Nature-based solutions as tools for air phytoremediation: A review of the current knowledge and gaps

Monitoring of air quality and the application of strategies for its improvement are perceived as key areas for reducing environmental pollution. The research on Nature Based Solutions for the mitigation of pollutant concentrations in the air has increasingly developed in the last twenty years. The purpose of this review is to evaluate whether the current knowledge about Nature-Based Solutions provides a quantitative answer of the real benefits of air phytoremediation. To address this question, the literature on air phytoremediation over the last twenty years was analyzed. Altogether, 52 variables were selected, grouped into six categories, to briefly characterize the contents, methodology and outcome of the peer-reviewed articles. Altogether, 413 plant species found in the analyzed studies were recorded. The results show the trends about the most studied pollutants and on the methodologies mostly applied, in relation to the study outcomes. The analysis demonstrated that particulate matter (PMx) was the most frequently examined pollutant, most studies on NbS are based on experiments with exposure chambers, and scaling up the results with models has been limited. Although effective reductions in pollutant concentrations have been shown in the majority of studies, there is a strong fragmentation of the approaches, most studies have looked at a single pollutant and detailed information for model parameterization is only available for a few species. Thus, the review highlights that studies of Nature Based Solutions in air phytoremediation require unification of methodologies, and should consider a broader range of pollutants and plant organisms useful for mitigating the impacts of air pollutants in indoor and outdoor human environments.