JOURNAL OF PLANT ECOSYSTEM CONSERVATION
Year:2019 | Volume:7 | Issue:14 |Papers Count:19

The management of areas with landscape ecological approach helps us to have more integrated of considering completely management and also keep the area’ s values. Lar National Park and Varjin Protected Area are the most important areas of their biodiversity and wildlife habitats. The aim of this study was quantification of fragmentation in Lar National Park and Varjin Protected Area and to compare managements and Integration assessment of Rangeland habitats in study area. For this reason Land use map was prepared using RS and GIS techniques. Then we surveyed, the fragmentation of the areas at the level of the class and the landscape using landscape’ s metrics. Finally, we used fragmentation geometries methods to study the effect of human factors on rangeland habitats, the results show that Lar National Park is more integrated than the Varjin Protected Area. Also, outbuildings and changing suitable habitats to gardens and agricultural lands cause fragmentation and disintegration in Varjin protected area. The results of the metrics in the geometries of fragmentation show that the roads are the most influencing factors on the fragmentation of good range lands in Lar National Park and Varjin Protected Area, also, man-made structures have caused disintegration and negative impact on the wildlife habitat in the study area.

The aim of this research was to identify the plant species, introducing the flora and plant geographical distribution of Islamabad Gharb area, Kermanshah province. This area, with 4654 km2, is located in Kermanshah province. The method of plant collection was field survey which is one of classical methods of floristic studies. The geographical distribution and life form of plant species were determined by using of Raunkiaer’ s method and Iran’ s phytogeography classification, respectively. 2 Pteridophytes, 2 Gymnosperms, 270 dicotyledons and 55 monocotyledons into 329 identified vascular plant species exit in Islamabad Gharb area. These species were belonging to 69 families and 222 genera. The large families based on abundance of species are Fabaceae (28 species), Asteraceae (27 species), Brassicaceae (25 species) and Apiaceae (24 species). Therophytes (40. 43%) were the most frequent life form. 48. 64% of species belonging to Irano-Turanian region. 7 species are endemics of Iran which among them, distribution of Stachys kermanshahensis Rech. f. limited to Kemanshah province.

The current study was conducted in the rangeland of Glandrood watershed in the province of Mazandaran. The main objective of this study was to investigate the responses of forbs species to some environmental gradients. For these purpose 153 plots of 1m2 were established along the altitude gradient and Trasp. The sampling method was randomized-systematic. In the area sampled, frequency of forbs species, altitude and slope were recorded. Soil samples were taken from 0-20 cm in each quadrate. In each sample plot, pH, nitrogen (N), electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter, organic carbon, percentage of sand, silt and clay were measured. In this study, HOF function were used to describe the realized ecological niches of forbs species to the primary axis of classification or floristic gradient, as extracted by Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and the ecological variables were assessed with standard Spearman rank correlation tests. The data were analyzed by R ver. 3. 0. 3 software. The results showed that the most species have monotonically increasing or decreasing (19%), symmetric (15%), unimodals (23%) or skewed (35%) and only (4%) one species have flat response curves. For altitude variable of the 26 forbs species included in the general analysis, 4 species showed symmetric (HOF model IV), 9 skewed (model V), 5 species monotone (model II) and 7 species flat (model I) response curves. Among the forbs species, Colchicum kotschy, Medicago rigidula, Tecrium polium, platyloba Echinopora and Campanula stevenii had the narrowest niche ecological.

This research aimed to investigate plant species diversity and spatial distribution of five dominant species i. e. Phragmites australis, Tamarix meyeri, Aeluropus littoralis, Aeluropus lagopoides and Cynodon dactylon in Hamoon international wetlands in 2015. To this end, a randomize-systematic sampling method was used according to w pattern by four strip transect at 5000 m2 at each station. The study of plant species diversity was carried by Shannon-weaver and Simpson's methods. According to the result of species diversity methods, the most amont of species diversity was observed in third station. The highest value of shannon-weaver and simpson indexes were 1. 43 and 0. 89 in third station, and the lowest value were 0. 67 and 0. 38 in first station respectively. In addition, the spatial distribution of five dominant species was carried by using of methods i. e. Morisita, k, Variance to mean ratio, Taylor and Iwao The most amount of P and R2 in taylor method in Phragmites australis was 0. 007 and 0. 921, so that these values was 0. 13 and 0. 301 in iwao methods respectively. The result of this research showed that distribution pattern of Phragmites australis, Aeluropus lagopoides and Cynodon dactylon were cluster. Distribution pattern were random between Tamarix meyeri and Aeluropus littoralis too. The result of this research showed that there is significant differences between the amounts of shannon-weaver and simpson, s methods., Also the result of distribution methods showed that the efficiency of taylor method was more suitable than iwao method due to higher accuracy for estimating of plants distribution.

