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In 1989, NASA launched a study to determine the best indoor plants for purifying the surrounding air. Scientists have found that indoor air constantly contains particles of harmful volatile organic compounds - trichlorethylene, benzene, ammonia and others. To clean the air environmentally, experts recommend placing them in rooms. Indoor plants can neutralize up to 85% of indoor air pollutants.
Indoor air contains five harmful substances:
- Formaldehyde. Contained in furniture made of chipboard, fiberboard, carpets and upholstery materials, tobacco smoke, plastic dishes, and household gas. Causes allergic reactions, irritation of the mucous membrane, asthma, skin diseases.
- Trichlorethylene. Contained in carpet and fabric cleaners, chlorinated water, printer cartridges, and paint and varnish products. Trichlorethylene is a strong carcinogen, irritates the eyes and skin, affects the liver and kidneys, and causes psychomotor agitation.
- Benzene. Found in tobacco smoke, cleaning products and detergents, including soap, paint and varnish products, and rubber products. A carcinogen that can cause leukemia accumulates in adipose tissue,
causes alcohol-like agitation, shortness of breath and convulsions,
lowers blood pressure. - Ammonia. Contained in computer equipment, tobacco smoke, and household chemicals. Causes dryness and sore throat, cough, provokes chest pain, causes swelling of the larynx and lungs.
- Xylene. It is used to produce many types of plastics, paints and adhesives, and is also found in automobile exhaust gases, leather goods and tobacco smoke. Causes irritation to the skin, respiratory tract and mucous membrane of the eye.
website I collected in one post 15 plants that will not only decorate the house, but will also faithfully and uninterruptedly work to purify the air 24 hours a day.
Anthurium Andre ("flamingo lily")
Perfectly humidifies the air and saturates it with purified water vapor. Actively absorbs xylene And toluene and processes them into compounds that are harmless to humans.
Gerber Jameson
Scindapsus ("golden lotus")
Its main advantage is its enormous shade tolerance. Effectively purifies the air from formaldehyde And benzene. A poisonous plant that should be kept away from children and animals.
Aglaonema
The Chinese evergreen tree is a houseplant that grows in low light conditions and enjoys moist air. Effectively purifies the air from toluene And benzene. The juice and berries of the plant are poisonous.
Chlorophytum ("spider")
A spider plant with rich foliage and small white flowers actively fights benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide And xylene. Another reason to get this plant is safety for children and animals.
climbing ivy
Azalea
Sansevieria (“mother-in-law’s tongue”)
A very hardy plant, you need to try hard to kill it. Fights pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene, trichlorethylene. At night, it absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.
Cities are an integral part of the face of the Earth. Although they occupy only 2% of the land area, half of the population of our planet lives in them today. The main economic, scientific and cultural potential of society is concentrated in cities, therefore they play an important role in the economic, political, social life of each country individually and of all humanity as a whole.
By 2025, the urban population will account for 2/3 of the world's population. More than half of city residents live in cities with a population of more than 500 thousand people, and every year the share of the population living in large cities is growing.
Large cities are characterized by high population density, dense multi-story (usually) buildings, widespread development of public transport and communication systems, the excess of the built-up and paved part of the territory over gardens, green and free spaces, and the concentration of sources of negative impact on the environment.
Cities, especially large ones, are territories with profound anthropogenic changes. Industrial enterprises pollute the natural environment with dust, emissions and discharges of by-products and production waste. In addition, cities are characterized by high levels of thermal, electromagnetic, noise and other types of pollution.
Cities influence the ecological situation of vast territories through the transport of pollutants by surface waters and air currents. The direct negative impact of cities in some cases occurs within a radius of 60–100 km. In Russia, according to existing estimates, about 1.2 million urban people live in conditions of pronounced environmental discomfort and about 50% of the urban population live in conditions of noise pollution.
