Hi everyone… my first time posting here. Although I have been a lurker here in past and already read many of your helpful posts I need even more help… if anyone is willing. I have always found that the web community helps people (for nothing in return most the time). Basically my team and me are doing a project on plants and how they combat pollution. The brief is to create a service that can help the environment… we therefore decided to focus on plants. We have made a website and forums, however the forums are completely empty at the moment and have only 2 members (from the group). I was wondering if anyone could possibly help us by registering and making some nice posts about plants, how to plant, easy to grow plants, plants that generate their own seeds, some information on how they combat pollution or even some general information you feel would be nice for our project. Our website is an information gateway that provides a service for combating pollution and plants. It has newsletters, starter pack, top 10 plants for combating pollution and top 10 easy to grow trees, Plantation tips and more. We would appreciate your knowledge on the subject and I personally would be grateful to anyone who takes the effort to post replies or images on our forums. I realize that it’s a lot to ask to someone who does not know anything about myself or my team however if you do post it will be likely to be shown in our team presentation =) - This is for a University project. Whether you post on our forums or not I do thank you for reading our post. Take Care. Team Gluttony. http://s12.invisionfree.com/Project_Breathe P.S. If you do reply on our forum I will let you know how project goes ?
hi, I have been to scotland, love it. we are hopefully going back this fall. anyway, where i work, we utilized this computer software called CITYgreen. It will actually calcuate how much pollution (ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc.) is removed by the foliage from the air in a specified area. it will also help with calculating the amount of storm water run-off the trees and plants in an area will help control. very neat. somewhere out there, there is a good ratio like having one large tree is much more effective on pollution control than five much smaller ones. I would higly recommend the CITYgreen software. it will produce astonishing numbers. check out our website. http://www.uafortsmith.edu/Arboretum/EnvironmentalBenefits . this is proof that urban forests and landscapes help with pollution control. good luck.
That contradicts what i have read/heard, The smaller trees being more vigorous would use more CO2 etc, however i guess it would depend on how small the small trees were and how big the big tree was :D Lupins spring to mind as a plant for absorbing radiation. Rushes/reeds for nitrates in water. Leyland cypress for particle pollution (sticks to them apparently) sorry but im not really scientific enough for such a project :) if i think of any other plants, i'll be sure and post up here
i have read that a tree whose trunk is 12 inches in diameter provides more environmental benefits than 16 trees with a 3 inch diameter. maybe there is more leaf surface area on the larger tree than on several smaller ones??
hi, project is finished now... we did well =) Anyway mmm, well the co2 gets aborbed into the bark of the tree so it would make sense that the bigger the diameter the more that it will aborb i reckon. Thanks for the replies guys.
http://www.idl.dundee.ac.uk/~robcr/project_breathe Thats our final website - figured you lot might be interested =) Thanks for taking time to reply. I appreciate it. Have nice day =) David.
I'm not sure how useful this is in practical terms for you, but I'm sure it will be of interest. Some years back there was held a test/trial using a fungus to clean up an area that was heavily contaminated with oil, diesel, or some kind of hydrocarbon. Paul Stamets was given one section where he (using fungi) and several other companies tried various techniques on their own test patches trying to clean them of contamination. Long story short, he won. A short quote from <http://www.resurgence.org/2005/stamets232.htm> "As the tarpaulins were lifted from the other companies' modules, the odour of oil was overwhelming. Their piles remained starkly devoid of any life. When the tarpaulin came off ours, the mound was literally blanketed with oyster mushrooms, some as big as twelve inches in diameter." Do a search on the terms "Stamets, Oil spills, hydrocarbons", etc. for more info. Fungi are also very adept at fixing minerals, especially heavy metals in the environment. Btw, this is why people should avoid eating normally edible species from the sides of busy roads. They'll fix and concentrate the heavy metals in exhaust fumes.
