ECOLOGY OF IRANIAN FOREST
Year:2018 | Volume:6 | Issue:11 |Papers Count:7

The aim of this study was to investigate vegetation composition in broadleaved and conifers plantations in 220 ha of Loblloly pine (Pinus taeda), alder (Alnus glutinosa( and poplar (Popolus deltoides) hardwood plantations and its comparison with natural forests in Bibiyanlu protected forest park, Astara. A total of 60 sampling plots of 1000 m2 were taken using randomly-systematic method with150 × 150 m grid in plantation and 200 × 200 m in natural forest. The results revealed that there are 92 plant species which belonged to 79 genera and 48 familing in the study area. The familing of Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Aspidiaceae and Poaceae had the highest value. The results of the classification of life forms based on Rankiaer’ s method showed that Hemicryptophytes and Phanerophytes with total of 67% were the most important in the area. Studying on geographical distribution of plants indicated that the most species belongs to Europe – Siberian region (28%).

The aim of the present work was to study genetic diversity within and among of five native populations of Juniperus spp. in three provenances of Golestan, Mazandran and Gilan. Four out of 15 ISSR primers have yielded 285 scorable, polymorphic fragments in 32 accessions, which were utilized to estimate genetic diversity. Analysis of molecular variance with GenALEx software revealed a 48% genetic diversity among Juniperus populations and 52% of molecular variance was observed within the populations. The mean percentage of polymorphic loci in each population estimated to be 38. 64%. Natural sexual propagation by seeds in each population likely is the main reason for the high rate of polymorphic loci. Another interesting issue is the genetic differences between male and female trees belong to one species which we should take into account during clonal propagation of designated juniperus species. The high rates of genetic variation within population which likely is associated with dioecy and presence of unisexual flowers in Juniperus species and also specific allelic combinations which could have been selected in order to adapt to particular environmental conditions are not present in other areas of distribution are prime importance for planning conservation strategies. By means of assessing the amount and distribution of genetic variability, this study represents an important step towards developing conservation guidelines and strategies for native Iranian Junipers.

Forest degradation influences ecosystem sustainability and reduces plant species diversity. Plantations with coniferous trees in degraded ecosystems help the native species to become established and play a major role in preserving and improving plant diversity. This study aims at measuring and comparing the woody species diversity across different age classes of Pinus brutia and Cupressus horizontalis in Ghapan region, East of Golestan. Plantations were classified in the following age classes: <10, 10-20, and 20-30 years old. Then an area of about 5 ha were chosen for every age class and a number of 30 plots (400 m2) were systematic randomly selected. List of woody species and their density in each sample plot were recorded. Number of woody species was calculated using species richness, expected richness, and Margalef indices; diversity was calculated using Simpson and Shannon-Wiener indices; and evenness was calculated using Camargo and Simpson indices. Analysis of variance showed that the effects of species, age classes, and their interaction were significant. Slicing of interaction effect indicated an outstanding difference of richness, diversity, and evenness indices across the different age classes of Pinus brutia plantations. The difference of expected richness and Margalef, Simpson, and Shannon-Wiener indices were not significant across the different age classes of Cupressus horizontalis plantations. But, the increasing of species richness and evenness of Camargo and Simpson indices were significant across the age classes of <10 and 10– 20 years old. Also, it was showed that Pinus brutia plantation is more suitable for establishment and development of woody species than Cupressus horizontalis and therefore it is recommended for future plantations at the study region.

