Investigation on potential of desertification in terms of decay of vegetation Case study: Rude shoor, Qazvin

Vegetation and biological production is one of the most important factors in providing human needs and sustainability of ecosystems and living organisms. Otherwise, the natural lands will become desert and non-residential regions. Deterioration of vegetation is one of the major causes of desertification. In the current research, the assessment of desertification in terms of deterioration of vegetation was performed using the FAO and UNEP method in Rood shoor, Qazvin. For this purpose, the digital map of potential vulnerability was generated from geometric mean of three indices including moisture regime, temperature regime, soil depth and texture. For digital mapping of perennial to annual plants ratio, the map of vegetation types (31 even vegetation types) was prepared and in each type four plots were established in order to record the production and canopy cover percentage. Finally, the final map of potential desertification was generated and classified by the integration of digital maps of potential vulnerability and perennial to annual plants ratio. From the total area of the sub basin which is equal to 2275000 hectares, agricultural lands and non rangelands (1034745 ha) which covers 46 % of the sub basin were not assessed in the classification. The rest was classified as follows: 31685 ha (low), 1191394 ha (medium) and 17176 ha (high).