Journal of Natural Environment
Year:2012 | Volume:65 | Issue:1|Papers Count:14

The management of hospital wastes is of high importance, because of their infectious and hazardous potential. This is a cross-sectional study based on questionnaire, interview, observation and meetings performed in major Mashhad Hospitals in 2009. Weight and per capita waste production were determined. Moreover, the status of production, separation, storage, collection, treatment, transportation and disposal of these wastes were also determined. Total active beds in eight surveyed hospital (except Naft Hospital with no information available) were 2833 beds, which produced 8369 kg/d of solid wastes, and the per bed production of wastes was 2.95 kg/d. This growth of hospital waste production per capita is in the median of global waste production per capita and if the growth rate is stable, it is predicted that in 2016 Mashhad hospitals will produce around 20 tons of wastes per day. Based on the quality and quantity of hospital wastes and their environmental effects, separation of infectious and hazardous wastes from ordinary wastes, burning of infectious wastes in a central incinerator outside the city and preferably in municipal wastes landfill, and proper engineered disposal of ordinary wastes and incinerator ash into the landfill were proposed for the better management of these wastes.

Ecological classification of the coastal zone, have recently been using the “biotope” as a unit. Lexically “biotope” is synonymous with habitat, but with different ecological concepts. Various biotopes in 122 km intertidal stretch of the southern coasts of the Qeshm Island (Qeshm city in east to Dustaku village in west) in four seasons were identified and mapped out (2009-2010). Considering the extent and geomorphology of the covered area (sandy, rocky and rocky-sandy), 12 stations within four sub-regions were designated, using GPS. The work was carried out through monitoring, photography and sampling of biotic communities, using quadrate method and sediment sampling for particle size and total organic matter. Totally 60 major biotopes in 10 biotic groups were identified, of which more than 65% were located in rocky and rocky-sandy coast (mid-eastern) and the rest in sandy coast (mid-western). These results can be used in management approaches, because biotopes as distinctive and repeatable communities might be considered as indicators of change due to various pressures.

Forest reserves are one of the most important approaches in ecosystem management in Iran. In order to determine the effects of reserve management on plants diversity (woody plants and ground flora) in three zones (core zone, buffer zone, and transmission zone of Chamhesar pear forest reserve), we mapped land form units. Then 18 main sampling units (20×50=1000 m2) distributed randomly were chosen to measure tree canopy covers and record species richness in three zones. There were three subsamples (2×2=4 m2) in each main sampling unit to record ground flora richness (54 subsamples in total). Dominance, richness, evenness and diversity indices were calculated and compared. The results showed that in a time period of six years, reserve management had no effects on woody plant diversity and solely lead to canopy cover improvement. Reserve management increased dominancy and species richness in one hand and on the other hand decreased evenness and diversity of ground flora.

Inappropriate waste management is considered as an important factor for attracting wild animals to the inhabited area. This leads to food conditioning in some wild species, which changes their feeding behavior and food habits. Usually this trend reduces the fear of wild species and leads to conflict between wild species and human. We sampled five landfill sites of villages and small towns in which wolf attacks have been reported in Hamedan Province. We also sampled five landfill sites far from the centre of recent wolves’ attacks. Each landfill was sampled three times with two days interval. We took three samples, each of them including 0.25 m3 of wastes. The percentage of dry and wet contents along with the amount of protein was compared by independent t-test. Our results revealed that there is no significant difference in waste composition and the amount of protein between the affected and unaffected areas. These results suggest that wastes’ characteristics do not play an important role to enhance the conflict between wolves and human. However, productive agricultural lands, inappropriate waste management, accustoming to waste using and more density of swinger doges, lead to overlap, wolf habitat selection human usage pattern. This could be considered as main reasons of wolf attack in target areas.

The natural beauty as well as the diversity of animal and plant life in many wetlands makes them ideal locations for tourists. It is essential to preserve wetlands in the extensive range of human activities to obtain sustainable wetlands. Management planning process is a mechanism for achieve this purpose. In this study, recreational management planning with Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) has implemented on Choghakhor wetland in Charmahal-O-bakhtiari province. Following steps were performed: 1) defining objectives 2) identifying protective criteria 3) choosing criteria using Delphi method 4) weighting and ranking criteria using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) 5) mapping indicators and in result, selecting recreational zones. According to the Delphi questionnaire results, species sensitivity sub-criteria from the wildlife main criteria obtained a maximum percentage of importance. The result of AHP process showed that landscape was the most important criteria. Finally, considering Choghakhor wetland boundary on the basis of macrophytes’ expansion; ecotourism zone, natural based tourism dependent on physical development and natural based tourism independent on physical development, were identified as recreational zones.