Green spaces play a significant role in neutralizing and mitigating the negative impacts of city industrial zones on people and wildlife in general. In addition to decorative, planning and recreational purposes, green spaces planted on city streets and squares play a very important protective, sanitary and hygienic role.
Not all plants are able to survive in urban conditions. Trees and shrubs planted on dusty streets must withstand the powerful onslaught of civilization. We want plants not only to please our eyes and give us coolness on a hot day, but also to enrich the air with life-giving oxygen. Not every plant can do this.
Plants growing in a large city are real “Spartans”. Tree growth here is very difficult due to environmental pollution. Up to 30 tons of various substances fall annually per 1 km 2 of a large city, which is 4–6 times more than in rural areas. Scientists believe that a large proportion of deaths in cities around the world are associated with air pollution.
The main cause of photochemical fog is automobile exhaust fumes. For every kilometer of travel, a passenger car emits about 10 g of nitrogen oxide. Photochemical fog occurs in polluted air as a result of reactions occurring under the influence of solar radiation.
Sulfur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, nitrogen oxides, heavy metals, various aerosols, salts and dust are added to the exhaust gases of cars, which enter the stomata of leaves and impede photosynthesis. Thus, on the streets of Moscow, 20–25-year-old linden trees have approximately twice as weak photosynthesis as similar trees in a suburban park. Along central highways, as a rule, weakening and partial drying of tree crowns of both deciduous and coniferous species is more often observed. Due to the slowdown in photosynthesis, urban trees have reduced annual growth of shoots. Shorter shoots are formed in the crown. Atmospheric pollution can also cause other disturbances in growth and branching. For example, linden trees sometimes form double buds. With an abundance of such disturbances, trees develop ugly forms of growth.
The thermal regime of the soil is also unusual in cities. On hot summer days, the asphalt surface, heating up, gives off heat not only to the ground layer of air, but also to the soil. At an air temperature of 26–27 o C, the soil temperature at a depth of 20 cm reaches 34–37 o C, and at a depth of 40 cm – 29–32 o C. These are the real hot horizons - exactly those in which the bulk of plant roots are concentrated . It is not for nothing that the uppermost layers of urban soils practically do not contain living roots. An unusual thermal situation is created for outdoor plants: the temperature of their underground organs is often higher than that of aboveground ones. In natural conditions, on the contrary, the life processes of most plants in temperate latitudes occur under reverse temperature conditions.
Due to the removal of fallen leaves in the fall and snow in the winter during the cold winter period, urban soils cool down more and freeze deeper than in forested areas. All this negatively affects the condition of the plant root system.
But it is not only the microclimate that worsens the life of plants in the city. The most important environmental factor in plant life is water. In cities, plants often lack soil moisture due to it draining into the sewer network.
This explains the fact that the species composition of the trees most often planted along roads and streets is not very diverse. The main species in the middle zone are linden, poplar, maple, chestnut, birch, larch, ash, rowan, spruce, oak, and about 30 species of shrubs. The latter are often used to create hedges.
What is the role of green spaces in air purification? In the leaves of a tree, chlorophyll grains absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Under natural conditions in summer, an average-sized tree in 24 hours releases as much oxygen as is necessary for the breathing of three people, and 1 hectare of green space absorbs 8 liters of carbon dioxide in 1 hour and releases into the atmosphere an amount of oxygen sufficient to support the life of 30 people. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the ground layer of air approximately 45 m thick.
Among the various tree species used for urban landscaping, it has special properties: chestnut . One mature chestnut tree clears a space of up to 20 thousand m3 from incoming exhaust gases. Moreover, unlike many other trees, chestnut decomposes toxic substances with almost no damage to its health.
Resistant to air pollution and poplar . In terms of the amount of absorbed carbon dioxide and released oxygen, a 25-year-old poplar exceeds spruce by 7 times, and in the degree of air humidification - almost 10 times. So, to improve the air quality, instead of seven spruces (three lindens or four pines), you can plant one poplar, which also catches dust well.
