Pollution particles 'filtered out' by trees

A new study carried out by scientists at the University of Southampton has revealed that trees can help to improve air quality by filtering out pollution particulates that are harmful to humans.

The research, which centred on London, found that urban trees in the English capital remove somewhere between 850 and 2,000 tonnes of particulate pollution (PM10) from the air each year.

One of the paper's authors, Professor Gail Taylor, suggested that targeting tree planting in the most polluted areas of London area would have the greatest benefit to future air quality in terms of removing PM10.

"Trees have evolved to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, so it's not surprising that they are also good at removing pollutants. Trees which have leaves the whole year are exposed to more pollution and so they take up more," she added

Through using a number of different tree species and modelling approaches, the effectiveness of the tree canopy for clean air can be optimised, the expert explained.