Is there a "forest filter effect" for organic pollutants?

The short answer is yes, but with qualifications. We interpret the word filter in "forest filter effect" to refer to an irreversible removal of a chemical from a specified environmental system due to the presence of vegetation. Al- though vegetation can accumulate or scavenge semi-volatile organic chemicals (SVOCs) from the environment (Buckley 1982), it remains unclear how or even if vegetation influences the ultimate fate of a chemical. Because published research related to the exchange of SVOCs between the atmosphere and forest ecosystem is limited (Brorstrom-Lunden and Lofgren 1998; Horstmann and McLachlan 1998), we focus our response mainly on theoretical and modeling aspects.