Livestock grazing is one of the most important factors influencing on the structure and dynamics of the rangeland vegetation. The aim of this study was to identify the plant functional traits as the indicators for the effects of grazing management on Karsanak semi-STEPPe rangelands of Chahar Mahal Va Bakhtiari province. A randomized-systematic sampling method was used to survey vegetation in seven grazed and enclosure sites by estimating plant cover in five plots of 4 m2 along a 100-m transect in each site. Then, the plant traits were measured and compared among grazed and enclosure sites. The results showed that there were significant differences between grazed and enclosure sites in several functional groups including plant height, leaf area, total plant weight, palatability class I and II, annuals and perennials, therophytes, and geophytes (P<0. 05). The results also showed that the mean value of leaf length, the plant cover of species with palatability class II, forbs, and therophytes were significantly increased in non-grazed area compared to grazing area. The results of PCA showed that the most affecting factors responsible for overall changes in vegetation were plant weight, perennial and annual plant species, shrub growth form, chaemophytes, phanerophytes and phanerophytes forms, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, and palatability class II and class III, justifying 60% of total variation in plant community composition. Combining the results of t-test and PCA, the results indicate that plant traits including total plant weight, leaf length and width, leaf area, palatability class, and life form are among the most important indicators to evaluate the effect of grazing managements on the structure and dynamics of vegetation in semi-STEPPe rangelands.

Range condition assessment as an important recognition tool in range management has special rule to recognize how much range deviated, if employed indicators have ability to determine and separate differences in ecosystem and also to assess its function. This study aimed to determine the most important ecological indicators to achieve suitable indicators for rangeland health and condition assessment using rangeland health model. This study was carried out in three sites, long-term exclosure, mid-term exclosure, and critical area, of Saveh Rudshur rangeland. In each site 17 rangeland health indicators based on soil/site stability, hydrologic function and biological integrity were assessed. Results showed that in mid-term exclosure area indicators such as functional/structural groups, forage production, plant community composition and pattern, bare ground, wind erosion, soil surface resistance to erosion, and soil surface loss or degradation had the most influence on rangeland health with greatest effect of functional/structural groups. In long-term exclosure area plant mortality, functional/ structural groups, invasive plant, bare ground, wind erosion, pedestals and/or terracette’s, soil surface resistance to erosion interred into the model as effective indicators. Among them, plant mortality had the most influence on rangeland health. In critical area some indicators like functional/ structural groups, invasive plant, bare ground, wind erosion, soil compaction, soil surface resistance to erosion, soil surface loss or degradation were important on rangeland health with greatest effect of functional/ structural group indicators. Finally this study showed that all three attributes are effective in rangeland health changes but biological integrity are more important.

The abundant usage from medicinal and aromatic plants shows the place and role of these valuable resources in the world. At first, we should collect and identify all of the medicinal and aromatic plants in our region. The Qom province has different condition in climatic, topography and pedology and so it has a different species of medicinal and aromatic plants. At first Qom floristic list was prepared and after a literature review the aromatic plants were identified. After this stage, some of studding site were considered and then data was recorded because of consideration to phonological condition of aromatic plants. Then ecological parameters were measured. The result showed that 39 species of about 230 medicinal plants were categorized as aromatic plants. These plants belonged to 5 families and 20 genus. 28 species were in semi-STEPP region, 4 species were in STEPP region and 7 species were common in both semi- STEPP and STEPP regions. The Labiatae had most frequency species (22) and other families are compositae 12, Umbelliferea 3, Verbenaceae 1, Ephedraceae 1 species.

Assessment of annual for age yield in order to determining of grazing capacity is necessary in range management. It is easy to obtain with determine of relation between yield and climatic factors in field. For this purpose annual yield forage of indicator, accompanying and total species of Nir range research station for pattern of STEPPic range of Yazd province were determined with clipping and weighting method during 2000-2004. Precipitation was measured by cumulative rain gauge. According to data of precipitation, amount of cumulative rain determined at October, November, autumn, Spring and annual. Forage yield quantities of every species and amount of rain were defined dependent and independent variables respectively Relationships between variables analyzed by regression programs in SPSS 10. Results showed that yield of perennial plants were not related to precipitation of summer and autumn, and omitted in models. Effects of October, November and spring precipitation had different responses on forage production. According to this study, annual yield of some species, yield of total perennial plants and annuals production can be estimated by precipitation data, But had not enough accurate for species of Noaea mucronata, Salsola rigida and Launaea acanthodes.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence and severity of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as its risk factors, among children and adolescents under 18 who had been exposed to earthquake. Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 48 children and adolescents under 18 who had been referred to the MDM clinic between the 3rd and the 4th weeks after the earthquake. The tools used in this study included the Child Posttraumatic Symptom Scale (CPSS) and the Screening Tool for Early Predictors of PTSD (STEPP) questionnaires. Results: The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder for the age groups below seven, seven to 12, and 13 to 18, was 85%, 74.1%, and 84.6% respectively. In the 13 to 18 age group, the frequency of each category of symptoms was less than in the seven to 12 year group. In children and adolescents above seven years of age, lack of knowledge for parents’ whereabouts, fear of dying and parents’ helplessness had significant association with the diagnosis of PTSD. Conclusion: The prevalence and symptom severity of PTSD is different for different age groups of children and adolescents. Therefore, more accurate tools are probably needed for the diagnosis of this disorder among children and adolescents.

