hamed naghavi

measuring the height of all forest trees is a time-consuming and expensive operation, hence the use of diameter and height models to estimate the height of trees has been developed. The aim of this research is to investigate the efficiency of gene expression programming in diameter-height modeling of Iranian oak species (Quercus brantii Lindl) in high forests of Middle Zagros.

In order to carry out this research, by conducting numerous forest walk and getting to know the forests of the region, a stand with an area of approximately 5 hectares with a high forests vegetation structure was selected in the protected area of Sefid Koh Lorestan became. In this stand, the characteristics of DBH and total height of all Iranian oak trees whose DBH was more than 12.5 cm were counted 100%. A total of 642 trees were measured. In this research, 80% of the data was used for modeling and 20% for validation. The gene expression model with 3 genes and 100 chromosomes was implemented to investigate the relationship between height as a dependent variable and diameter as an independent variable. In order to evaluate the performance of the final model, RMSE, MAE and R2 criteria were used.

The model extracted from GEP justified 87% of the tree height based on the R2 value. The results of tree height-diameter modeling showed that the final model obtained has coefficient of explanation (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute value of error (MAE) 0.87, 1.3 and 0.97 respectively. is Also, the results of the criteria used to validate the obtained model showed that the extracted model has the coefficient of explanation (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute value of error (MAE), respectively 0.82 and 40. 1 and 1.06 could predict the height of trees.

Overall, the results of this research showed that the model extracted from gene expression programming according to the R2, RMSE and MAE performance evaluation criteria has the ability to estimate the height of Iranian oak high forests in the middle Zagros vegetation zone. Therefore, this model can be used in the forest areas of the middle Zagros vegetation zone, which have the same structure and habitat conditions as the studied area. It should be noted that the present research only predicted the height of trees based on the DBH (independent variable), so it is suggested that in future researches, the generalized models of height and diameter, in which the variability of the habitat and stand Considering the stand variables other than tree diameter (basal area of stand, stand age, dominant height, dominant diameter, site index, etc.) are considered to be used. Also, in order to make a more accurate judgment about the performance of this program, it is better to compare and measure it with other estimation algorithms such as non-linear regressions, support vector machine, artificial neural network, etc. in future studies.

The Zagros forests, Iran’s second-largest natural forest ecosystem, are facing intense environmental pressures. Lorestan Province, covering 1,217,259 hectares (43% of the province’s land area), is a key region within this ecosystem. In recent years, climatic stressors such as rising temperatures, drought, and dust storms, coupled with socio-economic challenges like unemployment, poverty, and financial constraints, have posed significant obstacles to effective resource management. The heavy reliance of local communities on forests for fuel and livelihoods has further complicated decision-making in forest governance. Various stakeholders—including government agencies, private entities, and third-sector organizations—play a role in this management framework. To ensure efficient governance, it is crucial to identify and categorize these actors while analyzing their interactions. This study applies stakeholder analysis to examine the institutional landscape governing forest resources in Lorestan, highlighting the need for an integrated and coordinated management approach.

This study adopts a mixed-method approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative analyses across three phases. The first phase focuses on stakeholder identification, employing semi-structured interviews, stakeholder mapping, and the snowball sampling method to pinpoint key institutions involved in forest resource management in Lorestan Province. The second phase involves stakeholder classification, utilizing a power-interest matrix to categorize them based on their influence and engagement. The third phase examines the communication networks among stakeholders, employing social network analysis to evaluate the nature and strength of their interactions.

The first phase identified 26 institutions engaged in managing Lorestan’s forest resources, including 24 governmental bodies, one private organization, and one public entity. The power-interest matrix revealed that the most influential stakeholders include the "General Directorate of Natural Resources and Watershed Management," "General Directorate of Environmental Protection," "Agricultural Jihad Organization," "Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Training Center," "Management and Planning Organization," "Governorate," "General Directorate of Nomadic Affairs," "Provincial Radio and Television Center," and the "Judiciary." These entities hold the highest levels of both authority and concern regarding forest management in the province. An analysis of network density and reciprocity indices indicated that only a subset of actors are interconnected, and stakeholder relationships within the network remain relatively weak compared to their potential. Many institutions have yet to fully leverage their organizational capacity to establish effective collaborative ties, and a significant proportion of existing connections are unidirectional. Furthermore, social network analysis revealed that some key stakeholders identified in the power-interest matrix have struggled to secure a central or influential position within the network, leaving them marginalized. Among these, the "Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Training Center of Lorestan," the "Governorate," the "General Directorate of Nomadic Affairs of Lorestan Province," and the "Provincial Radio and Television Center of Lorestan" stand out as particularly underrepresented.

The findings indicate that forest resource management in the studied region lacks a balanced distribution of participation and influence. Notably, only one private entity was identified and validated by stakeholders, with government institutions maintaining a dominant role in governance. However, global best practices emphasize the importance of private sector involvement through outsourcing, as well as the active participation of local communities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). From both economic and social sustainability perspectives, the current approach lacks long-term viability and adaptability. To address this imbalance, outsourcing certain forest management activities to the private sector could enhance efficiency and sustainability. Additionally, despite the critical role that local social institutions could play, their current numbers and influence remain inadequate. Encouraging the formation and expansion of community-based organizations—supported by capacity-building initiatives and training programs—could strengthen their role in decision-making and enhance their negotiating power within the forest management framework.

