Environmental Sciences
Year:2010 | Volume:7 | Issue:2|Papers Count:16

During the reproductive season from mid-March to June 2006 the biological importance of reproductive aspects of 41 individuals e.g. straight carapace length and width, weight, carapace curve length and width, plastron length, tail length, number of eggs, number of normal and abnormal egg, weight and diameter of egg were recorded. Only 49% of individuals’ biometry leads to successful nesting. Grain size analysis in the egg laying area is between 2 to 0.063 mm and in some areas with maximum successful nesting it reaches 0.25 to 0.125 mm. the average weight and straight length of hawksbill turtles were 44.45 kg and 65.22 cm in comparison with other Iranian Island and the Persian Gulf which have a similar average rate and, when compared with other parts of the world, have the minimum length and maximum weight. The length and weight distribution showed that hawksbill turtles that are coming to these shores are of a different age group. Out of 41 hawksbill turtles, the average egg diameter and weight were 30.45g; similar measurements have been shown in other parts of the Iranian Island and Persian Gulf but, in comparison with other parts of the world, it represents a minimum of total eggs that have a maximum average diameter and weight. Finally, in conclusion, the turtles of Hormoz Island and the Persian Gulf region have shown a smaller body, size and the minimum number of eggs compared with other parts of the world. But the egg size was bigger and this could influence the survival rate for hatchlings.

The Khoramshahr (Naseri) marsh is a manmade wetland that lies about 17 Km North of Khoramshar created in 2000 by discharged sugarcane waste water. Results of the direct census conducted (by total count) during 2002-2008 shows the number of species, population size and density of birds in this wetland to have increased. The coot (Fulica atra), with population of 75000 in 2008, had the highest population size. The highest, population size and number of species were 194464 birds in 2008 and 32 species in 2007, respectively. The Shannon diversity index, was the highest in 2008 (H’=2.27). This shows that the distribution of bird populations was more homogeneous in this than in other years. The Khoramshahr Marsh conforms with some of Ramsar convention criteria and to some criteria of IBA (special second criteria in second category). By the application of 5 criteria (birds, fishes, threats, socio-economic criteria and conservation status) determined that, among 75 important wetlands in Iran, the Khormashahr Marsh is in the 63rd rank after Khoram wetland.

Karaj dam watershed which is the main source of drinking water for the city of Tehran and the surrounding area has been confronted with a reduction of water quality in the recent years. Ecological land use evaluation using GIS aimed to determining suitability of existent land uses, analysis of 10 years’ (1998-2007) water pollutant averages for determining the river quality and SWOT analysis for recognizing weakness and threats of water quality and strengths and opportunities for its improvement have all been used in this research. The results of these 3 methods have been integrated into a hierarchical process for the zoning of Karaj dam watershed’s polluting potentials. As a result five zones- very few, few, average, high and very high pollution potentials- have been identified. The decision making process for reducing the pollution potential of basin zones may be facilitated by taking into consideration the zoning and the time/budget constraints.

The objective of this research was to classify Darkola oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) plant communities in Pol-sefid in Mazadaran Province on the basis of the above ground vegetation and soil seed bank floristic dataset. We also tested whether above ground plant communities can be recognized by a soil seed band dataset. For this purpose 52 releves with an area 400 m2 were made at the peak of the growing season during June 2006 by a systematic-selective method and by consideration of the indicator stands concept. Vegetation data were recorded separately for each life form. In each releve, soil samples were also collected using 20 cm × 20 cm square metal frame in six repetitions at the beginning of the 2007 growth season. The metal frame was hammered into the soil to a depth 10 cm. this study used the seeding emergence approach to recognize the size and richness of species composition in the seed bank. By using two way indicator species analysis, TWINSPAN, four plant communities were separately recognized in two series above ground plant communities and underground (soil seed bank) plant communities based on the relative density of total plant species indentified in the soil seed bank and the percentage cover of each species in above ground vegetation dataset matrices surveyed, respectively. Above ground and underground plant communities, fitness was estimated at 68% based on similar membership of releves in each plant community, when they were, separately classified from the soil seed bank and above ground vegetation points of view. Results of discriminant analysis and detrended analysis revealed that classification of plant communities on the basis of the above ground vegetation dataset led to forming distinguishable and separate groups whereas the soil seed bank dataset, since it was generally composed of pioneer plant species, could not display distinct plant, communities. As a result, we concluded that soil seed bank floristic data were not suitable for plant community classification even though they were related to some physiographical properties. The results of indicator species analysis (IV) approved that there are four groups of indicator plants which characterized Darkola oriental beech forest into four distanced above ground plant communities including: Fagus orientalis with Danae racemosa understory type, Fagus orientalis- Acer velutinum types, Fagus orientalis with Mercurialis perennis understory and Fagus orientalis with Vaccinium arctostaphylos understory.

