javad soosani

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

In most parts of the Zagros, the structure of coppice oak stands is very fragile and unstable due to the lack of diversity in the horizontal and vertical profile. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of tending operations on the structural characteristics of Brant`s oak in Chegeni forests of Khorramabad, Lorestan province after 3 years. The study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications with four treatments of light, medium and heavy thinning, which were thinned by 10, 20 and 30% of the basal area of the sprout-clumps, respectively, and the fourth treatment as a control. Measurements of quantitative variables were done. To investigate the effect of tending operations on dominance and dimension differentiation indices in the studied stands, the dominant and three neighboring sprouts in each sprout-clump were selected separately in different treatments and the quantitative characteristics of height and diameter of dominant and neighboring sprouts were measured. The results showed that due to tending operations, dominance and dimensional differences (collar height and diameter) indices of sprouts in heavy treatment were significantly higher than other treatments. Based on this, it can be concluded that heavy thinning treatment has been able to help improve the structure of the studied stands. Studying the effectiveness of other structural variables can help to identify the optimal thinning treatment. Also, this study emphasizes the importance of structural characteristics as a suitable tool for the management of oak coppice stands in order to help their sustainability.

Achieving sustainable forest management at different levels depends on basic information measurement to understand the use of this data correctly. The height of trees is one of the most important components of forest measurement that it forms the body of many forestry research works. Therefore, much effort is being made to measure it faster and more accurately. Nowadays, smartphones have a variety of technologies for measuring the height of trees. In this research, the researcher tried to evaluate the efficiency of height measurement technology based on augmented of additional reality by carefully checking the height of some trees. For this purpose, the number of 75 coniferous trees in the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Lorestan University was randomly selected and their height was measured by using the trupulse 360 (reference tool) and Augmented reality technology available in both iPhone 8 and Samsung S 8 smartphones. Paired comparisons of data were performed by using paired t-test and the correlation between data, the mean square error and the relative mean square error was measured too. By using the height measurement application, the highest correlation and the lowest RMSE value for iPhone8 were obtained, 0.989, 0.285 m and 4/97% respectively. By using the popular and current technology-based application, the RMSE was estimated to be 0.354 meters and 8/56% for the iPhone and 0.377 meters and 14/5% for the Samsung Galaxy. It seems the technologies in the new smartphones have this ability to replace the traditional tree height measurement tools.

The study growth performance of afforestation and adaptation species planting in the new region increasing succes the future afforestation. The aim of this study is growth performance of Pinus brutia Ten in the plantation stand (ca. 41 ha and 2×3 m spacing) located in the north part of the khoramabad city.

For this purpose, 5 pine trees were randomly selected and cut. current annual increment volume obtained by trunk analysis. 35 samples were taken from Pinus Brutia trees at breast height by increment borer for closer examination. in the study area and according to regression analysis, the annual volume increment of these 35 samples were obtained and finally the data of annual increment were extracted from 40 Pinus Brutia trees.

Results showed in comparison to Pinus Bruttia afforestation of origin (Turkey), Annual growth volume in hectare less growth Volume and Average growth volume and Dominant Height (DH) more. Generally, region located between good and medium site conditions. Also in the study Mean annual increment Pinus Brutia befor 30 years is 11.95 m3/ha.

This growth performance showes fast growing and adaptation species to ecological conditions region. Therefore, regions with same ecological conditions can be considered as suitable sites for, pinus brutia plantation for the industrial wood production and paper industry suppliers to avoid excessive outflow of currency from the country.

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.

Background and

Drought and decline of Zagros oak forests has been raised as one of the main environmental issues in the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the network of activities, essential components and critical path in the decline of Zagros oak forests. Such research could pave the way for the transformation of crisis threats to ecosystem agility opportunities in the Zagros forests.

This study was conducted in Tang-e-Salak watershed for Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces. The program review and evaluation technique has been used to evaluate the times in the deterioration crisis management network. Data collection has been done in different categories of activities related to biological, social and managerial issues for oak decline management. In each activity group, the components of each group were identified and content reviewed. Finally, in order to address the issue of transforming degeneration threats into environmental opportunities, the organizational agility model in the Zagros forests has been used.

The results show compiling and registering indigenous knowledge has taken the most time among the activities related to the participation of the local community. The results show oak decline threats can have environmental opportunities to strengthen the management information system, make optimal use of the facilities and decisions of organizations related to the Zagros forests, improve Zagros forestry projects, and strengthen social, biological and forestry subsystems. Turning these threats into ecosystem opportunities depends on managerial action in this area and can pave the way for the ecosystem's agility scheme in terms of responding appropriately to and adapting to environmental variables. Discussion and Counclusion: Crisis management needs to address all aspects of the needed activities to manage the Zagros forests. The activities covered in this study belong to all management trends and contexts, including the water management, planting, socio-economic issues, and the focus on one factor cannot be stopped on oak decline.