Sistan has recently confronted to periodic drought and water scarcity that destroyed vital resources especially vegetation. Information about reaction of the vegetation species to drought is necessary for protecting and biological restoring this ecosystem, so density of Tamarix aphylla, Salix babylonica and Eucalyptus were investigated using quadrates 50m × 50 m during wet (1366-1376) and drought years (1377-1387) in Sistan plain. MANOVA showed that vegetation species and drought significantly affected on species density. Although drought declined density of three species, tree species destroyed more than Tamarix as a shrub species. Salix that it has favorite condition in normal years and its root depth is lower than Eucalyptus lost its density sooner in drought years.

In this study, the ectomycorhizal fungi from beech trees in highland beech forests of Farim (Mazandaran province) were identified based on extraction of DNA from roots and sequencing the ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. For this purpose, in the altitude of 1500-2100 meters A. S. L, 30 plot and one plant per each plot were selected randomly and samples were taken from roots in depths of 10 cm and 60 cm away from tree trunk. The DNA was extracted from classified root tips. ITS nrDNA was replicated and sequenced using ITS1F and ITS4B or ITS4 primer pairs. Comparison of the obtained sequences with sequences deposited in the gene NCBI database revealed the presence of 15 species of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the roots of these plants. Among the identified species, 12 species including Russula chloroides, Cortinarius trivialis, Russula brevipes, Russula faginea, Russula integriformis, Cortinarius rigens, Cortinarius alpinus, Cortinarius collinitus, Lactarius hepaticus, Lactarius chrysorrheus, Cortinarius alboaggregatus, and Hebeloma bulbiferum are reported for the first time to Iran mycoflora. The genus Cortinarius showed the highest species diversity in the studied area followed by Russula, Lactarius, and Inocybe. The identification of ectomycorrhizal fungi could help us use their potentials in the regeneration and optimal management programs of forests and plantations.

The logit regression model was used to measure the willingness to pay, and the parameters of this model were estimated based on maximum likelihood (probability) method. For this purpose, 377 double-duplex questionnaires were completed by random sampling method in Kohgiluyeh va Boyer Ahmad provinces. Based on the results, over 68. 3% of respondents, they expressed their desire to participate in the protection of the Dena protected area. The results of the Logit model estimation showed that the coefficient of variables such as the desire to protect the region, household income, distance from the region and the suggestion are significant at the probability level of 1%. The results of this study indicate that the average willingness to pay for the protection of the area is 36918 Rials and the protective value per household is 443025 Rials per year. The average per hectare of ecosystem protection against 879. 1 thousand Rials (according to the area of ​ ​ 93821 hectares area) is obtained. The protective value was determined 82478. 5 million rials / year in the study area. With attention to findings extracted from this research, a reasonable pricing policy can be found to protect the natural resources of the Dena area.

There are 34 endemic species of Nepeta in Iran, which one of them is Nepeta asterotricha. The present study evaluate different parameters including topography, climate factors, phenology, quantified properties of vegetation variation, physical and chemical properties of the soil at eight natural habitat of the plant in Yazd province. According to the study habitats, the results showed that the plant is distributed in regions with sandy-loam soil texture. The distribution of this genus was more than 2400m. The plant was grown with height of 28. 4-41. 87 Cm. The plant grows in March, flowering stage occurs in April. The biomass of plant was different from 29. 33-61. 94gr and the frequency was 16. 67– 37. 67 percent in different habitats. According to results of functional and performance properties, Deh Bala and Taghi Abad habitats had prepared best conditions for this plant.

Among the un-market services provided by forest ecosystems, absorption and storage of CO2 (Carbon Sequestration) are very important. Today, Greenhouse Effect is regarded as one of the major environmental problems. In present study, the rate of carbon sequestration of Quercus branti in protected region of Shaho located in Kurdistan province, was evaluated and valued. Random systematic Sampling was applyed and the required data including diameter at breast height (d. b. h. ), total height, crown height, crown diameter and etc, was gathered from thirty (30) sampling plots. Valuate this service, replacement cost method was used. The result showed that the monetary value of this forest for carbon sequestration is 10792650 Rials. Annual economic value of the this function in the study area was estimated more than 2698162500 Rials. Thus, by comptent management and preservation strategies, a positive and significant steps will be taken in order to reduce the consentration of atmospheric carbon.