This research was carried out with the aim of achieving a suitable height for diameter measurement in coppice Iranian oak trees in the middle Zagros vegetation area. For this purpose, three categories in terms of destruction level of stands including: destroyed, medium and less destroyed were selected in Qala Gol area of Khorram Abad and then in each category a square sample plot  of one-hectare was laid out and D.B.H, D.S.H, large and small crown diameter, crown height and tree height were measured. The results of Pearson's correlation coefficient showed that there was a significant correlation between two target diameters with All variables. Regression models showed that the highest R squares is related to the relationship between the DBH and the area of the crown in the less degraded sample (0.74) and the lowest level is related to the relationship between the DSH with tree height in the degraded sample (0.45), Also, the lowest amount of RMSE% (11.5%) and MAE% (10.6%) related to the relationship between DBH and crown area in the less degraded sample, and the highest related to the relationship between DSH and tree height In the degraded sample, it was 15.6% and 14.5%. In total, the results of this research showed that the DBH due to the relatively strong relationship between the investigated variables of the trees is a more suitable height for measuring the diameter in coppice Iranian oak forest.

Urban green spaces constitute a pivotal component of urban ecosystems, offering a plethora of ecological benefits and services to cities. Augmenting these green patches within urban landscapes and establishing interconnected ecological networks therein represent viable strategies to mitigate the adverse repercussions of inadequate urban development while bolstering urban environment resilience. In the past few decades, the landscape ecology paradigm has introduced innovative methodologies aimed at comprehending the intricacies of urban green space dynamics and how landscape configurations wield influence over the environmental processes within cities. This research, consequently, sets out with the intention of quantitatively assessing and dissecting the transformations transpiring within Khorramabad's urban green spaces. It does so by harnessing remote sensing data and leveraging landscape metrics to gain deeper insights into the urban landscape's evolution. 

The focus of this research centers on Khorramabad city, which serves as the capital of Lorestan province and holds the distinction of being the province's largest city in terms of both population and geographical expanse. Municipally zoned into three distinct regions, the study unfolds across two main phases. Initially, the endeavor involved the creation of comprehensive synoptic maps capturing Khorramabad city's green spaces. This process relied on satellite imagery, followed by a subsequent phase of scrutinizing these maps through the application of landscape metrics.To execute this, satellite images from various sensors—namely TM, ETM+, and OLI on Landsat 5, 7, and 8 satellites—were harnessed for the years 1987, 2003, and 2019, respectively. These images underwent meticulous preprocessing, culminating in their classification using the maximum likelihood method within the ENVI software environment. To validate the accuracy of the resultant maps, an error matrix was employed. In order to model the quantitative alterations and patterns within Khorramabad's urban green spaces, landscape metrics were harnessed. Notably, the Fragstat software facilitated the analysis of selected landscape metrics, which encompassed four key measures: class area (CA), number of patches (NP), percent of landscape (PLAND), and mean Euclidean nearest neighbor distance (ENN-MN). 

The analysis of spatial-temporal changes in Khorramabad city's green spaces reveals an evident declining trend in their overall pattern. The outcomes underscore a substantial reduction both in the quantity of green patches and the area they encompass, dwindling from 703.8 hectares in 1987 to 629.88 hectares in 2019. Additionally, the investigation into landscape metrics' composition and distribution underscores an absence of cohesive dispersion on the city-wide scale. Within Khorramabad city, regions 1 and 3 exhibit inadequate green space composition and distribution. The computed metric for Class Area (CA) reflects a decrease from 195.66 hectares in 1987 to 191.63 hectares in 2003, further diminishing to 170.145 hectares by 2019. Correspondingly, the metric for Number of Patches (NP) indicates the lowest count of patches (33) in 1987, which escalated to 122 patches in 2003, and ultimately reaching 183 patches by 2019. Moreover, Proportion of Landscape (PLAND) data highlights that regions 3 and 2 demonstrate the highest (19.45%) and lowest (7.18%) green area proportions, respectively. Notably, the PLAND metric underwent modification from 229.81 meters in 1987 to 88.47 meters in 2003, further diminishing to 78.65 meters in 2019. The findings underscore deficiencies in Khorramabad city's urban green spaces, indicating a lack of favorable conditions for their development.

The research conducted an assessment of urban green spaces within the urban areas of Khorramabad, utilizing remote sensing data and landscape metrics. The findings indicated a consistent downward trend in the overall extent of green spaces in Khorramabad city over various years. The distribution of green patches within the city was deemed relatively inappropriate, lacking an optimal arrangement. To enhance the status of green spaces, there is a need to establish continuity between discrete green patches and smaller green areas. This study underscores the significance of prioritizing sustainable management for Khorramabad's urban green space, aiming to prevent its degradation. The study's limitation lies in its reliance on medium-resolution Landsat image data. Overcoming this constraint through the incorporation of high-resolution data holds promise, particularly for fragmented green spaces in urban areas.

Sustainable management and fundamental planning of forest resources require efficient and high-quality information about the current and future states of forests. Investigating the current and future states of forest stands, describing the structure of the forest stand, and the response of the stand to tending operations are among the capabilities of statistical distributions in forest management. Frequency distribution modeling is the distribution of people in a population in different classes. Since natural phenomena include continuous and discrete types, their distribution will also be different and diverse. The use of statistical distributions in the forest has a long history, and some researchers have considered its history as long as two centuries. Zagros forests, as one of the most important vegetation areas of Iran, have a special importance from the socioeconomic and ecological points of view. The dominant species of these forests is the Iranian oak (Quercus brantii Lindl). According to geographical and environmental conditions, this species has various habitats in the vegetation zone of the middle Zagros. It is expected that this species has different probability distribution functions in different habitats. Therefore, the probability distribution functions of the characteristic height in habitats with different vegetative structures of Iranian oak in the forests of Khorramabad city were investigated in this research to select the best models in different habitats. This study also seeks to provide useful information on the authority of forest managers and planners to preserve and improve these valuable forests.

