JOURNAL OF TAXONOMY AND BIOSISTEMATICS
Year:2019 | Volume:11 | Issue:39|Papers Count:6

The main objective of this study was to record the plant and habitat diversity in the area of Kuh-e Dekel in Mamasani city located in the northwest of Fars province, which is located between 51° 32' eastern longitude and 30° 8' northern latitude, and in the altitude of 900 to 1350 m above the sea level. A total of 395 samples of vascular plants were collected belonging to 172 genera, 69 families, and 225 species. They were identified and archived in the herbarium of Shiraz University. Dicotyledon plants with 57 families, 142 genera, and 187 species were the most diverse group, followed by monocots with 8 families, 25 genera, and 34 species. Pteridophytes with 3 families, 3 genera, and 3 species and Gymnosperms with 1 family, 1 genus, and 1 species were present in the region. The richest genera in terms of the number of species were Asteraceae (42 species), Fabaceae (23 species), and Poaceae (13 species). The most diverse species in the vegetation of the region were Convolvulus, Plantago, and Trifolium (each with 5 species), and Allium (with 4 species). In terms of chorology, most plants belonged to the Irano-Turanian region. Therophytes were the dominant life form in the area. The most effective ecological factors in the distribution of plants in the area were climatic, topographical, and biological factors.

During macrofungal surveys continually undertaken from 2014 to 2017 at different locations of Eslamabad-e Gharb and Gilan-e Gharb, Kermanshah Province, a large number of agaric fungi including two specimens belonging to the genus Panaeolus were collected. At the collection site, while recording geographical coordinates, habitat characteristics, growth patterns, and macroscopic morphological features were recorded and photographed. Microscopic features including basidiospores, basidia, and cystidia were observed, measured, and illustrated using a light microscope, OLYMPUS BX51. Also, the DNA sequence of the rDNA-ITS region was amplified and sequenced using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. The phylogenetic analysis and the determination of species relationships were performed by the Maximum Likelihood method with 1000 repetitions of 1000 bootstrap replicates using the MEGA6 software. Based on the results obtained from morphological examinations along with data obtained from ITS-rDNA sequences, two species including Panaeolus olivaceus and Panaeolus guttulatus were identified. According to the literature, both species were new records for mycobiota of Iran. In the present paper, the morphological description of the mentioned species is presented.

The current morphometric research was conducted collecting Rhamnus cathartica and Rhamnus pallasii from the natural habitats in North and West of Iran. In order to clarify the relationships in studied species and understand taxonomicall values, 58 morphological characters were employed (26 quantititative and 32 qualitative characters) using numerical taxonomy, Principal Component Analysis (CPA), and cluster analysis. In this study, leaf shape, color fruit have been found to significantly contribute to the determination of the studied species (Rhamnus pallasii & Rhamnus cathartica). The results confirmed more diversity in Rh. pallasii and three sub-species. But, in Rh. Cathartica, diversity features in the two varieties were not effective. Rh. × spathulifolia were collected from sandy hill of North of Iran which was determined by morphometric features e. g., leaflet, abaxial, adaxial leaflet trichrome, and fruit color. Overall, Rh. × spathulifolia can not be considered.

The genus Asaccus is one of the most unknown members of the Phyllodactylidae family. The earliest described species within the genus is Werner's Leaf-toed gecko, Asaccus elisae. However, little information is still available on the distribution, phylogeny, speciation processes, gene flow, ecological relationships, and potential and actual threats to its populations in Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the morphological diversity of different populations of this species in Iran. To do so, traditional morphological studies with the use of 15 morphometric and 10 meristic characters and geometrics morphometric studies have been used. A total of 60 specimens were caught with the permission of the Environmental Protection Organization from April to September 2018 in 9 stations in the western to southern regions of Iran. The morphometric and meristic characters of the samples have been measured using a Vernier caliper. All samples, after sex determination and photography in the sampling area, were released in their habitat immediately. The results showed that males and females had significant differences in morphological variables, so morphological analyses were performed separately for males and females. Also, the results showed that there is a significant difference between different populations based on morphometric and meristic variables.

Protected areas (PAs) are one of the effective tools for biodiversity conservation. 'Darmain Hunting Prohibited Region' was introduced as 'Darmian and Sarbisheh Protected Area' in 2008. This region is suitable for breeding wild sheep due to its numerous hills and diverse vegetation. This area with about 80000 hectares is located 68 kms east of Birjand, among the three cities of Darmian, Sarbisheh, and Birjand. Its minimum altitude is 2100 meters above the sea level and its maximum altitude is 2870 meters. The aim of this study was to identify the genus and plant species and to determine their biological forms and geographical distribution. The purpose of this study was to identify the plant family and species and to determine the life forms and plant geographical distribution in the study area. Also, the Functional Diversity, Relative Diversity (RDi), and Family Importance Value (FIV) were determined. The results showed that there were 26 plant families, 69 genera, and 94 plant species in the rangelands of this protected area. The largest families were Asteraceae (22 species) and Poaceae (8 species). The life form consisted of 45% Hemicryptophytes, 20% Therophytes, 17% Chamaephytes, 10% Geophytes, 7% Phanerophytes, and 1% Parasite. In terms of geographical distribution, 61 species with the most abundance (65%) belonged to the Irano-Turanian region and 1 species with the least abundance (1%) belonged to the Euro-Siberian region. In terms of the functional diversity, the plant species based on vegetative form (76% Forb, 17% bush, and 7% shrub) and life cycle (81% perennial and 19% annual) were classified. Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Apiaceae families with 65. 18%, 21. 38%, 16. 72%, and 13. 11% Family Importance Value (FIV) were the most important families in this area, respectively.

The genus Astragalus L. has been revised in Isfahan province. In total, 202 taxa including 194 species and 8 subspecies of the genus were recognized in the province, of which 15 taxa were reported for the first time in this study for this province. These taxa were placed in 42 sections. Malacothrix with 30 species was the largest section in the province followed by Caprini with 21 species, Rhacophorus, Incani, and Microphysa with 10 species. Of the various taxa in the Isfahan province, 131 taxa were endemic for the Flora of Iran and 20 taxa were endemic for the province. In terms of life form, perennial species with simple basifixed hairs were in 25 sections and 142 taxa, perennial species with bifurcate hairs were in 9 sections and 40 taxa, and annual species were in 8 sections and 20 taxa. The genus Astragalus squarrosus from the sect. Ammodendron was officially reported for the Iranian flora as a forgotten species in related sources. Additionally, some taxonomic notes regarding some species were presented.