Journal of Natural Environment
Year:2017 | Volume:69 | Issue:4|Papers Count:24

Municipal waste landfill site selection is important in the management of municipal solid waste. Locate the landfill needs to analyze location data, rules and standards are acceptable. The aim of this study was to impose a variety of spatial analysis by using network analysis process (ANP) and GIS technology to locate the optimal limits (with minimal environmental ill side effects) for municipal solid waste landfill. In this regard, in the first phase of weighted criteria, based on existing standards, the ANP model was done using Super Decisions. In the second phase of municipal waste landfill consists of layers required for the database using ArcGIS software was developed. In the third phase in order to achieve suitable areas for waste disposal, after layers and overall weight of the final zoning map of the region were presented. South of the city mixed land heavily worn, poor and weak in terms of agriculture and horticulture, including placed, the area is good. Another good area around the Robat Sang is detected.

Ranges have long been used so far. In recent decades, population growth, increasing livestock numbers and lack of proper principles of pasture utilization has caused great pressure on pastures. As a result of the degradation of rangelands and regress to the disappointing stacks go. Degradation of pasture management is an important part of the activities. This applies to vegetation restoration operations through a combination of biological and mechanical methods possible. Enormous annual cost of these operations is the only country in the watershed. One of the most important and most top performing sectors, positioning them correctly is an important contribution to the success of the operation. Therefore, in this research to prioritize the proper places of pasture biological practice pass seeding operation Ghushchi Urmia TOPSIS method was used in ARC-GIS software environment. This map was produced in the first stage of the regional homogeneity. Secondly, the 9 criteria that influence the location and biological practice seeding operations were determined. Thirdly, the criteria were weighted. Then the TOPSIS method over measures was implemented. Finally, the final map of prioritize the right places and biological practice seeding operations were prepared. The results of this study indicate that homogeneous units 29 with 0.659 suitable for seeding operations, homogeneous units 10 with 0.679 suitable for biological practice operations.

In this research in order to survey genetic structure of Red Fox in central region of Iran, 32 sample tissues were collected from five Provinces (Isfahan, Tehran, Semnan, Kerman and Yazd). After DNA extracting, D-Loop gene of mitochondrial genome was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 327 base pairs (bp) of this gene were sequenced for each sample. The results showed that there are 24 different haplotypes in the samples and haplotype diversity is equal to 0.98. Based on the results of the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), there is an average similarity between populations and the highest amount of sample variance is related to inter population changes. Species expansion has not been occurred due to Harpending’s Raggedness index and its multi exponential diagram. However based on the results of Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs statistics, it could be concluded that species expansion had been possible in the past but it was not significant. Phylogenetic tree shows that there is no independent genetic structure for studied populations and in population differences are greater than among population differences. Haplotype network curve has also confirmed this issue. Although it is not possible to adopt a protection strategy by studying a short part of species genome, but due to the results of this research it might be concluded that there is a good gene flow among populations and currently there is no evidence of bottle neck problem among Fox populations of these regions.

Iran with a considerable diversity placed across three faunal realms, Palearctic, Oriental and Ethiopian. The family of Accipitridae due to their conservation status has got a crucial state within other families of diurnal Birds of prey. In this study using more than one century occurrence data (1886-2013) the diversity pattern of Accipitridae family has been evaluated in different altitude of Khorasan provinces. the data has been managed and analyzed in a GIS, then diversity indexes including Simpson's index, Shannon-wiener function, Simpson’s Measure of Evenness, Smith and Wilson’s Index of Evenness and Camargo’s Index of Evenness and Rarefaction Method have been evaluated and comprised by Ecological Methodology software. Results showed although, the frequency of species in low altitudes (233-1800m) were high, the species diversity were high in median (1000-1400) and then high altitude areas, and evenness were high in high altitude (1800-3305). The preferred altitude class for each species have also been determined and compared.

Landscape quality evaluations generally refer to key role of natural and artificial elements of landscape in satisfaction and perception of landscape aesthetic. The purpose of article is the aesthetic quality evaluation modeling of landscape using artificial neural network in order to clarify existing rules in the landscape structure and relations of landscape elements with its aesthetic quality. To perform the study, four parks (Jamshidieh, Gheytarieh, Nahjolbalaghe, Aboatash) with variety in landscape quality and landscape design practices were chosen in Tehran. In this study, in order to model the aesthetic quality evaluation of landscape, structural features and landscape elements were recorded and aesthetic quality of landscape was classified in three classes of undesirable, desirable and extremely desirable aesthetic quality. Multilayer Perceptron network was used to data processing with artificial neural network. Considering network coefficients of determination which equal 0.88, 0.86, 0.99 in 1 to 3 classes, the accuracy of artificial neural network in aesthetic quality of landscape is assessed in extremely desirable level. Sensitivity analysis respectively prioritizes landscaping materials, mountain or rock and vegetation application to achieve desirable quality of landscape in parks designing. In landscapes, with extremely desirable aesthetic quality, structural features, consist of landscape composition and appearance, play a significant role in aesthetic quality of landscape determination.

