ABSTRACT
Plant canopies can play an important role in the environmental fate of organic chemicals. The exchange of chemicals between the atmosphere and plant canopies can be much more rapid than the exchange between the atmosphere and soil or water surfaces. Consequently, plant canopies can “filter” chemicals out of the atmosphere and eventually transfer them to the underlying soil where they may be sequestered for longer periods of time. Vegetation also has a large capacity to reversibly store many chemicals. This, combined with the rapid exchange kinetics, allows plant canopies to serve as chemical buffers for the atmosphere, accumulating chemicals during periods when concentrations in the atmosphere are high (for instance, following a chemical accident), and releasing them back when the concentrations in the atmosphere drop
be an important site for transformation of a chemical, for instance via photochemical reactions on leaf surfaces or biodegradationwithin the foliage.