The aim of this study is to investigate underground water quality parameters in Gorganrud River basin and their connection with aboveground conditions using GIS and Artificial Neural Networks. In order to prepare a land use map of the area, LISS III image of IRS satellite of the year 2008 was used in a maximum likelihood classification. The results revealed that there was a significant correlation between the concentration of pollutants in groundwater resources and land use/cover types. The results indicated that general condition of the water-quality factors is acceptable; however, some factors such as TDS are reaching thresholds (1600 mg/l). Soil and geological structures, agricultural activities, groundwater level, urban development, population density and distance from rivers have a large impact on the quality of underground water supplies in the region.

Changes in groundwater quality, is caused destruction of other resources, either directly or indirectly, due to bad management of groundwater extractions. Considering the importance of groundwater resources, especially in arid and semiarid regions, this research was done to modeling the spatial distribution of some groundwater qualitative factors with emphasis on drinking using geostatistical methods. Qualitative variables selected are: total hardness, chloride, sulfate and nitrate ions. First of all, normality of data investigated based on Kolmogrov-Smirnov test and non-normal variables were transformed to normal by using logarithmic transform. Then variography and cross-variogram analysis of variables was done. Accuracy assessment of results was investigated based on cross validation and root mean square error (RMSE). Results showed that Cokriging Method (using auxiliary variables) compared with other Geostatistical methods is a more accurate estimator, so interpolating and zoning of variables were done by using Cokriging Method and drinking water standards.

Developing the recreational activities and ecotourism is one of the approaches to reach sustainable development. Termination of the recreational values and potentials as well as planning in this case lead to increase economic income. Gavkhooni is an attractive place which has a high potential for ecotourism. In this study, the recreational factors and the priorities of recreational places in the region determined by the Analytic Hierarchy process method. The main factors that influence recreations were determined and then each pair of them were compared by local data via the questionnaires. Then, four places were selected in the region and the score of each place with respect to the factors were determined via questionnaires. Then the priorities of recreational activities were determined through comparison of the tourists' interests. The results showed that the beautiful landscapes are the most important factor for recreation and the Dunes are the first priority for recreation in the region. The recreational activities scored with respect to the tourist's interests. Finally, the managerial hints for improving the ecotourism were presented.

Quantifying spatial structure is one of the most important components, describing natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. In this study, a set of indices and functions related to spatial structure using 102 established plots with an area of 1000 m2 were presented. To achieve spatial structure of Carpinus-Fagus type, a set of indices (Clark & Evans, uniform angle, Shannon-Wiener, mingling and DBH/Height dimension) and functions (pair correlation and mark correlation) were applied. The indices and functions demonstrated the diversity of tree positioning, species, and tree dimension. The mean values of Clark & Evans and uniform angle indices were 0.86 and 0.53, respectively, indicating a distribution between random and cluster patterns. Also, pair correlation function indicated trees with inter-tree distance smaller than 5.5 m were more than the same forest with a random distribution. The mean values of Shannon-Wiener and mingling indices were computed 1.17 and 0.36, respectively. Mingling index properly showed a low mixture of beech and hornbeam and a high mixture of other species. Furthermore, the mean values of both DBH/Height dominance indices were 0.51, which indicated that some species such as linden and alder were dominance and species including elm and persimmon were conquered. Mark correlation function showed that trees with inter-tree distance less than 7.5 m had a smaller DBH rather than the average of forest. The utilized indices and functions in this study had a high ability in describing of available species structure in Carpinus-Fagus forest type, so the result could be applied in sustainable forest management.

Up to now, there is no habitat suitability index model for Common Otter in Iran. This species is an index species for clean ecosystems and consequently, an important animal. Model prepared, considering dependent variables to show vital needs for this animal in the Shenrood River located in the Deylaman-Dorfak prohibited hunting area in Iran. HEP method was applied and important factors were selected used to reach habitat suitability index. It consisted of physical characteristics of the river such as mean of depth, mean of width, vegetation cover and distance to them. The model was built by mean of geometrical method using six variables. Model was applied on four sites, resulted 0.88, 0.79, 0.73 and 0.59 for respectively. First and second sites have got higher suitability score, which was similar to our observations in the field.