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Abstract
Urban particulate air pollution is a serious health issue. Trees within cities can
remove fine particles from the atmosphere and consequently improve air quality and
human health. Tree effects on PM2.5 concentrations and human health are modeled for
10 U.S. cities. The total amount of PM2.5 removed annually by trees varied from 4.7
tonnes in Syracuse to 64.5 tonnes in Atlanta, with annual values varying from $1.1
million in Syracuse to $60.1 million in New York City. Most of these values were from
the effects of reducing human mortality. Mortality reductions were typically around
1 person yr(-1) per city, but were as high as 7.6 people yr(-1) in New York City.
Average annual percent air quality improvement ranged between 0.05% in San Francisco
and 0.24% in Atlanta. Understanding the impact of urban trees on air quality can lead
to improved urban forest management strategies to sustain human health in cities.