Carbon sequestration through trees is one of the most important strategies to mitigate the carbon emission. The present study was conducted in Khorramabad Agricultural Orchard as randomized complete block design. In each experimental unit, three five-year-old trees were investigated in two groups and 12 poplar colonies or cultivars in three replications. Duncan multiple range test was used to find the mean comparison of the treatments and T test was applied to observe the differences between two groups. The results showed that there is a significant difference in the increment rate and amount of carbon sequestration in the two poplar groups (P<0.01). P. nigra 42.53 revealed the maximum increment in the closed crown group to be 2.6714 m3, and also the highest annual sequestration as 2460.8 kg/ha. In open crown group, the highest increment and carbon sequestration were observed in P.X Pacher to be3.0618 m3 and 1987.909 kg/ha, respectively. Additionally, the open crown group had a higher increment rate compared to the closed crown group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the amount of carbon sequestration. It can be interpreted that the density of open crown group is less than the closed crown one. According to our findings, further studies on carbon sequestration of various tree species and afforestation with fast-growing species with high carbon storage potential is recommended to control the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.

The first step in proper management of forests is having enough information about growth, development and how the forest stands structure are influenced by environmental factors. Considering the importance of forest stands in the north country and environmental values of the study area, structure of the existing species in Dashtenaz forest protected area in Mazandaran province has been investigated using the nearest neighbor indices. To investigate the structure of the study area, 56 hectare of the forest stands were statistically analyzed, and Clark and Evanes, Uniform angles, Shannon-Wiener, Mingling, DBH dominance and DBH differentiation indices were used to investigate the structure. The results showed that the mean Clark and Evans and uniform angles indices were 0.70 and 0.55 respectively, indicating a distribution between random and cluster patterns. Mean indices of Shannon-Weiner and Mingling were 0.40 and 0.06 respectively. Knowing that the study area is mostly composed of oak, the Mingling index value was calculated to be low​​. The mean DBH dominance index was calculated as 0.50, indicating the dominance of DBH of Quercus Castaneifolia and recessivity ofUlmus Glabra. Zelkova Carpinifolia was medium in terms of DBH dimension. Also average DBH differentiation index was calculated as 0.32, representing a medium difference between the trees next to each other in terms of DBH dimension. The indices used in this study can be used to describe the structure and ecological property of different species of trees.

During the last decades, the decrement of forest areas has come to attention in regional and global scales. This research aims to investigate the forest changes using satellite imagery, Artificial Neural Network and Markov chain in Bastam area, Lorestan province. Land use maps for the years 1364, 1379, and 1394 were prepared using the Maximum Likelihood Classification and Landsat TM and OLI Sensors. Land use changes modeling was done, using LCM model based on Artificial Neural Network and 7 effective variables include altitude, proximity of the residential areas, slope, direction, proximity of the roads, proximity of the river and land use map. The land use map for the year 1394 was predicted using the Markov chain modeling method. To evaluate the accuracy of the results, the error matrix was formed between the predicted map and the ground reality map for this year. The results of the first period showed that the highest increase in the agricultural area and the largest reduction in the forest area were 380 and 425 hectares respectively. In addition, the variables of altitude and proximity of residential areas with the Cramer correlation coefficient of 0.47 and 0.43 respectively, had the most effect on land use changes and forest degradation. Finally, the comparison of modeling and reality maps of 1394 showed the Kappa coefficient of 0.89, which indicates the proper performance of the LCM model in predicting land use changes.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of some physiographic factors on competition index (CI) and fine root biomass (FRB) in coppice Persian oak trees (Quercus brantii Var. Persica), and also to determine the correlation between these factors and some characteristics of oak trees in forest of Ghalegol-Lorestan. Randomized blocks sampling method was used to determine the target trees in the site by circular sample plots (n=40). In addition to measuring the DBH of trees and their distance from neighbor trees for determining CI, fine root sampling was done at depth of 0-30 cm and at distance 1m, also in north and south sides of the target trees. The independent t-test showed that the aspect had a significant effect on CI, so that it was more in north-facing than the southern directions (p<0.001). Analysis of variance indicated that slope and altitude influenced the CI of oak trees and also the highest CI was observed at altitude of 2000-1900 m a.s.l (p<0.05). There was a significant correlation between CI and crown diameter of trees (p<0.01). The Pearson correlation revealed that there was no significant correlation between FRB and CI among trees (p>0.05). The independent t-test showed that aspect had a significant effect on FRB (p<0.001). Analysis of variance indicated that slope had no effect on FRB (p<0.05), but elevation showed a significant difference in this regard (p<0.01). Considering the effect of topographic factors on the CI and FRB of Persian oak trees, it can be stated that in silvicultural operations, more attention should be paid to the topography of site and the trees characteristics.

