Species-Specific Contribution to Atmospheric Carbon and Pollutant Removal: Case Studies in Two Italian Municipalities

In order to maximize ecosystem services (ES), a proper planning of urban green areasis needed. In this study, the urban greenery of two Italian cities (Milan and Bologna) exposed tohigh levels of atmospheric pollutants was examined. Vegetation maps were developed through asupervised classification algorithm, trained over remote sensing images, integrated by local treesinventory, and used as input for the AIRTREE multi-layer canopy model. In both cities, a largepresence of deciduous broadleaves was found, which showed a higher capacity to sequestrate CO2(3,953,280 g m2 y-1), O3(5677.76 g m2 y-1), and NO2(2358.30 g m2 y-1) when compared to evergreenneedle leaves that, on the other hand, showed higher performances in particulate matter removal(14,711.29 g m2 y-1 and 1964.91 g m2 y-1for PM10 and PM2,5, respectively). We identified tree specieswith the highest carbon uptake capacity with values up to 1025.47 g CO2 m2 y-1for Celtis australis,Platanus x acerifolia, Ulmus pumila, and Quercus rubra. In light of forthcoming and unprecedentpolicy measures to plant millions of trees in the urban areas, our study highlights the importance ofdeveloping an integrated approach that combines modelling and satellite data to link air qual