The balanced grazing is a critical managing factor regarding to resource conservation and quantitative and qualitative increase of plants production at the rangeland ecosystems. In addition, understanding the effects of different grazing intensity on the dominant plants can be used as a valuable tool in order to resource management. The current study aimed to determine vulnerability and tolerance as well as amount of re-growth of Astragalus cyclophyllon and Astragalus effuses in the two growth season (2010-2011) in the semi-steppe rangeland in the research station of Zayanderod dam, Charmahal va Bakhtiari. Simulation of animal grazing was carried out by cutting treatment of 0, 30, 50 and 80 percent of total plant on the 240 individuals plant across three time with 20-day time interval according to the growing season. Before applying each treatment, number of flower and seed, height and production were measured. In order to statistical analysis, the GLM and one-way-ANOVA were employed. The results showed that two years cutting treatment in both studied species had a significant effect on the number of flower and seed, height and production. According to the results, the production of A. effuses was decreased about 2. 5 and 5 times under cutting of 30-50 and 80 percent, respectively while, treatment of 30, 50 and 80 percent of cutting in the A. cyclophyllon resulted in decreasing of production about 2. 2, 3. 3 and 6. 6 times. Based on the results, by increase the cutting intensity A. effuses was less sensitive than A. cyclophyllon. Therefore, A. effuses could be suitable species regarding to the improve and developing for sustainable utilization in the semi-steppe rangeland.

Today, it is widely used satellite imagery to monitor vegetation cover. The aim of this study is to analyses the leaf area in the period of 1395-1381 with the spatial resolution of a kilometer using the data of two remote sensing products of MODIS Terra and Aqua and seasonally. For this purpose, data were analyzed and statistical-mathematical compilation, coding and database creation were done in the software and then prepared the seasonal average map. These maps indicate that the centers of the center, east, and south-east are almost empty of leaf and / or leaf area. The area of the leaf is very thin in some areas and there is no vegetation cover 58. 26 percentage of Iran. In contrast, they have a good leaf area, the northern slopes of the Alborz, the North-West highlands and the middle Zagros domains whit 41. 74 percentage, which generally include the fields, with the exception of the Hyrcanian forests and Arasbaran. In terms of time, the highest mean leaf area was in spring and summer with an average of 0. 47 and 0. 36, and the lowest mean were autumn and winter. In the next stage, the leaf area index was prepared. The cells were then placed in four chapters and finally in two groups. These two groups include the cold season with the autumn and winter season, and the hot season group with spring and summer.

Phenology is one of the important issues in ecology, which studies various stages of plant life and its relation with climatic and ecological conditions. Useful information for the production cycle is obtained by evaluating the various stages of native species development. In this research, the phenology of 17 species of Fritillaria, Bellevallia and Muscari in the National Botanical Garden of Iran was studied for 5 years. From any of the five bases, the vital phenomena associated with leaf, flower, and fruit were recorded annually at specific intervals. After receiving the duration of each phenomenon for the first day of the year and statistical analysis of the data, it was found that there is a significant difference in the emergence and duration of the vital phenomena among different species. The longest deposition time associated with the leaf related to M. longipes and related to the flower associated with M. neglectum and associated with the fruit is related to B. pycnantha and the shortest deposition time associated with Bellevalia assadi and B. tristis associated with the flower associated with B. pycnantha and associated with the fruit associated with F. kotschyana. But the highest coefficient of variation in the leaf opening, flower and fruit emergence was F. imperialis, and the least of which was the leaf opening to Bellevalia, the flower and fruit emergence to Bellevalia assadi. In general, the dominant Fritillaria species had the most significant changes in the extent of the establishment of vital phenomena. Also, it was found that there is a significant relationship between some of the climatic factors and some of the vital phenomena of the studied species.

