The contribution made by vegetation buffer zones to improved air quality in urban areas

Abstract

There is much experimental evidence available illustrating the effects of air pollution on sensitive indigenous plant species (Saunders & Wood, 1974), indeed, certain species of lichen are so sensitive that their presence or absence from suitable substrates may be used in bioassay of levels of air pollution. However, plant communities of more robust species may play a significant positive role in relation to air quality in urban areas. In the U.K. our experience in the use of vegetation buffer zones as a sink to air pollutants, may not be so extensive as in other parts of Europe, but in the development of new towns such as Runcorn and Milton Keynes, the role played by mature plant communities as an air hygiene measure receives serious consideration by town planners and landscape architects.