In Iran, Acacia victoriae is not native to tree in Iran but it is used for important goals such as stabilize hills and the beautify landscape in the southern regions of the Iran, especially in the Khuzestan and Ilam provinces. Researches that include the development of native and nonnative trees, which are compatible with the conditions of dusting areas in the western provinces of Iran, are very important. Undoubtedly, in vitro culture of trees is one of the fastest and most reliable approach to achieve mass production of trees. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different plant medium cultures on the morphological characteristics of Acacia victoria under in vitro conditions. Required seeds of Acacia victoriae were prepared from the center seed of koludeh institute of Amol. The present study was conducted in a completely randomized design with six treatments including MS, WPM, DKW, B5, L2 and N6 culture media and each treatment with 24 replications. The studied morphological characteristics, including germination percentage, shoot and root length, number of shoots, shoot and root fresh weight total dry and fresh weight of plantlets were measured for 42 days. After data collection, SAS software was used to analyze of variance and mean comparison and Excel software was used to draw all the charts. The analysis of variance results showed that there was a significant difference at 1% level between studied media, except for the shoot: root ratio. Mean comparisons showed that number of shoots, shoot dry weight, fresh and dry weight of the root, total dry weight and total fresh weight of plantlets had the highest values in WPM. Also shoot and root length and shoot fresh weight had the highest values in L2. Despite the expectation, results showed that MS medium culture had the poorest results in comparison with other media. It can be predicted that the WPM and L2 cultures will be better for seedling production from Acacia victoria seeds than in other culture media.

Recognition of humidity changes is important because of its relevance to hydrological, ecological and physiographic characteristics of the area. Therefore, soil moisture content in four main directions and three depths of 50, 70 and 110 cm of soil for two years from March 2013 to September 2012 in the forest area of Meleh-Siah Ilam was measured and analyzed in a randomized complete block design with soft SAS was implemented. The results showed that soil moisture and soil depth and direction were affected by moisture storage in the south and north directions with 21. 9 and 19. 7 and in the eastern and western slopes 19 and 15. 5 mm. Also, the average monthly moisture content in the three depths of 70, 110 and 50 was 18. 4, 17. 4 and 7. 5 mm respectively. The average monthly soil moisture storage at three depths 50, 70 and 110 are 18. 4, 17. 4 and 7. 5 mm, respectively. In other words, the effect of soil depth and geographic orientation on the soil moisture is effective but not noticeable in dry years and in dry months. Also, the results showed that the monthly dryness rate (from wet to dry period) in the wet year is more than dry year and increases with increasing depth of soil. Based on soil texture analysis, the optimum moisture content for plant growth was between 15% and 30%, and based on this, the maximum drought stress on vegetation and especially oak species was in August and September, which coincided with the peak of vegetative growth And the reproductive stage of the oak tree species.

Poplars have long been considered for wood production in various uses and cultivated by the villagers. Willows have also been developed in recent years as biomass and bioenergy sources in the world. The necessity of research on the adaptation of poplars in different planting conditions is important for achieving superior clones. In this study the growth and production function of Salix excels, S. alba, Populus caspica, P. euramericana triplo, P. alba 58/57, P. deltoides 69/55 and P. nigra 56/72 have been evaluated. For this purpose, 45 cuttings of each species were planted in a randomized completely block design with three replications at Chamestan forest and rangeland research station at a distance of 1. 5 m×60 cm. All maintenance operations included timely irrigation and weeding were down during the growing season. At the end of the growing season characteristics such as the number of leaves, leaf area, total leaf area, branch number, branch length, branch diameter, stem height, collar diameter and stem weight were measured. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean variables of stem height, leaf area and leaf area average in poplar species and there was a significant difference between the mean diameter of the branches in salix species. The results indicated that P. euramericana triplo and P. deltoides 69/55 in the first growth year had better growth and production function than other cultivars.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) images have high spatial resolution. They are a valuable source of information for mapping land cover and thematic information, particularly in the identification of tree species. The aim of this study was to investigate the capability of drone images and the base object method for detecting tree species in the Hyrcanian forests. For this purpose, part of an area in parcel 24 of district one in Mazandaran Darabkola forest was selected. The ground truth map was prepared through accurate recording with geographic coordinate’ s algorithm using distance and azimuth in MATLAB software. Proper processing was done on the images and classification performed on images at three flight height; 55, 75 and 100 meters in two categories of one-step and hierarchical classifications. In object-based classification, the nearest neighbor method was used to classify three species. The accuracy of the maps derived from classifications was evaluated using 50% of the ground truth map. The results showed that the map of the hierarchical classification by the object based method at a flight height of 55 meters has the best ability to detect tree species in the three heights. These comparisons showed Kappa's coefficient of 0. 81 accuracy of tree species classification in 55-meter height by UAV.