IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i10p1969-d1761036.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dry Deposition of Fine Particulate Matter by City-Owned Street Trees in a City Defined by Urban Sprawl

Author

Listed:
  • Siliang Cui

    (Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
    Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada)

  • Matthew Adams

    (Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
    Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada)

Abstract

Urban expansion intensifies population exposures to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ). Trees mitigate pollution by dry deposition, in which particles settle on plants. However, city-scale models frequently overlook differences in tree species and structure. This study assesses PM 2.5 removal by individual city-owned street trees in Mississauga, Canada, throughout the 2019 leaf-growing season (May to September). Using a modified i-Tree Eco framework, we evaluated the removal of PM 2.5 by 200,560 city-owned street trees (245 species) in Mississauga from May to September 2019. The model used species-specific deposition velocities (V d ) from the literature or leaf morphology estimates, adjusted for local winds, a 3 m-resolution satellite-derived Leaf Area Index (LAI), field-validated, crown area modelled from diameter at breast height, and 1 km 2 resolution PM 2.5 data geolocated to individual trees. About twenty-eight tons of PM 2.5 were removed from 200,560 city-owned trees (245 species). Coniferous species (14.37% of trees) removed 25.62 tons (92% of total), much higher than deciduous species (85.63%, 2.18 tons). Picea pungens (18.33 tons, 66%), Pinus nigra (3.29 tons, 12%), and Picea abies (1.50 tons, 5%) are three key species. Conifers’ removal efficiency originates from the faster deposition velocities, larger tree size, and dense foliage, all of which enhance particle deposition. This study emphasizes species-specific approaches for improving urban air quality through targeted tree planting. Prioritizing coniferous species such as spruce and pine can improve pollution mitigation, providing actionable strategies for Mississauga and other cities worldwide to develop green infrastructure planning for air pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Siliang Cui & Matthew Adams, 2025. "Dry Deposition of Fine Particulate Matter by City-Owned Street Trees in a City Defined by Urban Sprawl," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:10:p:1969-:d:1761036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/10/1969/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/10/1969/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohammad Hashem Askariyeh & Madhusudhan Venugopal & Haneen Khreis & Andrew Birt & Josias Zietsman, 2020. "Near-Road Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Resuspended PM 2.5 from Highways and Arterials," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-11, April.
    2. Alessio Russo & Giuseppe T. Cirella, 2024. "Urban Ecosystem Services in a Rapidly Urbanizing World: Scaling up Nature’s Benefits from Single Trees to Thriving Urban Forests," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-9, June.
    3. Wang, Aijia & Wang, Junqi & Zhang, Ruijun & Cao, Shi-Jie, 2024. "Mitigating urban heat and air pollution considering green and transportation infrastructure," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Seyedehmehrmanzar Sohrab & Nándor Csikós & Péter Szilassi, 2022. "Connection between the Spatial Characteristics of the Road and Railway Networks and the Air Pollution (PM10) in Urban–Rural Fringe Zones," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Mingjie Song & Shicheng Li & Basanta Paudel & Fangjie Pan, 2025. "A Framework for Multifunctional Green Infrastructure Planning Based on Ecosystem Service Synergy/Trade-Off Analysis: Application in the Qinling–Daba Mountain Area," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, June.
    3. Liu, Xinyu & Song, Min & Wang, Shuying & Xu, Xingwu & Li, Haolin, 2024. "On innovation infrastructure and industrial carbon emissions: Nonlinear correlation and effect mechanism," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 375(C).
    4. Temitope Oluwadairo & Lawrence Whitehead & Elaine Symanski & Cici Bauer & Arch Carson & Inkyu Han, 2022. "Effects of Road Traffic on the Accuracy and Bias of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensor Measurements in Houston, Texas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Alessio Russo & Giuseppe T. Cirella, 2025. "Urban Ecosystem Services: Agroecology, Green Spaces, and Environmental Quality for Sustainable Futures," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-8, January.
    6. Khairul Nizam Mohd Isa & Zailina Hashim & Juliana Jalaludin & Leslie Thian Lung Than & Jamal Hisham Hashim, 2020. "The Effects of Indoor Pollutants Exposure on Allergy and Lung Inflammation: An Activation State of Neutrophils and Eosinophils in Sputum," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Sonja Dmitrašinović & Jelena Radonić & Marija Živković & Željko Ćirović & Milena Jovašević-Stojanović & Miloš Davidović, 2024. "Winter and Summer PM 2.5 Land Use Regression Models for the City of Novi Sad, Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-27, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:10:p:1969-:d:1761036. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.