Persian Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) with conservation status of vulnerable (VU) is one of Bovidae species living in plain and steppe regions of Iran and its population has declined dramatically. Haftad Gholleh Protected Area has been considered as one of the suitable habitats for this species for many years. However, its population faced local extinction. In order to re-introduce the species to Haftad Gholleh Protected Area, the current suitability of protected area habitats should be evaluated. Therefore, in this study, the occurrence data for gazelles was extracted by reviewing local reports and interview with experts. These occurrence data was related to the anthropogenic and topographic characteristics of the habitat in the past (30 years ago the last time gazelles were reported from the area), using maxent and logistic regression methods. Then, the developed models were projected to the current status of the protected area to estimate the present situation of suitable habitats for gazelles. Both models indicated high discrimination power with AUC greater than 80 percent. Results of both models, suggested that areas with low elevation, low slope, close to the water sources and away from roads, farms and the mines are suitable for gazelles. Current suitable maps for gazelles indicate a decrease by 13% and 16% in maxent method and logistic regression method, respectively. finally, both models predict seven percent of the protected area as suitable for gazelles. These areas are of great priority in any attempt for reintroduction of gazelles to Haftad Gholleh Protected Area.

Simulation techniques are based on the application of computational methods in other subjects of science and technology. Cellular automata models are proper in the investigation of spatial and temporal distributions of various phenomena, therefore it can be applied for studying the changes related to time and space such as pollutants, ecological niches and other environmental studies. One of the downfalls of the application is that there is not a proper cellular automata software for a selected field or subject and the specialists need to develop their own software to use for at most cases in a single purpose. Also, it seems there is no learning software for cellular automata approach in academic ways. Therefore, we designed and produced a cellular automata simulation software, which can be used for environmental investigation including ecological modeling and specially for learning simulation with cellular automata as a manual and an educational technology tool.

Water has a key role in dairy industry and life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the tools for environmental assessment of products & processes. A cradle to gate assessment of market milk was performed by separating the system into three sub-systems: agronomy, animal farm and processing plant. Data were gathered from multiple sources e.g. published papers, questionnaire, national and international databases, and the processing plant. Throughout the study, ISO framework and IDF guideline on LCA were used. The functional unit for reporting results was one liter of pasteurized milk (2.5% fat) packaged in plastic pouch. Finally, to quantify and assess the environmental impacts from blue water consumption, parameters of a global water impacts assessment model were modified and used in this case study. In production of one FU, about 370 liters of water is needed mostly for feed production. Feed agriculture sub-system alone withdraws 97% of total. Throughout the market milk product chain, about 40 and 28% of total water withdrawal come from alfalfa and barley production mainly from irrigation. In production of one FU, modified model’s estimate for the impact on human health with the unit of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) was about 0.35*10-6, and its estimated value for the impact on ecosystem quality was 0.324 m2*y.

Study of habitat suitability indices play an important role to provide detailed description of habitat features of a species. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the habitat features and habitat suitability index (HSI) of Sefidrud hillstream loach (Oxynoemacheilus bergianus) in its distribution range within the Taleghan River. To study the habitat characteristics of this species in Taleghan River, its abundance and 12 habitat variables, including elevation (m), depth (cm), river width (m), slope (degree), flow velocity (m/s), water temperature (°C), EC (us), TDS (ppm), average diameter of substrate stones (cm), number of big stone (>25cm) and substrate index (%SI) at 33 stations from the downstream to upstream were measured. The result shows that suitable habitat of O. bergianus are areas with height ranges 1750-1800 m, depth in range of 10-40 cm, width in range of 12-24 m, flow velocity ranges 0.9-1.2 m/s, slope in range of 0.5-1 degree, pH in range of 7.5-8, water temperature in range of 13-15.5°C, EC in range of 630-740 ms, TDS in range of 200-250 ppm, number of big stone lesser than 5 piece per quadrate, average diameter of substrate stones less than 15 cm and substrate index percentage in range 4-6%. Presence of environmental features with a habitat suitability index of 0.524 indicated that Taleghan River is average habitat for O. bergianus in terms of habitat suitability index.

