting / sunlight. It does not need regular watering, and in winter it is not necessary to supply the plant with water more than once every seven to ten days. Another distinctive useful feature of ficus is that the plant effectively destroys dust.

Dracaena. This indoor plant should be started if you have to live in an ecologically unfavorable area, where the risk of harmful substances from the street entering the apartment is very high. Dracaena should also be placed at home if there are highways and busy highways nearby. The fact is that it is this indoor flower that cleans the air from various toxic compounds emitted with exhaust gases that can enter the home through open windows. Dracaena also cleans the air of benzene released from floor coverings and destroys a number of other volatile chemicals found in household chemicals, nail polish and hair.

Trees clean the air well, absorb harmful substances. We talked to the owners of the site http://ecology-of.ru/ and they told us a little about how trees purify the air.

In the leaves of any ordinary tree, chlorophyll grains always absorb carbon dioxide and then release oxygen. In summer, under natural conditions, any tree of small size per day releases as much oxygen as needed for the breathing of four people. It is known that one hectare of plantations absorbs about eight liters of carbon dioxide in one hour, and then releases the amount of oxygen into the atmosphere. This is quite enough to sustain the lives of thirty people. Trees are also beneficial - they purify the surface layer of air, approximately up to approximately forty-five meters thick.

There are many species of trees that are used for planting greenery in cities. All of them are beneficial. For example, take an ordinary chestnut. He has a lot of good things. Exhaust gases come in - the chestnut clears a large area. Let's think some more. Poplar is also resistant to pollution. Poplar absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. Such a tree, twenty-five years old, is seven times superior to spruce, and in terms of how it humidifies the air, almost ten times.

So, in order to improve the air, instead of seven Christmas trees, you can plant a poplar, which in any case will catch dust particles well.

Tree leaves actively trap dust, especially reduce the concentration of harmful emissions and gases, and these properties usually manifest themselves to different degrees in different species. Elm and lilac leaves hold dust quite well (even better than the same poplar leaves). So, planting about 400 young and beautiful poplars during the summer time captures about 340 kilograms of dust, and elm - almost six times more. Acacias, unpretentious fast-growing wild roses and a number of other useful plants also have similar necessary properties.

Trees significantly reduce the temperature in the heat.

On a hot day, terrible ascending currents of very hot air form over the heated asphalt, hot roofs of any houses, which carry with them small particles of dust that are held in the air itself. Over parks, squares, which are located somewhere in the center of the city, descending air currents usually arise, since the surface of the leaves is much cooler than asphalt, iron. And the dust that is carried away by downdrafts often settles in parks on the leaves of trees.

Yes, for the comfort provided by transport, a huge number of cars, we pay with clean air. In just one year, a car emits up to one kilogram of metal into the atmosphere. And the high content of lead in vegetables, fruits, which are grown near highways. But what about the milk of cows that eat contaminated grass, after all, this is all harmful for animals, but what is the danger to human health? Now you can even observe the leaf fall of the trees. Strange, right? Looks like it's not autumn. The reason is the high content of lead in the air.

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The foliage of trees is very difficult to tolerate lead poisoning. Mosses, larch, usually absorb it in large quantities, but tender birch or willow, aspen - much less. By concentrating a substance such as lead, plants purify the air itself. During the growing season, one mature tree can accumulate as much lead as can be contained in one hundred and thirty liters of gasoline. A simple calculation often shows that in order to neutralize the harmful effect of one car, at least ten trees are needed.

Trees, shrubs can release volatile substances into the air - phytoncides. But they have the ability to kill harmful microorganisms. Particularly active sources of phytoncides are: white locust, willow, birch, spruce, pine, poplar, bird cherry, etc. It is especially important that these phytoncides have the ability to kill human pathogens, as well as animals. Coniferous forests are detrimental to pathogenic microbes. Scientists have found that in coniferous forests there are always two times less bacteria than in deciduous ones. Trees and shrubs perform complex work daily, hourly: they absorb a huge amount of dust and carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen. Effectively form a microclimate.

Green spaces are not only decorations, they are the protectors of the health of all people.

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You can also watch a video about air purification with indoor plants.

