Determinación de especies vegetales para la captura y retención de material particulado en la zona urbana de la ciudad de Cuenca

Abstract

Particulate Matter (PM), is an atmospheric pollutant in urban and industrial areas that often exceeds the established limits, and whose concentrations in the city of Cuenca have been increased due to the growing automotive park, representing a public health risk. The use of vegetation near roads represents a relatively economic strategy, easy to introduce, and environmentally friendly for the reduction of air pollutants from vehicular traffic. Although the characteristics of the vegetation that benefits the capture and removal of the PM have been studied, little is known about the differences between the species, whose information is important to design and reach a better performance of the green areas in the filtration and channeling of contaminated urban air. In this study, the PM accumulation capacity was determined in four tree species (T. stans, S. molle, C. citrinus and P. balsamifera), which are commonly cultivated along the roads of Cuenca city. The PM deposited on the leaf surfaces was quantified using gravimetric separation analysis. Also, the morphological characteristics of roughness and pubescence were evaluated qualitatively to determine its influence on the capture, finding significant accumulation differences among the analyzed species.