In recent years, dust events have been significant effects on the physiology and morphology characterstics of plant species. The main concern of this paper is to determine the level of Pinus eldarica and Ligusrum oval ifolium tolerance to dust stress. Two species of Pinus eldarica and Ligusrum oval ifolium with three replications were exposed at about 1, 2 and 4 g/cm2 of dust on seedling by dust simulator device during one month. After the end of dusting, porlin (Bates), chlorophyll (Lichtenthalar) and soluble sugars (Kochert) of seedling treatments and controls were measured. The situation of dust on leaves surface of Pinus eldarica and Ligusrum ovalifolium were determined by Scan Electronic microscope (SEM).The result shown, the soluble sugars and porlin had no significant in two species. Despite increasing dust, the amount of chlorophyll not was significant in Pinus eldarica, but Ligusrum ovalifolium increased amount of chlorophyll for compensation decreasing optical absorption. On the other hand, Ligusrum ovalifolium respond to dust stresses with spending soluble sugars and porlin to increase the number of leaf and stems length. In addition, the result shown that dust doesn’t influence on Pinus eldarica. It is recommended for areas with high concentration of dust.

Rivers are important for human beings due to abundance of sand deposits within them. The goal of this study is determine the factors influence on licensing of gravel mining from rivers of Gilan Province and its problems, finally giving suggestions about probability change the licening. Socio-economic, environmental, management, laws and regulations including 10, 26, 8 and 5 criteria, respectively are investigated. It’s wanted from experts to show their preference about the criteria and sub criteria with scale from 1 to 9. The criteria and sub criteria were ranked by using of Delphi fuzzy technique. Results show socio-economic criteria were ranked in 9 degree, environmental criteria in 4 ranks, management criteria in 6 ranks and laws and regulations criteria in 3 ranks.

Nowadays, heavy metals have become one of the most important problems in the environmental pollution. Heavy metals are non-degradable in the environment and can be harmful to a variety of living species. For this purpose, the removal of these metals from waters and wastewaters is very important. Various physical and chemical methods are for removing heavy metals. In this study, lotus leaves in the form of dry coal and powder was used to remove Pb ions from aqueous solution. To do so, effect of different parameters such as initial pH of solution, concentration of adsorbent, contact time, agitation speed and the concentration of Pb ions were studied in ambient temperature. The results showed the best efficiency to adsorb of Pb ions by this adsorbent is determined 98.78 % obtaining at pH, the concentration of adsorbent, agitation speed, initial concentration of Pb ion and contact time 9, 5 g/lit, 100 rpm, 20 ppm and 130 min, respectively. To study the kinetic behavior of adsorbent, two equations such as first order and second order pseudo kinematic models were used and results showed that second order pseudo kinematic model had more ability to describe the experimental data. According to the results, we can say that this adsorbent is proper to remove Pb ions from aqueous solution.

Iran location in the desert belt is accompanied with frequency increasing the sand and dust storms, especially in the eastern and southern areas and created adverse environmental effects. One of ways to study this event is dust simulation and forecasting. Aim of this study, Weather Research & Forecasting-Chemistry coupled model (WRF-Chem.3.6.1) is used to simulate, forecast and design alerting system for sand and dust storm events (East of Iran). In addition, dust concentration data that were collected by environmental protection organization (EPO), wind speed and direction data from the Meteorological Organization and MODIS images are used to investigate transport path of storms and have better forecast and right time alerting. True color images by software ERDAS IMAGIN queries to identify dust source. Results showed that the main dust and sand emission source in Sistan is dry bed of Hamoun wetland. Also during the storms that are investigated in this study, transport of dust clouds are observed to southern part of Iran up to Oman sea because of converging currents north-south winds on Eastern part of Iran (especially in spring and summer) that create strong winds in lower levels of atmosphere. This wind are responsible of increasing dust emission. WRF-Chem model had reasonable estimation related to spetial and temporal scale in the study area. Due to use of global forecasted data as model input data, it was expected to observe bias in concentration estimation from real situation. The model was run for 30 km spatial resolution and results revealed storm formation in Sisitan affected by local geographical properties especially topography features.

In this study the coal waste properties and the presence of plant species were studies in three abandoned coale waste with different ages and surrounding rangeland. This was carried out in coal reserves of central Alborz in Savadkooh, Mazandaran province. Vegetation and soil were sampled using random-systematic method in 1 m2 plots. According to ANOVA, there were significant differences for soil characteristics among the study areas except for moisture, lime, nitrogen and potassium. The highest amount of silt (20.26%) and acidity (7.4) was observed in rangeland, while the highest electrical conductivity (3.08 ds.m-1) was found in coal waste after 10 years of abandonment. The amount of metal cautions including copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr) and cobalt (Co) in the rangeland were a little higher than that in coal wastes and gradually increased with increasing in wastes age. The results of CCA showed that the distribution of species composition significantly responded to soil properties and heavy metals. In general, electrical conductivity, soil texture and heavy elements were the main soil factors influencing the primary establishment of species composition.

