Relationship between Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> Concentration and Vegetation in a Hospital Area: The Policlinico Umberto I in Rome — Oak Academic Publishing
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Relationship between Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> Concentration and Vegetation in a Hospital Area: The Policlinico Umberto I in Rome
Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
1 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
2 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
3 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
The capability of the plants growing in the Policlinico Umberto I, one of the most important hospitals in Rome, to lower carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and air temperature was analyzed. The CO 2 concentration inside and outside the hospital and traffic density in the streets surrounding the area w as monitored monthly. Measurements of structural plant traits were carried out. The highest CO 2 concentration was monitored in winter-spring (425 ± 8 ppm, mean value) when traffic density peaks, decreasing by 17% in summer. During the day-time, the highest CO 2 concentration (433 ± 61 ppm, mean value) was measured in the first hours of the morning (9:00) decreasing by 12% from 11.00 to 13.00 in relationship with traffic density decreasing (p < 0.05). Among the greening present in the hospital area, the “group of trees” plays an important role in lowering CO 2 concentration compared to meadows. Moreover, outside the Policlinico air temperature was, on average, 17% higher compared to the inside. The results show the effectiveness of plants in improving air quality and suggest that greening traits may be used to realise an inventory available for tree planting programs to ameliorate the quality of life.
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