Tree foliage actively traps dust and reduces the concentration of harmful gases, and these properties manifest themselves to varying degrees in different species. Foliage retains dust well elm And lilac (better than poplar leaves). Thus, a planting of 400 young poplars captures up to 340 kg of dust during the summer season, and elms - 6 times more. Acacia , unpretentious, fast growing rose hip and a number of other plants also have similar properties.
On a hot summer day, rising currents of hot air form above the heated asphalt and hot iron roofs of houses, carrying with them the smallest particles of dust that remain in the air for a long time. At the same time, downward air currents arise over a park located somewhere in the city center, because the surface of the leaves is much cooler than asphalt and iron. Dust carried away by these downdrafts settles on the leaves of the trees in the park. One hectare of coniferous tree plantations retains up to 40 tons of dust per year, and deciduous trees - about 100 tons.
In conditions of high air pollution, some changes occur in the phenology of plants, especially those growing along highways. There is a reduction in the growing season, the timing of flowering and fruit ripening, the degree of flowering and fruiting, the quality and germination of seeds is reduced.
For the comfort provided by transport, for the huge number of cars, we pay for the cleanliness of the air. When 1 liter of fuel is burned in a car engine, 200–400 mg of lead enters the air. Over the course of a year, one car can emit up to 1 kg of this metal into the atmosphere. Elevated levels of lead in vegetables and fruits grown near highways, as well as in the milk of cows fed contaminated grass, pose a risk to human health.
Sometimes in the summer you can see leaves falling on the trees. The reason for this is the high level of lead in the air. Trees are difficult to tolerate lead poisoning. An upper limit for lead concentrations for plants has not yet been established. Some plants, for example mosses And larch , absorb it in relatively large quantities, and birch, willow, and aspen - much less. By concentrating lead, plants purify the air. During the growing season, one tree can accumulate as much lead as is contained in 130 liters of gasoline. A simple calculation shows that to neutralize the harmful effects of one car, at least 10 trees are needed.
Green spaces play a big role in noise control. Trees planted between noise sources and residential buildings reduce noise levels by 5–10%. The crowns of deciduous trees absorb up to 26% of the sound energy falling on them. Large forested areas reduce noise levels from aircraft engines by 22–56% compared to an open area (at the same distance from the noise source). Even a small layer of snow on tree branches enhances noise absorption.
However, you can also get the opposite results if you plant trees incorrectly and choose the wrong species. For example, planting trees with a dense dense crown along the axis of a street with busy traffic flow will act as a screen, reflecting sound waves towards residential buildings.
Most effectively perform noise-protective functions of landing red elderberry , red oak , serviceberry .
Interestingly, sounds are not absorbed by the foliage of trees. Hitting the trunk, sound waves are broken, heading down to the soil, where they are absorbed. The best guardian of silence is considered spruce
. Even next to the noisiest highway, you can live peacefully if you protect your home with a row of green fir trees. And it would be nice to sit next to chestnuts
.
Trees with wide crowns and shrubs planted along sidewalks improve the microclimate of streets.
Trees and shrubs (more than 500 species) emit volatile substances into the air - phytoncides, which have the ability to kill microorganisms. Phytoncides, discovered in 1928 by the Soviet scientist B.P. Tokin, have a great influence on the life of plants, accelerating or slowing down their growth and development. Active sources of phytoncides are white acacia, birch, willow, winter and red oaks, spruce, pine, poplar, bird cherry, etc. It is especially important that phytoncides can kill some pathogens of human and animal diseases. Coniferous forests are destructive for pathogenic microbes. Scientists have found that coniferous forests have 2 times less bacteria than deciduous forests. So, for example, 1 ha juniper releases about 30 kg of phytoncides per day. Phytoncides pine trees have a detrimental effect on tuberculosis pathogens, and phytoncides fir , poplars , oak – for diphtheria bacilli. Experiments have shown that in June-July phytoncides bird cherry suppress the proliferation of salmonella, shigella and inhibit the growth of staphylococcus, and phytoncides Siberian larch suppress the proliferation of salmonella and inhibit the growth of shigella.
