Chapter 4 - Urban roadside trees as eco-sustainable filters of atmospheric pollution: A review of recent evidence from atmospheric trace elements deposition

Abstract

The use of urban roadside trees for biomonitoring of atmospheric trace elements (ATEs) is becoming more popular and has attracted considerable interest in recent years. The key advantages of trees over lower vegetation are large surface area, cost-effectiveness, and ease of sampling and identification. This chapter critically reviews the role of urban trees in the biomonitoring of atmospheric pollution, with emphasis on ATEs deposition. Recent review articles and empirical data from 2010 to 2020 were reported to confirm the potential of urban roadside trees as ATEs pollution sink. The chapter discusses the biodiversity of urban roadside trees, their roles in ATEs deposition, and methods of selecting metal-tolerant trees. Moreover, the chapter discusses the methods for identification of emission sources, the relationship between ATEs concentrations, road proximity, and traffic size. Finally, the chapter reports the drawbacks, conclusion, and future prospects of using urban roadside trees as biomonitors of ATEs pollution.