Our country is located in a geographical position where exposure to climate changes effects. Therefore it is necessary to assess its influence on water resources. Because this part of ecosystem is the first section that will be unaffected by climate change. The main purpose of this study is assessment of climate change impacts on environmental flows by using hydrological indicators in Krdan River. In this regard, at first, the future climate change in the region was projected by using HadCM3 general circulation model in three 30-year periods 2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2099 considering A2 and B1 scenarios. Afterward, Kordan streamflow was simulated by SWAT model for baseline period (1985-2010) and future. Finally, indicators of the hydrologic regime including magnitude, duration, timing, and frequency of extreme flows were analyzed. Following, IHA (Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration) Results showed a reduction for discharge. Under A2 scenario, discharge decreased from 3.31 (m3/sec) to 2.66 (m3/sec). Under B1 scenario the reduction was up to 2.86 (m3/sec) for 100 years later. In addition to reduction of discharge, the occurrence time of maximum and minimum flows will change, too. This phenomenon will change the habitat suitability and make some risks for aquatics life.

An effective step for access to sustainable development is determining the land ability to optimize the using of land and prevent of its destruction due to unsuitable use of land. Assimilation of GIS capabilities and Land suitability methods of land proportion along with use of experts' knowledge can play important role in success and increase the reliability of results. In this research after theoretical and field study, providing information and necessary maps, Zanjan area was studied according to three different methods including; FAO land Suitability method, Makhdoumʼs land use Planning method and proposed method of forests, range and watershed management organization. At first; hypsometry, slop, aspects, soil characteristics, type and density of plant cover were synthesized in Arc GIS10.1 and final map of homogeneous units was gained. Then, using available standard tables for each method, map of prepared land was provided separately for control of range, agriculture, dry farming and afforesting and their accordance with present control was determined. The most accordance with agricultural application is relates to Makhdoum logistics and for land is relates to proposed method of forests, range and watershed management organization. Results of methods and their comparison with present application showed that main part of region has high potency for application of pastureland, which these the areas are currently under agricultural cultivation with low efficiency. Finally, in this Area, due to some deficiencies in FAO method, proposed method of forests, range and watershed management organization, an adaptation from Makhdoum method, is more efficient than other methods.

Fat dormouse (Glis glis) as a squirrel-like rodent and indicator of Palearctic biogeographic region is the only member of Gliridae family which is closely tied to deciduous forest ecosystem in southwestern Eurasia. Despite great studies of refugia during glacial-interglacial periods based on this indicator, there is no documented data on its biological and ecological characteristics in Iran. Our results indicated that Fat Dormouse in Iran is the largest species of all known dormice in the world. It has the largest number of nipple count (n: 14). In the breeding season, male’s aggregation behavior and movement is increased and they approach female groups around. After successful mating in the early August, pregnant females will breed about 30 days later in early September. Mean litter size (n=9) was estimated 7-9 offspring. Our analysis regarding to the habitat use showed that feeding items and tree crown connectivity are the most affecting factors.

One of the important aspects of the management of wetlands in possession of various aspects of their economic value, which indicates the importance of natural resources for the residents of a region or country. In general, wetlands benefits are divided into two categories of use and non-use. This study sought nonuse value of the wetland through modeling preferences and willingness to pay is calculated and put at the disposal of policy makers and society. In this regard, using the choice experiment, the nonuse value of Shadegan wetlands was estimated. Therefore, the design and implementation of the choice experiment and completing 120 questionnaires in Ahvaz and Abadan, combined with a random coefficient logit model estimate values for wetland features include biodiversity, ecological function, educational services and natural scenary were estimated. The values obtained were extended to the whole society the enjoyment of these blessings. The results showed that all variables of the model (including wetland features and price) statistically significant at 95 percent and have expected signs. The estimated marginal willingness to pay for nonuse benefits suggest that the value of the improve the quality of each wetland features for people who wish to visit wetlands in the future is not significant. Calculations showed that the value of wetland benefits is equal to 4, 303, 395, 852, 380, 952 Rials. So, by adding this value to the province's gross domestic product, the share of the wetland benefits is more than 2 percent. The numbers showed the importance of wetlands for society as well as the susceptibility of the conditions to comply with its conservation policies.