Trees and shrubs weaken the negative effects of winds. But dense planting of green spaces does not perform windproof functions, since it leads to increased turbulence of air flows.
During the growing season, green spaces increase air humidity and stabilize moisture exchange between the earth's surface and the atmosphere. In the shade of the garden on a hot day, the air temperature is 7–8 o Lower than in the open. If on a summer day the air temperature on the streets is above 30 €8C, then in a park or square the thermometer shows only 22–24 €8C.
The greatest harm to green spaces in the city comes from a constant lack of moisture as a result of the predominance of surface runoff over underground runoff. Soil pollution, especially with heavy metals and salt used in winter to combat ice, has a harmful effect on all types of plantings.
The planting of green spaces along the streets is significantly limited by underground communications, primarily heating mains and gas pipelines. And drainage and sewer collectors themselves are subject to destruction under the influence of tree roots. Therefore, when designing green spaces on streets, it is necessary to take into account the depth of underground communications (the zone inaccessible to the root system should be more than 3.4 m).
Trees and shrubs growing in the city carry out a tremendous amount of work every day and hour: they absorb dust and carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, perform sanitary protection, water protection and noise protection functions, form the microclimate and the unique appearance of the city.
The recreational value of green spaces is associated with the organization of optimal recreation. Squares, parks, areas with a variety of plants and compositions, complemented by small architectural forms, decorative water elements (pools, fountains) contribute to the complete relaxation of the population. Green spaces serve not only as decoration, they are true defenders of people's health.
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Trees have been known to us since school as an indispensable filter of natural origin. Its leaves contain chlorophyll, which absorbs carbon dioxide and then supplies our planet with oxygen.
- In the summer, 1 tree is capable of converting bad air into good air, a volume that is enough for 4 people to breathe.
- Green spaces with an area of 1 hectare are capable of absorbing about 8 liters of carbon dioxide in 1 hour, and then converting it into oxygen, which is enough for 30 people.
- Trees also benefit the earth, providing air exchange and cleaning a 45-meter layer of soil.
Some tree species are used specifically for urban landscaping. You can often find chestnut and poplar trees on the streets. The chestnut tree has the power to process about 20 thousand m3 of polluted air, when a 25-year-old poplar surpasses spruce in its cleaning capabilities by 7 times, and in humidification by 10 times.
Tree foliage has the properties of absorbing dust, neutralizing and reducing the level of harmful substances in the air. The leaves of lilac, elm, and acacia show good results. Only 400 units of young poplar plants are enough to eliminate 340 kg of city dust, when the same amount of elm can handle 1900 kg!Decrease in air temperature
The hot summer season is characterized by constant air currents that come from hot asphalt, roofs of buildings and houses, cars, etc. These currents carry a lot of dirt, dust, and carcinogens. It’s good if there are trees nearby, the temperature of the leaves of which overcomes the hot air from the coverings and deposits dust. We all always hide in the shade of trees, where the air is not so dry and “heavy”.
Metals in the air
The convenience of having vehicles has deprived us of natural and clean air, especially in big cities. A whole kilogram of metal can be released into the atmosphere by a car during a year of its operation!
This is detrimental to breathing, as well as to plants grown near the road and often the vegetables we eat. This also includes animals that eat grass near the road, and then provide milk, meat, etc.
Lead (read more about) in the atmosphere when there is an excess of it causes leaf fall in trees, and in non-autumn periods. This metal is very harmful for trees, unlike mosses and larches. By concentrating lead in their leaves, trees are able to recycle carbon dioxide.
During the growing season, a tree can accumulate the amount of lead that can be obtained from 130 liters of gasoline. From this we can draw a simple conclusion that to neutralize the damage from cars, 10 trees per 1 unit are needed.