To carry out this research, two areas with different structures, including coppice with standard (Sefidkoh area) and standard with coppice (Qala-Gol area) were determined in the forests of Khorram Abad city through numerous excursions in the forest. A forest stand with an area of approximately 3 ha was selected in each of these areas. This forest stand was chosen in such a way to represent the forests of the region. The subsoil was semi-deep and north direction in the Qala-Gol forest stand at an altitude of 1850 m above sea level and with an average slope of 20%. In the SefidKoh forest stand, the subsoil was semi-deep and located in the north direction at an altitude of 1900 m from sea level with an average slope of 30%. In each of these two selected forest stands, the height of all Iranian oak trees, with a height of > 1.5 m, was counted 100%. In total, the heights of 458 and 348 Iranian oak trees were measured in the two SefidKoh and Qala-Gol regions, respectively. A TruPulse 360 laser device was used to measure the height of trees. To investigate the distribution of height classes, the most widely used continuous probability distribution models in biological research were used due to the continuousness of the height variable, including two-parameter Weibull, two-parameter gamma, normal, log-normal, beta, and Johnson. The goodness of fit of the data was also examined using the Anderson-Darling test, which has a higher power than other tests. Easy Fit 5.6 software was used to analyze all data and draw graphs.

The statistical errors were 4.45% and 2.82% in the Sefidkoh and Qala-Gol regions, respectively. The average height of trees was 6.76 m in the Sefidkoh region (between 1.8 and 18 m) compared to that of 7.54 m (between 1.53 and 14.04 m) measured in the Qala-Gol area. The values of skewness and Kurtosis were positive in the two forest areas, with higher values in the Sefidkouh region than in the Qala-Gol area, indicating the concentration of data in lower-height classes in the Sefidkouh region. The results of Anderson-Darling's goodness of fit test in the Sefidkoh area (coppice with standard) showed that the most suitable probability distribution functions (with a 5% error level) for modeling the distribution of trees in height classes were Johnson sb and beta, respectively. In the Qala-Gol region (standard with coppice), the most appropriate distribution functions were identified as beta and normal, respectively.

  The results of this research show that the forest has an uneven-aged structure in the areas where the oak forest has a coppice with standard form, according to the form of distribution (decreasing distribution). In contrast, the forest has moved toward a single-stemmed and even-aged forest in areas where the forest form is standard with coppice. This is mainly caused by the destruction through grazing, the cutting of branches for livestock and fuel consumption, and the indiscriminate use of byproducts that have occurred in this region. In the Sefidkoh region, the effects of destruction and less human intervention were observed at the regional level in field observations. According to the shape of the distributions obtained in the two sites, the vegetative forms of the trees affected the distribution functions of their heights, which can provide useful information for managers, planners, and researchers to maintain and control these valuable forests.

Efficient and high-quality information about the current and future state of the forest is needed for sustainable management and basic planning of forest resources. Zagros forests, as one of the most important vegetation areas of Iran, have a very important effect on water supply, soil conservation, climate adjustment and economic and social balance in the whole country, hence, the sustainable protection and management of these forest ecosystems The main concern of researchers and managers in this area has become vegetation. The dominant species of these forests is Iranian oak (Quercus brantii Lindl). According to geographical and environmental conditions, this species has various habitats in the vegetation zone of the middle Zagros. Considering the noble position of the Iranian oak species in the forests of Zagros, the importance of developing more researches regarding this species is essential. The characteristics of tree diameter and height are the most important components needed in forest statistics. These variables are one of the main variables for measuring the appearance characteristics of forest trees and are used in cases such as determining the volume and drawing the height curve. Considering that measuring the height of all forest trees is a long and expensive operation, hence the use of diameter and height models to estimate the height of trees has been developed. The purpose of this research is to investigate the linear and non-linear diameter-height models of Iranian oak species (Q. brantii Lindl) in the high forests of the Middle Zagros in order to find the answer to the question of whether it is possible to estimate the height of Iranian oak high forest trees as There is a function of the diameter of the chest in this vegetative zone or not.

This research was conducted in Sefidkoh protected area of Lorestan. The dominant tree cover of this area is made of oak, like other areas of Zagros, but other plants and trees such as Cratagus persica pojark, Amygdalus sp, Astragalus sp, etc. can be mentioned in it. To carry out this research, by conducting numerous forest tours and getting to know the forests of the region, a stand with an area of approximately five hectares, which had a high forest vegetation structure, was selected. In the selected forest stand, the characteristics of DBH and total height of all Iranian oak trees whose DBH was more than 12.5 cm were counted as 100%. In total, 642 Iranian oak trees were measured in DBH and height. Linear and non-linear models were used to fit the data of DBH and height of trees, which include various models of exponential, power, density-product, growth, sigmoid and other functions. In this research, 80% of the data were used in the modeling process and 20% were used for evaluation, as well as for fitting the data and estimating the indicators of each of the models from the Curve Expert Professional software, which is a software Comprehensive software was used to fit the curves. In the modeling process, diameter data were used as independent variables and height data were used as dependent variables. In the upcoming research, to verify the accuracy of the obtained models, the RMSE, MAEand Bias in absolute and relative terms, as well as the R2 and the AIC was calculated as validation indices.

Based on the descriptive statistics of Iranian oak trees, the average, minimum and maximum DBH was 42.42, 12.5 and 150 cm, respectively, and the height was 6.3, 1.2 and 17 meters, respectively. Based on R2 values, the used models explained 62 to 86% of the total changes in tree height. The results of tree height-diameter modeling showed that Gompertz, MMF and Richard models have the highest explanatory coefficient (0.86, 0.86, 0.86), respectively, and the lowest standard error (307. 1, 1/307, 1/307) and AIC information criterion were (276/04, 277/13, 277/03). The results of the criteria used to validate the used models showed that the Gompertz, MMF and Richard models have RMSE of 22.22, 22.20 and 22.20%, respectively, as well as MAE respectively. 16.69, 16.74 and 16.79 percent were better able to estimate the characteristics of the height of trees. According to the mentioned results, it was found that Gompertz, MMF, and Richard models have a higher ability to estimate the characteristic height of Iranian oak trees compared to other models.