Bunium persicum (Boiss) is a valuable medicinal plant native to Iran which grows wild in various parts of Iran. In the present study, genetic diversity was investigated with in and among some populations of B.persicum collected from the main growing areas of this plant in Iran using RAPD markers. Fifteen RAPD primers produced a total of two hundred and twenty-nine bands, with two hundred and sixteen (94%) polymorphic bands between single plants of six investigated populations. Popgene software was used to describe population structure thought calculation of Shannon’s information index and Nei’s gene diversity analysis. Genetic diversity within a population from Ghazvin Province was more than other populations and, within it, the population of Saghafy was less than others. Calculation of the ratio of the effective number of alleles to observed, number of alleles within each population showed that the population had equal distributions in agreement with the Hardy-Wienberg equilibrium. Also, a high Fst index derived by this study showed that the populations investigated were completely different from each other and had independent evolution. In UPGMA derived dendrogram based on the Jaccard similarity matrix, in most cases different individuals belonging to the same population were represented in different groups, showing a high level of genetic variation within all populations. The available genetic diversity of B. persicum must be considered in domestication, breeding and conservation programs.

Environmental components, including animal species, simply cross political boundaries and, in other words, animal species do not recognize borders. For this reason, the most important methods applied by international instruments to protect these species and their habitats are reviewed in this article. In the second half of the 20th century, numerous international texts have been adopted, especially aimed at ensuring the protection of species and habitat of wildlife. The convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauua and Flora or CITES (also known as the Washington Convention) of 1973 is one of the most important international conventions on the protection of animal species. In parallel with these international developments, various national legislative systems have been adopted different regulations for the protection of animal species. The diversity of rules in different countries clearly shows the approach of each State with regard to infringements committed against animals. In Iranian law, as many other countries, several legislative provisions in respect of animal species have been adopted. In this work, we will only address the criminal law as it relates to the Iranian Law of Hunting and Fishing as lex specialis and the Iranian Penal Code as lex generalis. The choice of the provisions mentioned is not by chance since not only are they relatively broad in scope but also they are the laws in force in this area.

Nitrate (NO3-N) and ammonium (NH4-N) leaching from agricultural soils can represent substantial losses of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, but a large variation in N losses has been reported. The objectives of this study were to assess the accumulation and movement of nitrate and ammonium in the soil profile over the study period under different irrigation and fertilizer conditions. So, N concentration and its leaching were studied under three N fertilizer and three irrigation treatments during 2007 Khuzestan Province, Iran. The irrigation treatments consisted of full irrigation (I1) and 85 (I2) and 70 (I3) percent of I1. Also, the N treatments were 150 (N1), 250 (N2) and 350 (N3) kg/ha. Soil sampling was conducted in June, July, August and September from the soil surface to 1.2 m depth at intervals of 0.3 m depth. We used the LEACHM model for nitrate (NO3-N) and ammonium (NH4-N) simulation, and their comparison with measured data. The amount of application of nitrogen and irrigation treatments indicated their important role in the accumulation of nitrate and ammonium in the soil profile. In this study, a high concentration of NO3-N was observed in I3N3 and also a high concentration of NH4-N accrued in the I3N3 and I3N2 treatment. After some time Nitrate leached to subsurface depths and by the end of sampling (September) the concentration at the 0-30 cm depth was zero. The model was calibrated with a change in nitrification, denitrification and N volatilization for the three N treatments and model accuracy was increased after calibration so that Willmott’s index for NO3-N and NH4-N after calibration was 0.56 to 0.98 and 0.76 to 0.96, respectively.

In this research, two methods were utilized for assessing the ecological capability of forestry: the overlay maps systemic and Boolean-Fuzzy Logic (BFL) methods. To assess the ecological capability of forest land, it is essential to deploy precise ecological factors of a forest ecosystem such as its physiography, topography, altitude, slope, soil, bedrock, precipitation, temperature, and natural factors like vegetation density, animal increment, and the special value of plant species. Therefore, overlay methodology and Boolean logic were used to evaluate the ecological capability of sub watersheds Nos.33 and 34 that cover an area of 32,526 ha near Tonekabon in Mazandaran Province of Iran. Our findings after using the conventional Boolean Model revealed that there are categories 3, 5, 6, and 7 of forest capability in the area, although the category 3 area was dominant. On the other hand, when the same methodology was used but, instead of the Boolean-Logic (BL) the ‘Boolean-Fuzzy-Logic’ (BFL) was deployed and after weighting of parameters by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the seven complete categories for forest layers have been detected in the Geographic Information System (GIS) layers. These findings can emphasize the improvement of BFL methodology against the conventional BL for assessment of the ecological capability of forests in the northern part of Iran.

