Iranian Journal of Applied Ecology

Severe natural resources utilizations, disregarding their real value and environmental potency, pose many hazards in developing countries. Many rangelands have been converted to agricultural fileds to achieve more immediate income. This study, aimed to investigate the economic impacts of converting good and poor rangelands to dry farmlands in terms of soil and water conservation services in Fereidounshar- Isfahan. Hydraulic properties and infiltration status of various land uses were studied using tension infiltrometer. MPSIAC model was also used to estimate soil erosion and sediment yield in the studied area. Economic values of different soil and water conservative services were calculated using Replacement Cost approach. According to the results, good rangeland had the least amount of run off (6.66 mm), erosion (298.14 m³.km^-2.year^-1) and sediment yield (129.42 ton. km^-2.year^-1) compared to the other land uses. The economic gains of soil and water conservative services from each hectare of good and poor rangelands compared to dry farmlands were at least more than 20.38 and 13.19 million Rials in a year, respectively, which is equal to economic gains of not converting each hectare of rangelands in a year. Consequntly, in order to manage the lands holistically, based on principles of sustainable development, it is proposed to maintain rangelands.

Selecting the appropriate rangeland improvement method is a challenging task for range managers because it requires consideration of  various criteria. This study was  aimed to evaluate various restoration and reclamation practices in the rangelands of Semirom-Isfahan using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. Grazing management, water point development, pit seeding, exclosure, water harvesting and planting almond, fertilization and direct cropping of forage were compared using various social, economic, managerial and environmental criteria. These criteria included cost, local conflict, response time, applicability of method, employment, forage production and their effectiveness. The criteria were weighted from 0 to 1 for all rangeland improvement alternatives based on the  results obtained from 30 questionnaires from experts in universities, Isfahan Research and Education Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization of Isfahan. The criteria were ranked based on the Likert method and rangeland improvement alternatives were compared using the MDCM approach and the  Facilitator software. According to the results, grazing management and pit seeding were identified as the best rangeland improvement alternatives, with favorability ranges of 0.54-0.98 and 0.6-0.95 respectively Water resource development had a lower risk of failure with the favorability ranges of 0.55-0.76, as compared to the other alternatives. The results, therefore, indicated that performing water harvesting along with planting almond in this area could be an inappropriate rangeland improvement alternative with the  favorability of less than 0.5, so it should not be implemented in this area.

Iranian mangrove forests provides valuable information to prevent genetic erosion in the gene pool of these ecosystems. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity among mangrove forests located in four different regions of Iran, based on morphological characteristics and microsatellite markers. Cluster analysis of molecular data, using neighbor joining algorithm classified the 60 mangrove trees, sampled from different coastal areas, into four groups. Analysis of molecular variance showed that the majority (77%) of the variance explained by among-population variation and the highest values of genetic diversity parameters including number of effective alleles, Shannon’s information index, and Nei’s genetic diversity were obtained for the Qeshm population, indicating that region is the most diverse population among all the studied populations. Baced on the morphological analyses significant differences were observed between all populations in terms of height, diameter at breast height, collar diameter, leaf size, pneumatophore length and pneumatophore diameter. The present study, provides useful information about genetic diversity of mangrove habitats which can be used in evolutionary studies and conservation efforts for these valuable plant ecosystems.

This study aimed the investigating the structure of energy production and the global warming potential of wheat production in Mehran and Dehloran regions. Information about the consumption of inputs and outputs was collected through questionnaires and interviews with local farmers. The results of the research showed that the total energy consumptions in these areas were equal to 6715.3and 68988.4 MJ/ha, and the energy outputs were calculated as 81820 and 94390 MJ/ha, respectively. Economic analysis showed that the profit-to-cost ratios in Mehran and Dehloran regions were equal to 1.42 and 1.58, and the economic productivity of productions were 3.17 and 3.52 kg /Rial, respectively. Based on the Cobb-Douglas function, the coefficients of determination (R2) in Mehran and Dehloran regions were 0.93 and 0.96 respectively. The amount of total emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and methane from wheat cultivation in Mehran was 1328.73, 8228.67 and 33.35 kg/ha, respectively, and in Dehloran was equal to 1431.26, 8503.67 and 36.08 kg/ha, respectively. The global warming potential value of production in Mehran region was at about 9590.75 and in Dehloran region equaled to 9971.01 kg equivalent of carbon dioxide per hectare.  

Conservation of habitat corridors is important in order to reduce the impacts of habitat fragmentation on wildlife. The present study aimed to identify the potential habitat corridors between habitat patches of this family using factorial least-cost path analysis and UNICOR software. By overlaying the habitat corridors of the mustelidae family, the study examined the coverage of the habitat corridor hotspots with the conservation areas designated by the Department of Environment of Iran, as well as the road density within these hotspots. The results revealed that the largest habitat corridors were associated with weasel, stone marten, and marbled polecat species. Habitat corridor hotspots of the mustelid species are mainly located in the Zagros and Alborz mountains. The coverage of habitat corridor hotspots with conservation areas was less than 25%, and the road density was about 50 m/km2. It is necessary to consider the habitat corridor hotspots of the mustelids when creating new conservation areas and  implementing measures to minimize road-related losses in these hotspots. The conservation of the mustelidae family as mesocarnivorous species ensures the survival of wildlife food webs and contributes to the sustainability of Iran's biodiversity.