Overall, the results of this research showed that linear and non-linear models have the ability to estimate the height of Iranian oak high forest trees in the growing region of the middle Zagros, and among these models, three non-linear models are Gompertz, MMF and Richard based on evaluation criteria. The performance was more accurate. Therefore, these models can be used in the forest areas of the middle Zagros vegetation zone, which have the same structure and habitat conditions as the studied area. It is suggested to use the generalized models of height and diameter in future researches.

Studying the structure of the landscape based on the principles of ecology and the spatial indicators of the landscape as its components is considered a suitable tool for mapping and quantifying the spatial characteristics of each land use. Ecological functions, the structure of the landscape, and landscape patterns have undergone unwelcome changes due to the increasing expansion of human activities. Therefore, to monitor and control these changes, quantifying and studying the landscape is important. This study aims to quantify the landscape pattern of regions with different development levels using the line intersect sampling (LIS) method to estimate the metrics of the total length of the forest edge, and the point sampling method was conducted to estimate the metric of contagion. In this regard, the preserved region of Sefidkuh and the manipulated region of Qaleh Gol in Lorestan province were considered.

For this purpose, we selected two 200-hectare areas from the two mentioned regions on Google Earth images and in a GIS environment. To perform the line intersect method, 16 transects with lengths of 100 and 200 m were fitted on the study area using systematically randomized directions. For the paired point sampling method, paired points with 100 and 200 m were systematically and randomly implemented on the selected images, and then metrics were calculated. The outcomes show that in both measured transects, the total length of the forest edge in the Qaleh Gol region is greater than in the Sefidkuh region, and the numerical value of the contagion metric in the Qaleh Gol region is less than in Sefidkuh. Also, the t-student method was applied to compare the regions with different line intersect lengths and paired point lengths. Then, spatial indices were calculated. The paired t-test was also used to compare the different distances in the two regions.

The findings show that there is more disturbance and fragmentation in Qaleh Gol. Moreover, the results indicate that the sampling methods used in this study are a suitable alternative for more detailed vegetation cover maps. The landscape patterns can be quantified by spending less cost and time and with higher accuracy. The obtained results can be used in planning and management at different levels (local, regional, and national), especially in areas with a high rate of change. Also, in this study, it was found that sampling methods are a suitable alternative for vegetation maps with many details. The results of the total length of the forest edge are also consistent with the results of the contagion estimation, and the Qaleh Gol area, which has less contagion, has a longer total length of the forest edge, indicating more destruction and fragmentation of this area compared to the less disturbed Sefidkuh area. Among the reasons for the disturbances in the Qaleh Gol area, we canmention the presence of artificial and man-made disturbances such as numerous villages, agricultural activities, horticulture, livestock grazing, and other rural activities. These have caused the thinning of the forest cover in the area.

Linear intercept sampling (LIS) can be used to estimate the total edge length of forests, while paired-point sampling can be used to estimate the spatial coverage index. These methods can be effective alternatives to detailed vegetation cover maps for downsizing the pattern of land cover in different regions with varying degrees of development. They can also provide a more accurate comparison of land cover patterns with lower costs and in less time.

Zagros forests cover a large area of the Iran and play an important role in soil protection storing underground water and other socio-economic services. Forests play an important role in the natural storage of carbon on a global scale and their protection is one of the important and sustainable strategies to deal with global warming. Therefore, the sustainable management of these areas requires information to understand and predict the changes of these forests. This research aimed to estimate the biomass and amount of carbon storage of Iranian oak trees, which are one of the most important elements of the Zagros forests, by using the combinathion of field inventory and Google Earth images. According to the results of the previous study in this area, the average diameter of the crown is a suitable variable for estimating the biomass of the Iranian oak species. For this purpose, the average diameter of the crown of the Iranian oak trees in the Dadabad region of Lorestan in an area of 488 hectares, using Google Earth images by ImageJ software was measured. The results showed that the amount of biomass on the ground for the Iranian oak species was 9.68 tons per hectare. Also, the amount of carbon storage estimated for the oak forests 6.427 tons per hectare. The results of this study and its comparison with other studies showed that non-destructive methods such as remote sensing and the use of satellite images and their integration with local allometric equations, allow the estimation of the amount of biomass and carbon storage in large areas with proper accuracy.

The forests of Zagros, as the most extensive and at the same time as the most damaged forests of the country, have been affected by the extensive decline of oak trees in recent years, and in this sense, they are in a critical conditions. Decline of oak trees is described as a wide and complex phenomenon that causes a decrease in growth and physiological weakness followed by the attack of pathogenic agents. As sustainability of these forests is now facing a serious problem, proper management strategies are required to deal with the decline phenomenon, before these valuable ecosystems are completely destroyed. The implementation of such strategies necessitates collecting basic information, including map of the decline distribution and the extent of the lost biomass of trees as a result of decay. The purpose of this study is to estimate the amount of biomass on the above-ground in dead oak trees as a result of the decline of Zagros forests, which was carried out in the forests of Dadabad region of Lorestan province.

The present study was conducted in Dadabad forests located in the southwest of Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran. To achieve this purpose, 40 dried trees were randomly selected and biometric parameters including diameter at knee height, diameter at breast height, as well as height and crown diameter were measured. Different parts of the tree were fragmented, dried, and weighed. Using regression analysis, the biomass of different parts was modeled against the independent variables of diameter at knee height, diameter at breast height, crown height, and diameter. Finally, at the area of 32 hectares of the forest stand, a 100% inventory was conducted, and different characteristics of all Iranian oak trees were measured.

The results of the research declared that strong relationships can be established to estimate the biomass of Iranian oak trees. The result of fitting linear and non-linear models to estimate the biomass of this tree species showed that if the average diameter of the tree crown was used as an independent variable, the more suitable model was the power model with an explanation coefficient of 0.857. Also, the validity results of the model or the value of RMSE% for the obtained equation was 9.082%. The total biomass in the study area was 389.994 tons, of which 39.54%, i.e. 154.226 tons, of the area's biomass was lost under decline phenomenon.

