h. azarnivand

The expansion of human activities has caused widespread disturbances in ecosystems worldwide, necessitating the development of effective tools to monitor and quantify these changes. Remote sensing stands as a powerful tool for monitoring and quantifying ecological changes over time and space. In this study, a remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) was used to investigate land degradation and desertification in Alborz province during the period 2000-2020. After examining land use changes, the trend of RSEI outputs was evaluated using the Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen estimator. The examination of land use changes during the period 2000-2020 showed that barren lands, rangelands, shrublands and forests decreased by 2.30%, 6.25%, 1.53%, and 0.18%, respectively, while crop lands, built-up lands, and dam increased by 8.23%, 1.85%, and 0.18%, respectively. The analysis of the trend of changes in the RSEI using the Mann-Kendall test showed that the changes in 16.27% of Alborz province was decreasing, of which about 0.5% was statistically significant. This decreasing trend was also shown by the Theil-Sen estimator in 13% of this region. The results of this study using the Mann-Kendall test also showed that the RSEI values increased in 80.73% of the study area, of which about 4% increased significantly. The analysis of changes in this index using the Theil-Sen estimator showed that this index increased in 87% of this region. This study suggests that the RSEI approach performs effectively in quantifying and detecting ecological changes and, as a result, land degradation at various scales.

In this study, the Entropy Weighted Water Quality Index (EWQI) was used to assess the groundwater suitability for drinking purposes in Damghan Plain, Iran. This index has been known as the most unbiased model for assessing drinking water quality. Additionally, physicochemical indices including Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Magnesium Hazard (MH), Kelley’s Ratio (KR), Salinity Hazard (SH), Synthetic Harmful Coefficient (K), Potential Salinity (PS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Chloride (Cl-), Permeability Index (PI) and Soluble Sodium Percentage (SSP) were used to evaluate the suitability of groundwater for irrigation purposes at August 2018 (dry season) and February 2019 (wet season). The results indicated that sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) are exceeding the permissible limits based on WHO standards and Cl- has the highest entropy weight. EWQI maps illustrated that the groundwater has moderate quality in the western parts and poor quality in the eastern parts of the study area. The mean value of this index has decreased from 149.47 in August 2018, to 147.26 in February 2019, which reflects that the groundwater quality has been improved for drinking purposes. The values of SAR, KR, PI and SSP indices slightly increased, which indicated that the quality of groundwater has more deteriorated in terms of these indices. The mean value of MH, SH, K, PS, TDS and Cl- indices have slightly decreased during the study period. Finally, Land Use-Land Cover (LULC) map was used to show which groundwater consumption is appropriate with its quality. Groundwater in the urban areas has moderate and poor quality for drinking purpose and suitable quality in terms of SAR, K and PI and unsuitable in terms of MH, KR, SH, PS, TDS, Cl- and SPP in agricultural lands. The suitable condition in terms of SAR, K and PI is because of the high concentration of Mg2+ and Ca2+. Thus, groundwater is not suitable for irrigation in the agriculture sector.

Groundwater is a very important natural freshwater resource for drinking and irrigation purposes. In the present study, the aim is to investigate the effect of Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes on the quantity and quality of groundwater in Qazvin Plain from 2005 to 2020, through RS-GIS using LULC maps from Landsat 5 TM and 8 OLI images, Groundwater Resource Index (GRI) and Groundwater Quality Index (GQI). For this purpose, the data from groundwater level and quality parameters including K+, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, SO42-, Cl-, TDS and EC were employed. The results indicated that in the central and eastern parts of the plain, the area of agricultural land and the number of exploitation wells were more than other parts. The plain was mostly covered with rangeland and agricultural lands. The area of agricultural land had the most changes over the time. GRI results illustrated more droughts in the eastern parts of the plain over time, and GQI results showed that groundwater quality has significantly decreased in the eastern parts in 2020. The non-vegetated lands had increased in the eastern parts of the plain, which can be due to the increase in agricultural lands, in which the excessive use of groundwater resources had reduced its level and thus decreased its quality. Generally, increasing agricultural lands and high density of exploitation wells in these lands had the greatest impact on the quantity and quality of groundwater in the Qazvin plain. So, the use of groundwater resources should be properly managed to prevent the reduction of its quantity and quality.