Taxus baccata is one of the few native needleleave species of north and northwest forests of Iran, distributed as a single tree or sometimes in spots. The Gazoo Yew reserve is one of the most valuable habitats of Taxus baccata in north of Iran, which has not been studied sufficiently. This study aimed to investigate the vegetation and the forest types as well as the effects of the environmental variables on the distribution of Taxus. The sampling was carried out using transects with regular intervals and randomized start point. 30 plots with a size of 20*20 m2 were taken. The TWINSPAN and cluster analysis methods were used to discriminate the vegetation types. The statistical comparisons were performed using ANOVA analysis and the relationships of species-environment were investigated using CCA (Canonical Correspondence Analysis). According to the results, three vegetation types including Taxus baccata-Carpinus betulus, Fagus orientalis-T. baccata and pure Fagus orientalis were identified in the region. Soil texture and pH were the most important factors in distinguishing vegetation types of the region. Soil texture and pH were the most important factor to separate vegetation types. The Taxus types had lower values of pH comparing pure Fagus one. Furthermore, the Taxus-Carpinus type was observed in the heavier soil (sand, clay loamy) comparing to pure Fagus (sandy loamy). The Fagus-Taxus type had soil texture conditions intermediary of two above mentioned forest types. Moreover, the soil organic carbon and total nitrogen were higher in pure Fagus type rather than Fagus-Taxus and Taxus-Carpinus types. None of investigated environmental factors showed a significant relationship to health and vigor of Taxus trees, however, increasing slope was accompanied by decreasing mean diameter of Taxus trees.

Quantitative and qualitative information of vegetation and its changes in duration of time as a basic foundation of determination of habitat quality, priority of protected area and also determination of price of ecosystem services in order to optimum management of natural resources and sustainable development is a very important technical point. In other hand, researchers are interested in remote sensing as an efficient tool to access timely and accurate information about land coverage especially vegetation coverage. In current study post classification comparison method among different methods of change detection was used because of possibility of achieving optimum accuracy by using an efficient and accurate classification method. In order to determine vegetation classes by field-based resources and Landsat images and also, slope-based and distance-based vegetation indices derived from these images, two artificial neural networks; percentage of vegetation cover (overall accuracy 94. 3% and mean square error 5. 7% for test data) and dry weight of standing biomass (overall accuracy 86. 6% and mean square error 11. 4% for test data) were built and vegetation maps according to these qualified models were prepared. Results of this research show high capacity of the artificial intelligence technique in vegetation classification if, the average number of field-based samples and variety of images in terms of time were possible. By the vegetation classification maps made, change detection maps with pixel by pixel comparison that show change classes from class … to class … in three duration of time; 2000-2015, 1986-2000 and 1986-2015 were prepared. Accuracy of these maps is totally depended on classification accuracy and demonstrated qualitative enhancement in a wide area of case study after conservation.

Among the Six native species of Juniperus genus in Iran, J. polycarpos and J. excelsa have highest frequent and geographical distribution on the highlands of the country and play a crucial role in the natural ecosystem of presented area. Due to the similar appearance of mentioned species, it's difficult to identify them in the nature. In this study, quantitative traits indicators of cone and seed with the aim of identification and separation of two species of Juniper were evaluated. For this purpose, ten mother trees were selected separately and from each tree, 1000 cones of fruit were collected and quantitative traits of cones and seeds were measured. The analysis of cone traits showed that the two species had a significant difference in weight, length and width of cone, so that all of these indicators in J. polycarpos are higher than J. excelsa. While analysis on quantitative characteristics of seeds including length, width and weight did not show any significant differences, the seed vigor index indicators showed that J. polycarpos produces a significant higher vigorous seed than J. excelsa. In general, the length, width and weight of cones can be used as a proper index for differentiation and identification of J. polycarpos and J. J. excelsa species and the same indices of seeds are not suitable for this purpose.

