IRANIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
Year:2018 | Volume:7 | Issue:1|Papers Count:5

Connectivity of urban green patches is an important structural attribute of urban landscape that facilitates the species movement and transfer of their genes among their habitats. So far, several methods including Graph Theory have been applied to assess ecological connectivity. This research was aimed to study the application of graph theory to measure the connectivity of green patches in the city ofAhvaz. The Graph is a mathematical concept including nodes and links. The research method is based on modeling the network of green patches in the GIS environment using Graph Theory. The ecological connectivity was analyzed using the software Conefor Sensinode 2. 6, by applying IIC metric and noderemoval algorithm; thus, the urban green patches were ranked in relation to 4 different groups of species. Generally, similar results were achieved by applying the attributes of four different species (r=0. 95). The study results showed that Ahvaz fourth district in the eastern side of Karoon River comprised the largest and the most significant green patch. Also, the fourth and fifth distincts of the city were relatively the most connected. Determining the more significant green patches and improving the connectivity of urban landscape could help the accurate identification of conservation priorities whichwould ensure financial savings in urban planning and decision making.

Traffic noise pollution is a serious threat to wildlife species, resulting in isolating and reducing the population. The Asian Highway of Tehran-Mashhad, from which a 26. 51 km long part is located inside Golestan National Park, is the main source of noise disturbance inside the area. The purpose of this study was to determine the most important criteria for noise pollution of this road; in order to achieve this goal, the Principle Components Analysis method was used. To assess the sound emissions and to study the parameters affecting it, desk studies and field visits were used in a 250-meter buffer zone. A total of 16 variables in three different categories of traffic parameters, geometry parameters and environmental parameters were extracted, andthe circular plots were measured at a radius of 25 m for 15 minutes. The results of PCA showed that six main factors including the speed of light vehicles, the humidity, the altitude above sea level, the number of light vehicles, the distance from the road and the plot slope could justify a total of 72. 396 % of the variance of the data. Based on the results, management measures could be taken to reduce the noise pollution based on the extracted criteria, and the noise pollution could be managed more efficiently by spending less time and money.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the spatial and temporal changes of NPP in different biomes of Isfahan province from 2000 to 2014 and their response to climatic factors. For this purpose, the NPP data of the MODIS satellite were collected and the map of climatic variables was produced using various interpolation methods. The investigation of the spatial and temporal variations of NPP was carried out by combining these data. The results indicated that the spatial distribution of annual NPP changed significantly, with higher NPP in the west and southwest and the lower NPP in the east of the province. The mean annual NPP values for rangeland, forest, desert, Haloxylon forest and agricultural lands were 16. 7, 58. 77, 1. 66, 5. 76 and 51. 43 grCm-2yr-1, respectively. The temporal changes of the NPP annual average during 2000-2014 had no significant trend. In 82. 14% of the total area, the slope of changes was less than zero and in 17. 86%, the value of this index was more than zero. The highest and lowest changes in the slope were observed in the biomes of forest and desert, respectively. The amounts of NPP of biomes in rangeland, desert and Haloxylon forest were influenced by precipitation, while the temperature was the main controlling factor in the forest and agriculture biomes.

The aim of this research was to compare the rangelands structure and landscape degradation in Iril sub-watersheds, Ardabil province. Land use map and the Landscape Fragmentation Tool were used to determine 4 classes of patch, edge, perforated and core through 5, 10, 15 and 20m cell sizes. The landscape metrics of LPI, ED, cohesion, mesh, split, and AI were calculated using Fragstats software. Results showed that the low value cohesion and high values division metrics were in sub-watershed 5. Also, the LPI in 8 and 9 sub-watersheds were 89. 30 and 84. 12. The highest and lowest values of patch classes were attributed to 15×15m, and 5×5m cell size, respectively. The value of the edges, perforations and core does not change through different cell sizes. The inverse correlation between perforated index and cohesion (R2=-0. 94) indicates a less-disturbed landscape in higher cohesion values. The positive correlation of split and perforated indices demonstrates a dis-connectivity and landscape fragmentation in high split index value. The landscape degradation are high in low patch and core area values and high edge amounts. High NP and more edge values indicate a reduction in landscape connectivity, while, the high values of core index specify the enhanced ecosystem connectivity.

To evaluate the effect of different soil amendments on the yield and nutrient uptake of Salsola plant in the dry bed of Urmia Lake, an experiment was set up as a randomized complete block design with eight treatments and three replications in the 2013-2014 time period. These treatments included mycorrhiza usage, sand in the seed bed, plastic in the depth of 70 cm, plastic in the depth of 70 cm + Mycorrhiza, application of animal manure to improve the soil pH, sand + Mycorrhiza, treatments, animal manure + mycorrhiza, and control without consuming any materials. The results of data variance analysis indicated the difference between treatments in terms of quantitative and qualitative studied traits. Comparison of means by Tukey method showed that the effects of all treatments on the grain yield, 1000 grain weight, harvest index, and absorption of micro nutrient and macro nutrient elements in the grain were significant. Mean comparison also showed that the highest grain yield belonged to animal manure and animal manure +Mycorrhiza fertilizer treatments, while the least one its belonged to plastic and sand treatments. Also, the nutrients absorbed in the animal manure and animal manure + mycorrhiza treatments were more than those in others. Overall, Salsula plant can be planted in a lake bed and livestock manure and mycorrhiza can be used to improve the yield.