Hunting for bacteria
Trees are multifunctional plants on our planet, because they not only supply the world with oxygen and consume harmful substances, save us from the sun and heavy metals, but are also able to neutralize harmful microbes.
Phytoncides are components of green spaces that hunt harmful bacteria, and are most concentrated in: white acacia, willow, birch, spruce, pine, poplar, bird cherry, etc. It is important that these substances kill both human pathogens and animals . It is especially harmless in coniferous forests, because there are 2 times less bacteria than in deciduous forests.
It’s not for nothing that even at school we are taught to value and preserve green spaces, because their work is so important for our healthy life and the beauty of the world around us. Moreover, the present time is sorely lacking such a natural filter as trees.
If you are interested, take a look at which indoor plants purify the air in the house
According to the World Health Organization, mortality and duration of illness are inversely proportional to the area of green space in a city. Green spaces- the “lungs” of cities, they help improve the microclimate, reduce noise levels, and remarkably clean polluted air from germs and dust.
Hectare forests Within an hour, it absorbs about 8 kg of carbon dioxide; this amount is exhaled by 200 people. The air-protective effect of green spaces depends on their age, composition, condition, nature of planting (array, row), location in relation to the source of pollution. In particular, a multi-row tree and shrub strip made of gas-resistant species provides effective protection of the air environment of residential areas from pollution by motor vehicles.
Scientists have conducted studies showing impact of forests on pollution air– up to 30-40% less such pollution under trees. It is estimated that a hectare forests during the year it absorbs at least a ton of harmful gases and purifies up to 18 million m 3 of air. The forest is capable of capturing up to 22% of suspended harmful substances contained in the air.
Near highways, the uptake of lead by plants with hairy leaves occurs approximately ten times faster than with smooth leaves, and the rate of lead deposition on grass is 4 times greater than on bare soil. It is estimated that one hectare of pine forest can bind up to 30 kg of sulfur dioxide per hectare per year, deciduous forest - up to 72 kg, spruce forest - up to 150 kg.
Forest purifies the air from harmful substances, from dust, aerosols. It turns out that one hectare of coniferous forests can deposit up to 30-35 tons of dust per year, and deciduous forests - up to 70 tons.
In an industrial city, 1 cm 3 of air contains from 10 to 100 thousand tiny dust particles; in a forest, mountains, field - about 5 thousand. There are hundreds of times fewer bacteria in forest air than in city air. In birch plantations in a cube of air there are up to 450 different bacteria, and this is below the norm for operating rooms, where 500 non-pathogenic microorganisms are allowed. There are even fewer microorganisms in pine, spruce, and juniper forests.
The oxygen-producing effect of one tree growing in favorable conditions is equivalent to the effect of ten room air conditioners, and the amount of oxygen produced is equal to the amount required for breathing by 3 people.
A component of atmospheric air is ozone. It prevents the passage of short-wave radiation harmful to living organisms to the surface of the earth. The highest ozone density is at an altitude of 20-25 km. It enters the surface layers of the atmosphere as a result of the movement of air masses; its average density at the surface of the earth, depending on the time of day and time of year, is from 10 to 40 μg/m 3 . Regarding content ozone Although conflicting opinions have been expressed in forest air, studies in recent years have confirmed its presence, in particular, in the air of coniferous forests. Ozone concentration in the forest varies depending on the biological activity of plants, the density and age of the tree stand, weather, and season. In a young pine forest it is 2 times higher than in an old one; in winter there is a minimal amount of ozone in the forest, perhaps none at all; in spring there is more of it. The higher the air temperature, the more intensely plants release volatile substances, the more actively terpenes are oxidized and the formation of ozone. Concentration ozone in the forest it increases during thunderstorms, although this increase is short-lived. On the human body ozone at very low concentrations (less than 0.1 mg/m3) it has a beneficial effect - metabolism improves, breathing becomes deeper and more even, and working capacity increases.