Livelihood of rural people depends on the use of land and the exploitation of natural resources and forest. Therefore, their activities can have significant effects on these resources. The magnitude of these effects and changes in the level of the forest are affected by the development level of the villages. The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the development level of forest villages and the extent of forest degradation in the Arasbaran region. The research method is descriptive-analytical and library method is used to collect the research data. The data were collected and analyzed in two sections: determining the degree of development of villages and preparing the forest area changes. At first, the studied villages were classified in terms of degree of development based on socioeconomic, health education and infrastructural indicators in five developmental categories with Morris incoherent coefficients. In the next step, Landsat satellite images were used to determine the level of forest changes. Correlation coefficient was calculated between the amount of forest degradation in each village with variables such as rural development index, opportunity cost, altitude and population size. The results showed that from 15 villages, five villages were classified as developed villages and one village was classified as non-developed or deprived villages. Between 2007-2017, the forest area of Arzin, Kelaleh Ulya, Kharil and Ibrahim Biglou villages showed an increase about 74. 58, 56. 41, 55. 55 and 48. 51 hectares, respectively. Based on the results, the mean of forest area changes at the 1997-2007 and 2007-2017 was-6. 08 and-32. 5 ha, respectively. Based on the results, there was a significant difference between the changes of the first period and the second period with a confidence of 99%. The correlation coefficient showed that the rural development index and the village population had positive correlation with the forest degradation. In contrast, the cost of opportunity in each village and altitude the height of the sea level had a weak correlation with the rate of forest degradation in each village.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of throughfall (TF) and litterflow (LF) on oak (Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey. ) and their monthly changes in the mixed stands located in district one of Shastkolate forest, Golestan province. For this purpose, TF and LF samples were collected after each rainfall (RF) in a one-year period and their content of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ compared with the RF using by T-Test at the 95% of confidence level. Also, monthly variation of cations was investigated using by one way variance analysis. The results showed that the amounts of K+ and Ca2+ leaching in TF (226. 61 and 13. 86 kg ha-1 year-1) were significantly higher than those in RF (217. 72 and 10. 97 kg ha-1 year-1). Amounts of Na+ leaching in TF (120. 38 kg ha-1 year-1) and LF (108. 58 kg ha-1 year-1) were lower than it in RF. Also nutrient leaching of TF and LF in various months were different significantly. The lowest and highest leaching was observed in September and October. The results of this study showed that oak trees have a positive effect on the increase of soluble nutrients in forest soil through TF and LF, because plants are able to absorb soluble nutrients as soon as penetrate in the soil and insert them to their nutrient cycle, so using it correctly in afforestation, can improve the quality of soil nutrients in short time.

It is so important to apply suitable methods to have a reliable estimation of the spatial distribution of trees. This research was aimed to determine and evaluate the spatial pattern of five species by distance-and density-based indices (Quercus brantii, Acer moncepesulanum, Crataegus aronia, Pistacia atlantica & Amygdalus lycioides) in the Kalkhani Forest in Koudasht Lorestan province, Iran. For this purpose, an area of 35 ha was full-callipered. Spatial location, the type of species and big and small diameter crown was measured. The true spatial pattern of five species was determined by nearest neighbor method and Ripley’ s K Function. The methods of spatial pattern were used fixed area plots (such as: Variance-to-Mean Ratio, Index cluster, Green, Morisita and Standardized morisita) and distance methods (Johnson and Zimmer, Eberhart, Hopkins, Hinez and C index). Data analysis were accomplished by using of Ecological Methodology and ArcGIS softwares. The results indicated that the main species was Quercus brantii Lindl. with 61. 5 % of frequency species. Also, the mean values the highest and lowest crown area belong to Quercus brantii (11. 36 m2) and Crataegus aronia (2. 89 m2), respectively. The true spatial pattern of the five species trees in the studied stand was clumped. All of the applied density-based indices showed a clumped pattern for five trees species. Among the distance-based indices only“ Hines” could estimate the clumped pattern of the studied species. In general, the best indices to determine spatial pattern for studied species were all of density-based indecies and Hines index. Therefore this conclusion in silvicultural operation should be considered on five species.

The Paliurus spina-christi species grow naturally in three different vegetation regions of Iran (Northern forests, Arsbaran and Zagros forests). But so far no research has been carried out on the sites of this species. Therefore, present study was conducted to investigate the effect of environmental factors on distribution of ecological groups in Paliurus spina-christi site in the Northern forests of Iran. To consider different condition of the study area, sampling was done based on land units and size of square-shaped plots was 400 m2 that it was determined by minimum area method. After recording existing data in each plot, soil samples were collected from the sampling plots. Then, vegetation data were classified by Two-Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINPAN) using PCORD software and finally, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were used to investigate the relation of each plant species and environmental factors, by CANOCO software. According to the results of TWINSPAN, there were four vegetation types in the study area. The results showed that different species, such as Pyrus cerasifera, Berberis vulgaris, Punica granatum, Cupressus arizonica and Carpinus betulus are indicators species of the study area, replace of Paliurus spina-christi. Also, the results of CCA showed that amount of C/N, N, saturated water content, bulk density, porosity, clay, phosphorus and soil potassium are effective factors on distribution of vegetation in Paliurus spina-christi site. On the other hand, C, organic matter, sand, silt, altitude, slope and aspect have not significant effect on plant ecological groups. According to results, the presence of Paliurus spina-christi is directly related to amount of N and bulk density. In this study, it was clearly shown that using CCA, it is possible to determine the relationship between each plant species and the most important environmental factors.