Estimate of herbage production with the purpose of determining grazing capacity for the optimal managing of rangelands, is an essential and unavoidable activity. Some studies and researches have shown that there is a more appropriate regression relationship between annual production and effective precipitation compared with other continental variables. For this purpose, an area from rangelands of Siah Aftab of Garmsar as a model of semi STEPP rangelands of Semnan province was determined. Since 1377 to 1388, annual herbage production of the area was measured by using 60 plates measured 2 square meters; double sampling along with 4 transects measured 400 m through a random-systematic sampling method. The variable such as annual rangeland production and also variables including monthly, two- month, seasonal and annual precipitation were determined as dependent variable and independent variables respectively and their relationships were analyzed by linear multi– variables regression program through stepwise. The result shows that there is a relationship between annual herbage production and total precipitation in February and March (growth season). According to these findings, it seems that it is possible to Estimate the amount of herbage production based on February and March precipitation.

Introduction The city of Ardabil is surrounded by faults, including the large seismic fault of Astara, which throughout seismic history of the region, several earthquakes have occurred along that. The focal depth of most earthquakes is low and close to the surface (5 to 30 km) at Ardabil. In this research, 7 linear sources and 23 regional sources have been identified. After aggregating historical and instrumental earthquake information, the reliability and completeness of the catalog should be evaluated. Due to the lack of reports of small earthquakes in historical data and the new periods of instrumental data, there is always an incomplete seismic catalog for a region. Because the existing catalog covers a long period of time, it contains temporal and spatial heterogeneities. The STEPP method is used to calculate the completeness of the catalog. Most earthquakes in this region have a depth of less than 40 and according to the cumulative distribution diagram, also most earthquakes have a focal depth of less than 20 km. Materials and methods To carry out this research, the recorded earthquake data of the region taken from 4 sites IIEES, ISC, NEIC and University Geophysics Tehran, and Matlab, Zmap, Kijko and Ez-frisk software were used. Seismic device data used in the region includes details related to the earthquake spring, such as: date, time, latitude and longitude, magnitude and related seismic information, which are used to determine the seismic source of the faults. Data analysis for earthquake risk has been done using Ez-frsik software. In this study, the earthquake catalog for northwestern Iran has been examined in three-time series: A: historical earthquakes (period before 1900 AD),B: Systematic earthquakes of the first period (1900 to 1963) and C: Systematic earthquakes of the second period (1963 to 2020). Results and discussion Kijko and Sellevoll method was used to determine the seismicity parameters of Ardabil region. This method has useful capabilities in using the list of heterogeneous earthquakes which is consistent with the characteristics of seismic data of Iran. The functions used in the Kijko program include the distribution of final values for earthquakes before the 20th century, which are often large but with high error, and the Gutenberg-Richter function for recorded earthquakes and using the statistical method of maximum likelihood estimation. In this method, it is also possible to simultaneously use historical and recorded earthquakes by making appropriate classifications by considering the magnitude error, threshold magnitude, and maximum magnitude differently for each category. It is also possible to somehow include the effect of seismic absences or lack of information in the calculations. The estimated seismicity parameters, including the maximum magnitude of the earthquake (Mmax), the coefficient β and the annual volume λ in the 100 km area using the Kijko method, are: Mmax=7. 7, β=1. 86, λ=0. 9 The probability of the event or return period of earthquakes is another parameter that are calculated by this software. The return period increases greatly with the increase and the probability of an earthquake event decreases in a certain period of time. For example, in a 100-year period, the probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 is 90%. Conclusion Graphs show an increase in the return period of earthquakes, so the probability of an earthquake event in a certain period of time decreases. Earthquake risk map for PGA was performed on bedrock with 1% damping for a return period of 475 years in a set of networked points at 0. 05 ° × 0. 05 intervals. According to the acceleration set for the city of Ardabil, this area is divided into 4 micro-zones. The results show that the acceleration values ​​in this range for PGA vary from 0. 19 in the north to 0. 21 in the southwest. It should be noted that the acceleration values ​​are the same throughout each designated area, so the city of Ardabil can be introduced as one of the cities with moderate risk in seismic activity.