The results indicated that in the comparison between linear and non-linear regression models, the best model for estimating the biomass of this species was the power model based on the average diameter of the crown with R2=0.857. In general, using the average diameter of the crown as an estimator variable for the Iranian oak species can suggest a better and more appropriate assessment of the above-ground biomass of these trees.

Zagros forests are one of the important and strategic areas of the country. Forest inventories in areas like Zagros is expensive and time-consuming due to the difficult access and low density of trees. Laser scanning methods to prepare point clouds and produce maps provide valuable and significant information in forest management. With the release of the LiDAR short-range light detection sensor in 2020 by Apple, it became possible to use alternative scanning methods. In the present study, in order to check the accuracy of iPhone LiDAR in preparing point clouds of tree trunks, 37 Iranian oak trees were selected and specific longitudinal and transverse distances were marked on their trunks. The high accuracy of the point clouds for these distances resulted in a high correlation between the generated point clouds and the real distances. The RMSE% was obtained for longitudinal distances of 1.33 cm and for transverse distances of 2.2 cm respectively, which proves the high accuracy of the mentioned technology and its high capability in extracting quantitative components of tree trunks.

The quantitative status and probability distribution functions of crown classes of Brant's oak (Quercus brantii) stands were investigated in the Qala Gol region of Khoramabad city in this study. The number of two classes of degraded and less degraded forest was selected for this purpose by identifying the forest and obtaining samples in a selective manner, and then a square sample plot of one hectare with dimensions of 100×100 meters was planted in each class. The crown diameters of 72 coppice trees of Brant's oak in the less degraded region and 52 coppice trees of Brant's oak in the degraded area were measured. In this study, statistical distribution models such as Weibull, Gamma, Normal, Log-Normal, Beta, and Johnson Sb were utilized, and the Anderson-Darling test was used to determine the goodness of fit. The results indicated that the canopy percentage in the degraded region (11.9%) is lower than the canopy percentage in the less degraded area (37%), and the average canopy area in the less degraded stand (51.46 m2) is considerably greater (P≤ 0.01) than the canopy area in the degraded stand (22.89m2).  Based on the goodness of fit test results in the less degraded stand, the Johnson SB, Weibull, Gamma, and Beta functions were proposed as the best fit functions for the canopy classes in the degraded region, respectively. The current study demonstrates that the rate of degradation has a significant influence on the probability distribution functions of tree crown cover in coppice Brant's oak stands in the Zagros forests.

Quantification of forest structure is one of the most important factors in sustainable management. The aim of this study was to compare the survey method and the effect of area and shape of sample plots in quantifying the structure of oak forests in the middle Zagros. To that end, an area of 30ha in the forests of Qhale-Gol Khorramabad was identified and a complete inventory was conducted. The data were entered into the geographic information system (GIS) environment in the form of information layers, and then, based on the objectives of the research, a regular random grid with specific dimensions of 100x100m and with an intensity of 10%, 25 sample plots (circle and square shape) were taken. In addition, to investigate the effect of the area of the sample plots on the structural characteristics of the forest, square plots of 25, 50, 75 and 100 were randomly taken with an intensity of 10%. According to the Mann-Whitney test, the shape of the sample plots had no significant effect on the results, and the dominance and differentiation indices in all methods had the same results. However, the area of the plots and their distribution had an effect on the results of the two indices of Mingling and Uniform angle. For the Mingling of 50 to 100 are plots and according to the Uniform angle index, 12 and 25 are plots had a significant difference from the average of the society. Nevertheless, no apparent difference was observed in the range of values and classes of any of the structural indices. according to this, all examined methods and sample plots have an excellent ability to describe the structure. In the case of more sensitive indicators such as Uniform angle and Mingling, the error can be reduced by applying corrective methods such as changing the number of neighbors.

Considering the current state of the Zagros forests and the necessity of using information related to quantitative characteristics in the management of these forests, it is essential to prepare more accurate information so that the control of this area can be done more accurately. One of the ways to obtain statistical information is linear sampling (transect.( In this regard, the present study aims to compare the efficiency of the length of transects with the inventory method and to investigate the performance of this method in forests with different densities.
To carry out the present research, taking into account the area and topography of the region, a square survey grid with dimensions of 100 x 100 meters was used in the customary forests of Olad -Ghobad located in Lorestan province. Then 30 one-hectare plots were implemented in the area and fully surveyed. In the next step, transect sampling was performed in two modes using tree position simulation in GIS. In the first step, transects with lengths of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 meters were harvested inside each one-hectare plot. Then, the quantitative characteristics of the trees that were placed along the desired tracts, such as two diameters perpendicular to each other, were measured. In the second stage, the forest area was divided into three classes low density, medium, and dense, and again transects with the studied lengths were created again. Quantitative characteristics of trees were measured on transects in each class. The results of characteristics comparing the number of trees per hectare and canopy cover showed no significant difference between different transect lengths with a full inventory. The results of estimating the E%2×T index in the study area showed that for both characteristics of the number of trees per hectare and canopy cover, a 25-meter transect with values of (19038.82) and (958338.9) have the highest precision, respectively. The results showed that the value of this index has the highest accuracy for medium numbers in hectare with 75 m transect length, and low canopy covers with transect length of 50 m.