This survey was undertaken during, seven months (March-October) in 2007 in the Sabzevar region. The lizards were captured on seven one-ha plots (100m×100m), based on vegetation change. The lizards were sampled using two methods: the first consisted of padding and the second sampling method was accomplished using pitfall trapping. For the latter, twenty pitfall traps were established in each plot and were placed in a random-systematic design within a plot. Overall, we captured 151 specimens belonging of four families, eight genera and 12 species. For measuring the diversity we used the Shannon-Wiener, N1, Simpson and Hill indices and, for measuring evenness, we used the Camargo, Simpson and Smith and Wilson indices. In addition, we used the Rarefaction Method for equating data and measuring species richness. Finally, with regard to the results obtained by the different indices we found that, the relationship between crown coverage and species diversity, evenness, richness and abundance has a positive correlation. For the diversity indices, these were: Shannon- Wiener (r=0.84, R2=0.70), N1 (r=0.65, R2=0.42), Hill (r=0.851, R2=0.65), Simpson (r=0.82, R2=0.67). For the evenness indices: Simpson (r=0.3, R2=0.01), Smith and Wilson (r=0.5, R2=0.25) and Camargo (r=0.36, R2=0.13). In addition, another positive correlation was shown between crown coverage and species abundance (r=0.97, R2=0.93) and species richness (r=0.77, R2=0.6).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of biotechnology experts in university centers of Tehran Province towards application of transgenic plants. The study had a descriptive-correlation design and it was carried out through a survey method. The target population consisted of 75 biotechnology experts at university centers of Tehran Province. Using the Kerjcie and Morgan sample size table and s stratified randomized sampling method, 63 experts were chosen as the sample; the research instrument was questionnaire. Face and content validity of the questionnaire was established by using a panel of agricultural extension and education and biotechnology experts. A pilot test was conducted to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was estimated at between 0.83 and 0.93 by using SPSS software version 16. Descriptive findings indicated that 44.5% of experts’ attitudes towards using transgenic plants were either ‘positive’ or ‘relatively positive’ and other experts’ attitudes were either ‘negative’ or ‘relatively negative’. Three aspects of transgenic plants that had medium importance were: ecological (mean: 3.40), socioeconomic (mean: 3.34) and health- hygiene (mean: 3.12), respectively. The effective educational and extension factor in using transgenic plants was the mass media (mean: 4.26). Also, an important solution for application and development of transgenic plants was the establishment of a research center and incubator. Mann Whitney U test findings showed a statistical significant difference at a 1% level between male and female attitudes towards using transgenic plants. Spearman correlation coefficients showed a statistically significant and positive correlation between the ecological, socio-economic and health-hygiene aspects of transgenic plants with experts’ attitudes towards using these plants. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that the ecological and health-hygiene aspects determined 43.7% of the variations in the experts’ attitudes.

Beside the cities of the Zagros hillsides in which Ilam is located, ecological resources have brought about significant ecological and environmental enhancement as well as ecotourism opportunities. Among these beautiful sites, residential regions play an influential role in creating and developing landscape values and this is the question under investigation in this article. This study has been performed through field research and library research through such sources as electronic sites, census data and university these, map study (of Ilam), with the aim of introducing an ecological design for the region under discussion.

Sustainability in natural resource management is a vital principle in sustainable agricultural and rural development. The main objective of this research is to present the results of a study concerning an analysis of sustainable natural resource management among farmers in Behbahan county of Khuzestan Province. A survey method was the main approach employed while a stratified-randomization sampling method used to select the samples. Data were collected through questionnaires, from 150 farmers. Results of the analysis show that 30.7 percent of farmers settled in an unsustainable category. 58.7 percent are semi-sustainable and 10.7 percent are sustainable. Multivariate Linear Regression results indicated that the level of a farmer’s income through farming, farming experience, number of literate household members, participation in extension and agricultural courses and level of income through non-farming activities explained 83% of variance (R2=0.834) in the sustainability of natural resource management through farmers.