Groundwater is known as the most important source of fresh water and its management is extremely important in arid and semi-arid regions, where there is a scarcity of surface water due to the lack of enough rainfall. Excessive water harvesting and improper water management can cause a decline in groundwater levels, which can lead environmental, social and economic crises. Therefore, this valuable resource must be exploited correctly and accurately. To achieve this aim, it is necessary to know the extent of its changes. Hence, in this study, the groundwater level changes in Semnan and Damghan plains, Iran have been investigated. For this purpose, Piezometric well data from 1994 to 2018 were used. Groundwater level zoning in two study regions was carried out using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Kriging, and Co-kriging methods and the best zoning method was selected by Taylor diagram and Nash-Sutcliffe Model Efficiency Coefficient (NSE). Results of these two methods indicated that IDW and Kriging models are the most accurate way to zoning the groundwater level in Semnan and Damghan plains, respectively. The results of groundwater level maps showed that both plains have a decreasing trend in groundwater level over the time. Most of the water level dropping has been occurred in the east and south of Semnan plain and the eastern parts of Damghan plain which may be due to the concentration of agricultural areas in these parts. In Semnan plain, the depletion of groundwater is from 1.59 to 33.56 meters in April and from 1.55 to 35.40 meters in October, while in Damghan plain is from 3.76 to 30.97 and from 3.85 to 30.60 in April and October, respectively.

Over-capacity reduction is one of the major challenges facing humanity in the last century. To achieve sustainable development, there must be a tendency towards rational planning and utilization of resources based on their potential. Since agriculture has many environmental impacts on urban areas, evaluation of agricultural lands is necessary. The aim of this present study was to evaluate the ecological agriculture potential of Eshtehard country, Alborz Province. Therefore, the ecological potential of the study area was evaluated using ecological criteria and PROMETHEE II and Fuzzy AHP methods. To rank the selected criteria, to standardize the layers, and to assign the weights to each criterion, PROMETHEE II, Fuzzy and Fuzzy AHP methods were used respectively. The results showed that the lands with the first and four classes of ecological capability with 1.50% and 25.36% are included the smallest and highest percentage of the whole study areas, respectively. The results of our study showed the high efficiency of the combination of PROMETHEE II and Fuzzy-AHP in assessing the ecological potential of the area. In this study, the PROMETHEE II method is proposed independently of the number of land uses and criteria and it can be used with the changes for other areas.

Rangelands are very diverse, and they spread from low vegetation desert areas to those with more rainfall and more cover In saline and desert areas, there are many restrictions on vegetation establishment, hence the use of amendments. The study area is located south of Nazarabad city in Alborz province, Iran. In this study, different amendments, such as mineral biochar, arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF), and acrylic resin polymer (ARP) were utilized at the base of Nitraria schoberi seedlings. Each amendment was used at four levels. A total of 13 treatments (each treatment with 10 replicates) were evaluated. Five soil samples were taken from each treatment to determine the physical and chemical properties of soil (pH, EC, C, N, P, K, C/N, bulk density, particle density, pores, moisture, soil texture) for testing. The results showed that on average, more than 60% of the soil texture was clay. Furthermore, the used amendments had different effects on the physical and chemical properties of the soil. Biochar increased the carbon and nitrogen content of the soil at all levels. Moreover, AMF increased soil nitrogen and carbon, and ARP reduced soil bulk density and increased soil porosity, moisture, nitrogen, and carbon content. With increasing the level of biochar and ARP, negative effects were observed, and these amendments increased soil acidity and salinity in the study area; however, AMF reduced the soil salinity in the study area.

Due to the impact of climate change on the plant water demand and the availability of water, especially in drylands, it is vital to estimate the evapotranspiration rates accurately. In this study, the vegetation status in the marginal desert areas of Varamin Plain was studied, and the actual evapotranspiration and water demand of intercropped farms were assessed. This study also evaluated the potential relationship between the evapotranspiration of different agricultural lands and their vegetation index using remote sensing techniques. A collection of satellite images from Landsat 7 in consecutive seasons was used to determine the greenness rate of marginal desert areas during 2013 and 2014. ENVI software was used for the image processing, which included geometric corrections and atmospheric corrections, to develop NDVI maps. Also, weather data and crop properties of Varamin Plain were collected, and the actual evapotranspiration rate of plant cover was estimated using CropWat. The correlation between NDVI extracted from satellite images and the evaluated evapotranspiration rate was assessed. The results showed a strong relationship between evapotranspiration of heterogeneous agricultural lands and NDVI. This confirmed that the NDVI derived by remote sensing approach could be a useful index to evaluate vegetation status and water demand of farmlands in the desert borders.

The essential oil yield and chemical composition of the aerial parts of Artemisia sieberi Besser were investigated in two sites of grazed and ungrazed rangelands. Plant sampling was performed from 2 sites in Ahmadabad, located in Semnan province at the beginning of flowering stage in October 2010. The samples of inflorescences of plants were collected from 5 random points of each site. Then, air-dried parts of the plants were subjected to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus. Analysis and identification of chemical composition of the essential oils were performed by GC and GC/MS. There was no significant difference between the oil yields of Artemisia sieberi in 2 investigated sites. In ungrazed and grazed sites, the main components of essential oils were respectively, Camphor (48/03%), 1,8-Cineole (15/96%), Camphene (10/32%) and Camphor (51/82%), Camphene (10/86%), 1,8-Cineole (9/52%). According to the results, significant differences were recorded for Thuja-2,4(10)-diene (p<0.05) and α –Terpineol (p<0.01) between two studied sites. No significant differences were observed for the percentage of other componenets between 2 investigated sites. Also, comparison of the economic value of oil in one hectare with total area of the grazed and ungrazed rangelands showed that garzing caused a reduction in economic efficiency of oil.