Gathering accurate information for statistics requires high cost and precision. The time factor is also one of the important issues that should be seriously considered in statistics. Therefore, the use of sampling methods and satellite images will be a good alternative for this purpose. In the present study, the aim of the effect of different cluster sampling schemes in estimating the quantitative characteristics of the traditional forests of Olad Ghobad in Koohdasht township, Lorestan province using Sentinel 2 sensor images. To estimate the studied characteristics, 150 clusters in the form of six designs (triangular, square, star 1, linear, L-shaped, star 2) were implemented in the region. Then, in each subplot, the characteristics of the number and area of the tree canopy were measured. Afterimage preprocessing and appropriate image processing (principal component analysis, texture analysis, and different spectral ratios to create important plant indices), the corresponding digital values of the ground sample plots are extracted from the spectral bands and used as independent variables. Modeling was performed using nonparametric methods of random forest, support vector machine, and nearest neighbor. The results showed that the average density per hectare was 51 and the canopy area was 32.94%. The diagram of the mean squares of the error of the training and test data against the number of trees for the characteristic number per hectare and canopy showed that the optimal number of trees was obtained at approximately 75 and 350 points. The results of validation according to the percentage of squared mean squared error showed that for both density and canopy surface characteristics of random forest algorithm with linear and double star sampling designs with the squared percentage of mean squared error respectively (46.00%) and (10.44%) and Bias (-0.02%, 2.82%) along with cluster sampling designs linear and double star, respectively, had better performance in modeling. In general, the results showed that the use of different cluster sampling schemes, nonparametric modeling methods, and Sentinel2 sensor images can better performance estimate the quantitative characteristics of Zagros forests.

Examining the economic value of carbon sequestration in forests is essential, given the risk of global climate change, which has posed a profound challenge to societies internationally. The present study investigates the amount of carbon sequestration and its economic value in the oak forests (Quercus brantii L.) of Pahnus forest habitat with an area of 990 ha, located in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province, western Iran. For this purpose, systematic sampling with random starting points was chosen, and required variables such as diameter at breast height, tree height, and canopy diameter of all trees in 100 sample plots with dimensions of 60 × 60 m were collected. The  biomass value in the aerial and below-ground organs of trees was estimated using two methods, allometric equations, and the density method. Then, the value of storage and sequestrated carbon was calculated by the trees' dry biomass using experimental formulas, and the carbon tax rate was determined to value the function of carbon sequestration. The results showed that the value of carbon sequestration per hectare of these forests using allometric equations and the density method is 0.83 and 0.74 Mg C ha-1 y-1, respectively. Considering USD 60 as a tax rate per Mg C, the economic value of carbon sequestration in each method was estimated at USD 50.05 and USD 44.47 ha-1 for 2020, respectively. The results of this study show the high carbon sequestration capacity of the Pahnus Forest. Thus, the proper conservation and management of such forests can lead to the storage of a significant atmospheric carbon value.

Updated information in quantitative and qualitative properties of forests are useful in describing ecosystem sustainability, and designing management and conservative plans. According to importance of canopy cover parameter in the Zagros region and cost and time consuming processes of field measurement methods, in this study performance of remote sensing and geostatistics techniques to estimate forest canopy cover of Baghan region, Marivan city, were investigated.

 First, the number of 89 plots (each 0.1 Hectare) were selected based on random sampling method. In each plot, information of tree crown and center geographic coordinates of that plot were recorded. Remote sensing method was carried out using Landsat satellite images (TM) and multiple linear regression model. After image processing, spectral values of the corresponding field plots were extracted from the original images and synthetic bands composed of vegetation indices and principle component analysis. In geostatistic method, the estimation was performed using ordinary kriging from a fitted exponential model to the semivariogram.

 The calculated variograms of canopy cover showed relatively strong spatial autocorrelation fitted by exponential models and cross-validation results showed an unbiased estimation of canopy estimation. Compared with the remote sensing method (with R2= 0/52 and RMSE= 16/47), the results indicated that Kriging model (RMSE= 9.21, R2= 0.69) showed a more accurate estimation of forest canopy cover.

The results showed that geostatistics techniques can be used as an efficient tool for mapping the forest canopy in the same regions (Zagros Forest).

In order to investigate the structural characteristics (mingling, spatial distribution pattern and dominance) and competition (DBH and Height) of beech, hornbeam and Oak species in different stratums of forest, 10 plots with areas of 1 hectare were collected randomly, in the protected regions of Asalem forests. In each plot some information such as azimuth and distance of the trees relative to the source, diameter at breast height and maximum height of trees were measured. Then, the dominant heights of the stands were identified and classified into three stratums: upper, middle and lower. According to the results, beech showed little Mingling in all stands, while the results related to Oak revealed high Mingling and hornbeam had more Mingling than the average amount of Mingling, that the highest value was observed in the upper stratum. Regarding the spatial distribution pattern, the mean of all three species indicated a little clustered distribution patterns, but beech and hornbeam tend to showed a regular distribution pattern in the upper stratum. Also, from the lower stratum to the upper stratum, the dominance increased and the competition decreased. The results of Oak showed the highest dominance and the lowest competition compare to the other species. By describing the results in different stratums, more information about characteristics and structural changes of species were reached. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to these features in management planning and implementation activities such as forest utilization and silviculture so that the intervention is designed to minimize changes in forest structure

The use of treated wastewater has been common in various countries around the world for a long time. With the increase in world population and the need for more water resources, the use of treated municipal wastewater for irrigation is expanding. One of the limitations of using treated wastewater for irrigation is the cost of transporting it to agricultural areas. In general, water conveyance line costs are estimated using pricing for constructed projects that may be similar in size, material, and depth. The water supply system for irrigation in the plains of Varamin and Pakdasht in the south of the capital has always been considered due to its size and socio-economic importance. The presence of a large treatment plant in the south of Tehran can be a reliable source of recycled water. This treatment plant with a capacity of 700,000 m3/day produces effluent of suitable quality for agriculture from the municipal wastewater treatment process. Part of this wastewater has been transferred to the irrigation network of Varamin through a 36 km long open canal for the last 30 years. The effluent extracted from the Tehran water treatment plant provides the conditions for the implementation of an efficient plan to solve the existing problems and provide safe water. Based on this, a 36 km transmission line with a water delivery structure to the downstream irrigation network was considered. After the implementation of the project, the transmission line with a discharge capacity of 9 cubic meters per second and the existing canal with a transfer capacity of 4 cubic meters per second, will perform the effluent transfer work with an integrated system. The existing canal will normally act as a substitute and complement, and in critical times and in the presence of rain and floods, it will enter the transmission circuit and operate with the main system.