Atmospheric air contains positive and negative ions, both of which are divided into heavy and light; enriching the air with light negative ions is beneficial for humans. When you inhale such air, the oxygen content in the blood increases, the level of sugar and phosphorus decreases greatly, headaches and fatigue are relieved, and your well-being and mood improve.
Forest air differs from any other in increased ionization (it has been calculated that a cubic centimeter of forest air contains up to 3 thousand light ions). Ionizing factors are resinous, aromatic substances released by plants during the growing season. All of them create a certain biochemical environment and determine a certain composition of the ground layer of air.
All plant organisms(from bacteria to flowering plants) release into the environment gaseous, liquid, solid, volatile, non-volatile, intravital, post-mortem secretions from damaged and undamaged organs. These secretions are an important ecological and phytocenotic factor. Those of them that have a detrimental effect on various pathogenic microorganisms are called phytoncides. Oak, juniper, pine, spruce, bird cherry, moss, and walnut emit especially high amounts of phytoncides. On a hot summer day, one hectare of oak forest (oak grove) releases up to 15 kg of phytoncides, a pine forest - twice as much. The amount of phytoncides released by a juniper forest of the same area is sufficient to destroy all microorganisms in the air of a large city.
In addition to pine, spruce, oak, juniper and other species , high phytoncidity characteristic of birch, maple, aspen, raspberry, hazel (hazelnut), blueberry. Ash, alder, rowan, lilac, honeysuckle, and caragana have average phytoncidal activity.
caragana plant
The lowest phytoncidal activity is found in elm, red elderberry, euonymus, and buckthorn. It depends on many factors - the breed of plants, their age, weather, time of day. The air in a young forest is more saturated with volatile substances, compared to an old forest. More such volatile substances are released on hot days in late spring and early summer, the maximum occurs in the second half of the day, the minimum - at night.
Phytoncides stimulate vital processes, improve metabolism. When inhaling air saturated with pine phytoncides, patients' blood pressure increases, and with oak phytoncides, it decreases. Phytoncides from spruce, balsam poplar, and larch suppress the growth of E. coli. Phytoncides leaves of cherry laurel, bird cherry, black root, and elderberry are toxic to rats. Volatile bird cherry phytoncides kill a rat in an average of 1.5 hours. Rats leave the places where dried black root or elderberry lie. Small rodents cannot stand the smell kanufera (balsamic tansy).
Under the influence of volatile substances, not only ozonation of the air occurs and the number of light ions in it increases, but the radioactive background changes.
Has a positive effect on the human body forest microclimate- calm, cool air and soil, moderate solar radiation. When approaching the forest, the wind speed decreases by 20-50%, in the forest itself - by 80-90%. Under the crowns of trees, depending on the composition, age, density of the tree stand, as well as the weather, time of day, season, air humidity is 10-20% higher than in open space, the amplitude of humidity fluctuations is smaller, the minimum humidity is observed at night, on the surface soil it is higher than in tree crowns, in a pine forest it is lower than in a deciduous forest. Illumination under the forest canopy can be 30-70% less than in open space. The total illumination in the summer in the city is 3-15% less than near the forest, in winter - by 20-30%. There are 2 times less ultraviolet rays here, the wind force is reduced by 20-30%. But there is 10% more precipitation, twice as much foggy days, 10 times more dust, 25 times more carbon monoxide, 10 times more carbon dioxide, 5 times more sulfur dioxide. A dust plume from a large city can cause a decrease in solar radiation within a radius of 40 km.
Forest normalizes temperature fluctuations in different seasons, and also levels out daily temperature fluctuations.
The average annual temperature in the forest is 1 - 3° C higher than in treeless areas. In winter, it is much warmer in the forest than in an open place, for example, in a field, meadow; in summer, it is cooler in the forest during the day, and much warmer at night. During the day, it is warmest in the crowns; they are heated most by the sun. In a leafless forest, it is warmer at the surface of the soil; heat is retained here by the forest floor. The forest is like a universal, biological, natural air conditioner with no side effects on the human body (if it behaves correctly in the forest).