IRANIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
Year:2021 | Volume:10 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

Awareness of rangelands plants palatability is required for estimating available forage to animals in all plant communities. In this research recording method was used to determine species palatability in rangelands of Deh-Shiekh in Kohkiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad Province. Three perennial species including Gundelia tournefortii, Bromus tomentellus, Hordeum bulbosum and two annual species of Agelups triancialis and Treniatherum crinitum were selected. Livestock grazing from different plants was recorded and the time was measured. After one hour, normal grazing was performed and the duration of livestock grazing on each species was determined. Based on the duration of grazing on each species, palatability percentage of each species was estimated. Results showed that the studied species had similar palatability for sheep at different time of the day. Among the species, during vegetative and flowering stages, Hordeum bulbosum showed the highest palatability with an amount of 24. 01 and 29. 70 percent respectively. Bromus tomentellus showed the highest palatability in seed maturity period (22. 44%). Thus, it is possible to control the grazing system to graze each plant type at one stage of growth with the highest palatability. Using this kind of grazing system increases livestock performance, decreases soil compaction and helps to conserve rangeland plants.

This study was conducted to identify suitable sites for planting Avicennia marina in Soltani Khore of the urban coast of Bushehr. The most effective criteria for Avicennia marina planting include land characteristics (i. e. land use, slope, elevation, soil electrical conductivity, soil texture, and soil type), seawater (i. e. tidal range, wave, acidity, electrical conductivity, and salinity), and climate (i. e. temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, absolute minimum and maximum temperatures) were considered. Ten soil and water samples were collected, using a systematic-random sampling network and their physicochemical variables were measured. The thematic maps of the criteria were prepared and the geographic information system was used to analyse and present spatial data. Using expert opinions and literature review, the priority of the criteria was determined by Delphi method and the criteria were weighted by the Best-Worst method (BWM). Based on the overlay of weighting criteria, using Weighted Linear Combination (WLC), suitable sites for planting and development of Avicennia marina were classified as suitable, relatively suitable and not suitable. The results showed that 24% (18. 25 ha) of the total areas were suitable, 24. 3% (18. 5 ha) of the land was relatively suitable, and 51. 8% (39. 4 ha) was not suitable for planting and development of Avicennia marina species.

Wildlife management and conservation is challenged by public perceptions and fear of carnivores in communities living in close proximity to wild habitats, where large carnivores occur. Fear of carnivores influences people's attitudes towards wild animals, further exacerbating the problems associated with effective conservation and management of wildlife. Here, we aimed to investigate the factors affecting rural attitudes towards brown bears in two protected areas (Southern-Central Alborz protected area and Taleghan prohibited hunting area) in Alborz province. To evaluate the effect of participant and experimental variables, we used a questionnaire survey. Data were collected from 200 randomly chosen residents from 70 villages across both study areas between winter of 2018 and summer of 2019. Binomial Logistic Regression was used to analyze the effect of independent variables on interviewees' fear of coexistence with brown bears. Our results revealed that experiences of brown bear attacks on orchards, respondents’,belief of bears’,role in reforestation, gender, respondents’,belief that bears jeopardize people’, s safety, and respondents’,concern for coexisting with brown bears play a significant role in shaping human fear towards this species. Development and implementation of educational programs to reduce local people’, s fear of large carnivores and improving the sense of public participation in wildlife conservation and management programs, particularly in villages located in or adjacent to protected areas, are highly recommended.

Pollination is an ecological service with high economic values related to human and ecological wellbeing. This study aims to evaluate the correlation between landscape complexity and pollination service (bee) in Qazvin province at the landscape scale. Landscape pattern metrics (Number of Patches (NP), Patch Richness (PR), Edge Density (ED), and Shannon Index (H)), as a proxy of landscape complexity, were calculated by the model builder in the ArcGIS and pollination service was generated by InVEST. The correlation between landscape complexity and pollination service was evaluated by SPSS software. Results of the correlation between landscape metrics and pollination service, using Linear regression, showed that H has the highest and the most significant relationship with pollination at the 0. 01 level (0. 420**). Correlation between other metrics and pollination was found to better explauned by Quadratic regression, showing a significant correlation with NP (0. 171**) and PR (0. 352**) at the 0. 01 level and a non-significant relationship with ED (0. 002). It was concluded from our results that in the low NP and PR, correlation is high and positive, and in the high NP and PR, correlation is negative, indicating the effect of fragmentation on pollination service. The results of this study can be used in agricultural system planning and biodiversity management to preserve the ecological processes.

Nowadays, the risk of degradation of wetlands is one of the main environmental challenges in the world, so continuous and long-term monitoring of ecological changes in wetlands can play a key role in their protection and proper management. In the present study, the trend of monthly changes in some of the most important ecological indicators of the aquatic environment of Shadegan wetland including WST, NDVI, MVWR, VWR, LSWI, MNDWI and Chlorophyll-a concentration (during 2003-2017) was evaluated using MODIS satellite imagery. The Mann-Kendall and Sen’, s slope tests were used to analyze the trend and its magnitude, respectively. Results showed a significant increasing trend in the volume of water in Shadegan wetland, while the vegetation of the wetland had a significant decreasing trend during the study period (p <0. 05). Also, the change in the monthly trend of NDVI, MVWR, MNDWI and LSWI time series was observed around October 2012, which approximately coincided with the development of aquacultural facilities in the northern part of this wetland. In addition, a strong inverse correlation (about-0. 86) was observed between vegetation and water indices. Results further provided evidence of an inverse sequence and critical conditions in Shadegan wetland. Integrating remote sensing techniques and statistical methods in this study (to provide continuous time series of ecological indicators) can help to better understand the dynamics of wetland ecosystems (at different temporal and spatial scales). This approach is also applicable in evaluation, modeling and prediction of ecological changes in Shadegan wetland.

Biodiversity is one of the important aspects of natursal systems which supports ecosystem functions. Therefore, the preservation of biodiversity is necessary for human well-being. The curreny study aimed to investigate changes of alpha and beta diversity and its components along the elevation gradient of five classes and to evaluate the effects of physical and chemical characteristics of soil on these diversity indices. In each elevation class, 20 soil samples and a total of 100 samples were taken and the relationship between physical and chemical characteristics of soil with diversity indices was examined. The number of species was recorded at 100 plots and the alpha and beta diversity indices were calculated at two spatial scales (i. e., plot and transect) using R software. Based on the results, the lowest amount of alpha diversity across plots (12. 47 ±,1. 03) and transects (24. 15 ±,1. 06) were observed at the elevation class of > 3200 m, while, the lowest amount of beta diversity in plots (11 ±,0. 78) and transects (18 ±,0. 44) were observed in class of < 2600 m. In all altitude classes, more than 90% of the variation in beta diversity was explained by the species turnover component and the nested pattern component was responsible for a very small part of beta diversity. Environmental factors were explanined only 11% of the changes in alpha diversity and 30% of the beta diversity. This result indicates the high complexity of the environment and plant communities and clearly shows that using a few environmental variables cannot reveal all the changes in plant composition.