The case study is the second line of wastewater transfer near the Tehran canal in the southeast of Tehran province. The Tehran canal, approximately 36 km long, starts from the southern Tehran treatment plant located in the south of the Shahre’Rey and joins the main canal of the Varamin irrigation network. Then it feeds the main canal (AB) of the Varamin irrigation network and secondary canals by a water dividing structure. In this section, different options of material and type of pipe for the second line of wastewater transmission, such as closed pipes (pipes and concrete boxes) or open canals are examined. The following is a brief description and economic estimate of the proposed options. In this study, by examining six different options and based on the material and type of transmission line and implementation feasibility, a suitable transmission line is selected technically, economically and environmentally. The considered options were as follows: building a new canal parallel to the existing canal, constructing two concrete boxes parallel to the existing canal, constructing a concrete twin box parallel to the existing canal (in one side of the Tehran canal) ), Compound cross-section option (correction of Tehran canal), re-lining the Tehran canal and using a pipeline parallel to it, and finally, implementing a transmission line parallel to the Tehran canal and maintaining the current operating conditions of the Tehran canal. To estimate the costs of executive operations, the proposed options are examined in detail. After selecting the appropriate option, which was to be implemented with thick polyethylene pipes, the production line of this type of pipes was imported to Iran by Mohammadian Oil and Gas Engineering and Development Company to produce pipe with a diameter of 3000 mm.

In this section, the transmission line flow was analyzed at different hours of the day and the design flow was obtained. Different materials were investigated for the transmission duct, the roughness coefficient proportional to the diameter and the material of the transmission pipe for the sewage was proposed, a hydraulic model was implemented to simulate the flow behavior in the duct and to determine the location of manholes. Finally, the economic analysis of the project was performed for different options and the sixth option was selected for implementation.

Open canal option in terms of environmental issues and sedimentation problems and maintenance and operation problems (especially because due to sewage, is prone to algae growth and needs regular and continuous attention, and given the short life cycle of the project) was not recommended. The cost of execution of concrete box in comparison with SRPE pipes does not show a significant difference and in terms of technical and operational issues, execution time, design safety (in terms of leakage), and difficulty of execution are not comparable to transfer using the pipe. Also, reinforced polyethylene pipe has a significant advantage over the concrete box. Therefore, the sixth option for the design was selected and implemented.

Nowadays, one of the latest methods for estimating characteristics of trees at different vegetative stages is three-dimensional models prepared by terrestrial close-range photogrammetry. In this regard, this study aims to estimate the different two- and three-dimensional characteristics seedlings using terrestrial close-range photogrammetry. Three-dimensional models were prepared using images taken by a smartphone camera and the process of “Structure from Motion with Multi View Stereo photogrammetry” (SfM-MVS). To evaluate the accuracy of the obtained results, characteristics such as diameter at the middle height of stem, height, crown height, crown diameter, stem volume, crown volume and total volume of each seedling were measured. According to the RMSE% and the calculated Bias% (less than 10%), the images and model used to estimate the two-dimensional characteristics of seedlings, had factual accuracy. Also, among the three-dimensional characteristics of the seedlings, the highest and lowest accuracy related to stem volume with R2 = 0.89, RMSE% = 23.08% and crown volume with R2= 0.67, RMSE% = 31.92% respectively. Overall, it can be concluded that the images taken by the smartphone camera and the model used in this study have remarkable accuracy to estimate characteristics of seedling such as diameter at the middle height of stem, height, crown height, crown area and stem volume, However, it is not accurate enough to estimate the crown volume characteristic.

Extreme land use/ land cover change, especially deforestation, is one of the environmental challenges in developing countries. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) projects as a strategy will prevent of deforestation trend and greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In recent decades, there has been a significant reduction in the Zagros forest. In this regard, in the present study, the forest cover changes of Lordegan county located in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari province were examined using forest cover maps produced by Landsat 5 and 8 satellites belonging to 1998, 2008 and 2018. Then, transition potential modeling was performed using two models of artificial neural network and logistic regression, and for validation the ROC and figure of merit were applied. Finally, using overlapping the maps of deforestation probability and carbon resources, the suitable areas for REDD projects were identified. The results of change detection showed that during 1998-2008 and 2008-2018, 17,256 ha and 20,553 ha of forest cover were degraded, respectively. The validation results showed that the logistic regression gained the ROC equal to 0.9752 and the figure of merit equal to 19.01%, and had a better performance than the artificial neural network. Also, based on overlap map, areas with high deforestation probability carbon content above 70 tons per hectare were proposed for REDD. The findings of this study show that using the presented methodology can be identified the areas with deforestation and can be prevented the release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

Among climatic factors, temperature and precipitation are of two particular importance, which directly and indirectly affects the uptake and transport of minerals. In order to study the relationship between climatic variables and chemical element concentrations in two groups of healthy and declined Iranian oak trees, three healthy trees and three declined trees were cut in Dadabad habitat of Khorramabad. A disk was selected from each tree. Then, growth rings over the last 35 years were determined including three five-years and two 10-years pieces. The samples were cut and extracted by using the wet digestion method, and the concentration of different elements (Ca, K, Mg, Fe, Na, Zn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Si, Cr) was measured by using atomic absorption apparatus. The result showed that there was no significant difference between concentration elements of healthy and declined wood trees. The Pearson correlation between concentration elements and the average of seasonal temperature and rainfall was significant; in healthy trees, potassium with autumn rainfall (-0.931), magnesium with winter rainfall (0.959) as well as spring temperature (-0.969) and summer (-0.967) had significant correlations, and in declined trees, potassium with spring temperature (-0.961) and summer (-0.949), calcium with autumn (-0.953), silicon with autumn (-0.686) and lead with spring (0.966) temperatures had significant correlations. The difference between element concentrations of two groups of trees regrading climatic factors can be caused by the difference between genetics and physiological characteristics of trees, environmental physiography (especially light regulation and moisture regime), and physiology of uptake.