Soil organic carbon storage which is mainly considered as a preliminary indicator of soil quality in natural resources, environment and agriculture studies represent the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has announced that agriculture and earth lands make one-third of global warming and climate change. This is due to inappropriate management and land use change. In this study, some areas are considered in Semnan province with Artemisia sieberi dominant species which conversion of nature to crop lands is common. Then, in order to determine changes in soil carbon storage in Hordeum fields and its adjacent rangelands a control treatment (Artemisia sieberi shrublands) in every site and two Hordeum treatments in Ivanakey and one treatment in Sorkhe were selected. Soil sampling of treatments was selected in depth of 0-50 cm and with the number of three profiles and five profiles in control areas. The average of carbon storage per hectare of Hordeum lands in Ivanakey was 40.3 and 30.9 ton which make 15.2 and 11.6 % of carbon storage of region. Hordeum cultivation in Artemisia sieberi shrub lands leading to increase 120.5 and 69 % content of carbon storage in Sorkhe region were 35 ton that consist of 13.6 % of total area of region and make decrease 55.2 % of carbon. The average of carbon storage in Ivanakey and Sorkhe were 16.07 and 40.2 ton /ha respectively. Results of independent t-student test imply that there is not a significant difference between carbon storage in two land use (rangeland and Hordeum field) as well as areas separately, Ivanakey. There is significant difference at the level of %5 but there is no significant difference in Sorkhe.

In this research, antimicrobial activity of extract of Salvia leriifolia were investigated with different concentrations of the extract (5000, 10000, 15000 and 20000 mg/kg) on Staphylococcus aureus count and Total viable count in hamburger at different time intervals: after treatment (day 0) and after storage for 15, 30 and 45 day at -12˚C, all microbiological analyses performed at 3 replication. The results showed that both of microbial total count and the number of Staphylococcus aureus in all samples with different concentrations of extract, decreased during storage. This decreasing effect was significant on day 15 and 30 for Staphylococcus aureus and total count, respectively. Our data also showed that the extract of Salvia leriifolia at highest concentration (20000 mg/kg) caused maximum reduction compared to other concentrations and extract at lowest concentration (5000 mg/kg) was less effective in initial Staphylococcus aureus population and microbial total count. These data indicate that Salvia leriifolia extract can exhibit antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus; so it can be considered as an alternative natural preservative in food products.

The concentration of three metals, zinc, copper and chromium in roots, rhizomes, stems and leaves of Phragmites australis (common reed) and Scirpus maritimus, and in the corresponding sediment and water samples from Lia industrial area (Qazvin, Iran) were investigated to determine difference in distribution among plant organs. Data were collected at during 1-year period. Results showed that metals concentrations in plant organs decreased in the order of roots › rhizomes › leaves ›stems. Concentration of Zn, Cu and Cr were enriched in roots and rhizomes of both plants in summer and autumn. Stem concentrations of metals in S. maritimus however, had no significant difference throughout 1-year period. In contrast, the metal contents of leaves were elevated in spring and autumn. Patterns of leaves and stem concentration of Zn, Cu and Cr were similar to S. maritimus leaves. [M. Ebrahimi et al. Accumulation and distribution of metals in Phragmites australis (common reed) and Scirpus maritimus (alkali bulrush) in contaminated soils of Lia industrial area. International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology, 2011; 1(2):73-81].

In order to determine the reciprocal relationship between the important characteristics of soil and the growth of Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) plant in segsi plain of Isfahan., ordination method was used. The study was performed through the stratified random sampling and the regions were separated according to the plant age and physical physiognomy, then 10 samples of Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) of the same age were selected in each region. Meanwhile, factors such as height, canopy cover area, canopy cover perimeter, canopy cover diameter, and basal area were considered. Also, 30 profiles from viewpoint of growth situations in 10 different regions were dug. Soil characteristics such as : pH, Ec, total soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+, Cl-, CO3--, HCO3-, SP%, CaCO3%, CaSO4%, organic matter%, total nitrogen percentage, phosphorous, Na+, K+, SAR, and hardpan depth were measured. Data was analyzed using ordination method. According to the results, samples of the same age showed significant differences in plant features. Other results showed that physical characteristics such as depth of hardpan from soil surface, SP%, and chemical characteristics such as salinity, alkalinity and total nitrogen had the highest effect on qualities of this kind of plant. In other words, the results mentioned above showed the important role of Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) in sharp increase of salinity and alkanity in it's stratum.