Trees clean the air well, absorb harmful substances. We talked to the owners of the site http://ecology-of.ru/ and they told us a little about how trees purify the air.

In the leaves of any ordinary tree, chlorophyll grains always absorb carbon dioxide and then release oxygen. In summer, under natural conditions, any tree of small size per day releases as much oxygen as needed for the breathing of four people. It is known that one hectare of plantations absorbs about eight liters of carbon dioxide in one hour, and then releases the amount of oxygen into the atmosphere. This is quite enough to sustain the lives of thirty people. Trees also benefit - they purify the surface layer of air, approximately up to approximately forty-five meters thick.

Instruction

Poplar grows rapidly and gains green mass, which absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen through photosynthesis. A hectare of poplars produces 40 times more oxygen than a hectare of coniferous trees. The oxygen released by one adult tree per day is enough to breathe for 3 people during this time. At the same time, one car burns as much oxygen in 2 hours of operation as one poplar synthesizes in 2 years. In addition, poplar successfully moisturizes the air around it.

A special advantage of poplar is its unpretentiousness and vitality: it survives along highways and next to smoking…

It is no secret that the ecological state of cities leaves much to be desired. Even if there are no metallurgical and chemical enterprises in the settlement, carbon monoxide poisons the surrounding air with constant regularity. Only thanks to trees we get oxygen and as a result we continue to live. The tree crown absorbs carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and produces pure oxygen.

Squares and parks not only decorate the city, but help clean the air from human waste, exhaust gases. The average tree is able to purify in a day, the amount of oxygen that three people can breathe. Some tree species can absorb the amount of exhaust gases emitted during a car run of 20,000 kilometers.

How do trees clean the air in cities? The dust raised by the wind lingers on the crowns of trees. 1 hectare of hardwoods can hold up to 100 tons of dust, and about 40 tons of conifers. Such…

Phytoncides secreted by plants have the ability to purify the air of bacteria and saturate it with light negative ions. Phytoncidal properties are especially pronounced in conifers. Of those growing in the middle lane, thuja occupies the first place in terms of phytoncides, followed by pine, spruce, fir, and juniper.
But in the conditions of modern cities, it becomes more and more difficult for plants to show their protective properties, they already have to fight for their own survival under the pressure of external adverse factors that increase with the growth of cities up and down and with an increase in traffic flows in them.
The main causes of plant diseases and death in the city, apart from mechanical damage to trunks and roots, are lack of moisture, insufficient lighting, unfavorable soil conditions, salinization and soil pollution with heavy metals, and excessive air pollution.
Often, mature trees cannot withstand a sharp change in the conditions in which they have grown all their lives, for example, the resulting shading due to the construction of a high-rise building, or a sharp drop in the groundwater level associated with digging a ditch at a distance of 100-200 meters, or with soil compaction from spontaneous car parking under the trees. Young specimens tend to adapt better to change.
But when replacing dead plantations, it is necessary first of all to select rocks that are resistant to urban conditions. This question has been studied, probably, since the first cities arose. And now we know that in the city it is not worth planting a capricious common spruce, demanding on soil conditions and moisture, which does not tolerate polluted air. Non-gas-resistant and Scotch pine, although undemanding to the soil and very frost-resistant breed. Near busy highways and in the city center is clearly not her place. The beauties of western thuja and prickly spruce tolerate the smoke and gas pollution of the urban atmosphere better than other evergreen conifers, are very frost-resistant, prickly spruce is also drought-resistant, but demanding of light, while thuja, on the contrary, is one of the most shade-tolerant species, but does not like drying out of the soil. But Siberian and European larch is our champion in urban survival. It is not for nothing that she is one of all conifers that survives on permafrost. Its drought resistance and smoke and gas resistance are facilitated by the autumn shedding of needles. Together with the needles, the plant annually parted with the harmful substances accumulated in the tissues of the needles. In evergreen conifers, the accumulation of pollutants in the needles lasts as many years as the needles live. This, of course, has a negative effect on the life of the plant. When choosing a place for planting larch, it is necessary to take into account its exceptional love of light. Quite resistant to the urban environment and junipers, especially the Cossack juniper. Common juniper does not tolerate gas contamination.

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