Nowaday, forest structure issue is one of the main ecological debates in forest science. Determination of forest structure characteristics is essential for investigating stands changing process, silviculture interventions and revival operations planning. In order to investigate the structure of Ghale-Gol forests in Khorramabad, a set of indices such as Clark and Evans and uniform angle indices, mingling, domination and differentiation were used based on the nearest neighbors. In so doing, 80 circular sample sizes with 12 (acer) areas were collected in the field using a random sampling pattern and these plots were analyzed by Crancod (Ver.1.4) software. Based on the results, the average of Clark and Evans and uniform angle indices were calculated 0.936 and 0.449, respectively. These results showed that the samples have a random distribution with the tendency to be uniform. Also, the result obtained from the average of mingling index was 0.181 that indicated low species mixture. In an investigation on the diversity of tree dimensions, the average of domination and differentiation indices of the crown area were 0.449 and 0.519, respectively. This in turn shows that neighboring trees had a clear difference with each other in terms of the crown area. As the results showed, in the Zagros forests which often consist of wide and pure oak stands, using small sample size reduced time and cost of field survey, recordation of the sample size position, trees and shrubs accurately.  Surveying and monitoring different forest features are more probably suitable for quantification of forests structure.

Assessing and estimating the high-accuracy transmission potential is an important step in the process of land use and land cover changes modeling and predicting. The aim of this study is to investigate the transmission potential of land use and land cover changes using Similarity Weighted Instance based Learning, Logistic regression and Geomod methods.

The land use and land cover maps for a 30-year period (1985-2015) were prepared using Landsat 5 and 8 satellite imagery. Land use and land cover transmission potential modeling was done using Similarity Weighted Instance based Learning, Logistic regression and Geomod methods and effective variables in the process of change. The accuracy of the results obtained from the models was determined by comparing with ground reality map for mentioned year.

The Kappa coefficient of Similarity Weighted Instance based Learning, Logistic regression and Geomod were 0.84, 0.76 and 0.67, respectively. The investigating predicted maps for 2030 prepared by Similarity Weighted Instance based Learning and Markov chain showed that the area of residential areas, gardens and agricultural lands is increasing and the area of bare land, forests, pastures and water resources will have a decrease trend.

Finally, the results indicate a relatively high accuracy of three methods in estimating the transmission potential for land use and land cover changes, but according to the kappa coefficients, the accuracy of Similarity Weighted Instance based Learning method more than the other two methods.

Today, social equality is more important than any issue in urban management and can affect all aspects of citizens' lives. From the perspective of social equality one of the most important goals of urban planning is access and efficiency fair of all citizens to public services. Urban Parks as an important part of urban green spaces can provide citizens with variety of environmental, social and economic products and services. The well- distributed urban parks are integral part of cities that citizen can access to and benefit from them. This project was conducted to studying spatial distribution of urban parks of Khoramabad city using network analysis and buffering,

the analysis was conducted using the maps of three districts of city and urban parks. The spatial distribution of parks in the three districts was evaluated in terms of serviceability indices including service area ratio, service population ratio, and service floor area ratio.

The results showed that per capita urban park areas for 3 districts are 1.76, 1.37 and 2.76 m2, respectively. The simple analysis buffering service area of urban parks was 1693/87 hectares which covers about 47/51% of the total city and total service network of urban parks was 845/06 hectares (approximately 23/7% of the city) that about half of servicing area of the buffering method.

the results of this study showed that city parks in Khorramabad are poorly distributed in relation to population, land use and density of development. This poor distribution must be considered in future plans in urban parks management.

 

Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of forests can provide valuable information on the impact of forests on the environment. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of forests can provide valuable information on the impact of forests on the environment. Detailed information from forest areas can be obtained by sampling or sampling. Although it is desirable to have complete censuses, sampling methods are preferred in many cases because of the cost and time savings involved. One of the sampling methods is the multi-tree method. In the present study, the performance of 3 to 10 tree sampling method was evaluated in estimating the number of trees per hectare, chest area and canopy cover and its results were compared with full inventory.

In the present study, the performance of 3 to 10 tree sampling method was evaluated in estimating the number of hectares per hectare, chest area and canopy cover .For this purpose, 30 hectares of one hectare of forests of watershed Oladghobad in west of Lorestan province were selected and data on all trees within these plots were recorded. In the next step, using tree simulation in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, sampling was done using multi-tree method within one hectare plots.

Results of comparing the number of trees per hectareand canopy characteristics showed no significant difference between different polycrystalline methods with full inventory. Also, the results of comparing the mean rank of three characteristics Number of trees per hectare, basal area and canopy cover of each tree in different multi-tree methods with full inventory showed the nearest estimation in nine-tree, four-tree and five-tree methods, respectively. The results showed that the spatial pattern of the trees was due to the clustering of the species and the higher density of the branching species than the clustering species. The most precision for these characteristics was obtained for the three (9.27), four (3.65) and seven (2.67) tree methods, respectively. Finally, three characteristics were tested using E%2×T index. The results showed that three (14139.45), four (2393.16) and six (1678.87) tree methods, respectively, are suitable for sampling in the region's forests. O-ring function was also used to study the spatial pattern of Iranian oak trees.

Also according to the characteristics of the bream cross section, the four tree method, given the smallest distance with the real mean of the community, also has the lowest value (2393.16) according to the E%2×T index, as an appropriate sampling method for watershed forests Oladghobad is recommended.