Measurement of tree biomass is considered as an important indicator for valuation of ecological and economical processes. One of traditional models for estimating trees biomass is allometric models. The purpose of the present study is determining allometric models for assessing biomass of planted Poplar clones in Flahhat garden in Khorramabad, Lorestan. First, the quantitative features of trees such as height, DBH and crown diameter were measured. Then, the sampling was done via randomized blocks method and a total of 50 trees were felled. A disc from the trunk and the crown of each tree was cut off at a thickness of 5-7cm and simultaneously weighed in the site. The samples were transferred to the laboratory and placed in an oven at 105 ° C for 24 hours. Using the dry weight / fresh weight ratio, the dry weight of the crown, trunk, and ultimately above-ground woody biomass was calculated. The results of regression models showed that the independent variable of DBH produced better models for dry matter biomass of tree and crown, while in the dry matter biomass of the trunk, the tree height was better. For data validation of each model, the mean square error was obtained. The lowest value for this model was for a second-degree model in terms of the independent variable of diameter at breast height (RMSE%=9/43، R2=0/79). The results showed due to the high amount of coefficient of determination in the second-order model compared to other models, this model provided an opportunity to determine more suitable allometric relationships for these colonies. The results of regression models showed that the independent variable of DBH produced better models for dry matter biomass of tree and crown, while in the dry matter biomass of the trunk, the tree height was better. For data validation of each model, the mean square error was obtained. The lowest value for this model was for a second-degree model in terms of the independent variable of diameter at breast height (RMSE%=9/43، R2=0/79). The results showed due to the high amount of coefficient of determination in the second-order model compared to other models, this model provided an opportunity to determine more suitable allometric relationships for these colonies. The results showed due to the high amount of coefficient of determination in the second-order model compared to other models, this model provided an opportunity to determine more suitable allometric relationships for these colonies The results showed due to the high amount of coefficient of determination in the second-order model compared to other models, this model provided an opportunity to determine more suitable allometric relationships for these colonies. The results showed due to the high amount of coefficient of determination in the second-order model compared to other models, this model provided an opportunity to determine more suitable allometric relationships for these colonies

In order to study the effect of asphalt road on species diversity of trees and shrubs in Perc forest of Khorramabad, 42 circular plots with 0.12 ha from both sides of the road (with longitudinal intervals of 300 meters along the road and also 20, 200 and 400m intervals perpendicular to the road) were established. The indices used to investigating the species diversity were richness (Margalef and Minhinich), evenness (Simpson and Smith-Wilson) and diversity (Shannon-Wiener and Simpson). In this study, 9 different woody plant species were identified. Obtained results showed that with going away of the road into the forest, species richness and diversity significantly increase but evenness indices showed no significant difference. The highest and lowest obtained mean deviation in different distances from the road, were related to Margalef's richness and Simpson's evenness indices. In fact, the negative impact of roads on species richness has been more than evenness and therefore, preserving species richness is one of the priorities of sustainability in the region.

This study was carried out in Noyjian forests of Khorramabad, the destructed and less destructed stands were investigated in terms of three structural aspects: species diversity, spatial pattern and dimension variation have been compared. For this purpose, at first based on the available information and see the forest closely, two classes of crown dense 35% and more than 35% were bounded. Then in each of this part, 10 (one-acre) sample plots were taken with the similar physiographic conditions. According to the results, the diversity in these stands is low, but in general, the diversity in the less destructed stands is more than the sparse stands. Among the species diversity indices, the Margalef index shows the most difference. In relation to the pattern of distribution, the mean aspect and uniform angle indices show similar results based on random distribution of most species in both stands. According to the dominant index these species (Quercus brantii, Acer monspessulanum and pears) are dominant and other species are defeated. In general, the mean of the differentiation index shows a large difference between canopy coverings in different stands, which is more than that in sparse stands. According to the result, in general, the structure of less- destructed stands is in a more favorable position in different aspects. Since the physiographic conditions of these stands are similar, human factors can be considered as the main cause of the apparent difference between these stands. Therefore, it can be concluded that in the reduction of these factors, protection and support of destructed stands, the condition of this destructed stands will be more desirable.

As one of the most important understory evergreen species in Hyrcanian forests of Iran, information on the distribution of Box (Buxus Hyrcana Pojark.) are essential for both forest research and practice. Here, the capability of very high spatial resolution IKONOS satellite imagery acquired in leaf-off condition was tested for mapping Box distribution in a part of Khiboos-Anjili forest reserve in Mazandaran province. The IKONOS imagery was geometrically corrected with a georefrenced panchromatic Pleaides scene, which was orthorectified using 3D ground control points obtained using differential GPS (RMSE less than one pixel). Reference data samples from three classes of non-forested area, deciduous stands without Box understory and deciduous stands with Box understory were recorded using DGPS-supported field survey. By means of a number of vegetation indices, classes seperabilities were evaluated on main and synthetic image channels by partitioning 75% training area and transformed divergence. IKONOS image was classified using both main and best-selected bands and a number of nonparametric (Maximum Likelihood, Mahalonobis distance, Minimum distance to mean and Paralell piped) and parametric (Suport Vector Machine) classifiers. Then the classified images were assessed using 25 percent of unused sample points. Results of validation using the 25% left-out test data showed the highest performance by SVM algorithm compared to other algorithms, with overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient of 97.87% and 0.96, respectively. The results also showed the potential of IKONOS imagery from leaf-off season has to map Box trees in understory layer.

Today, the use of ecological indicators for understanding ecosystem condition and monitoring and evaluating changes over time, has been common in developed countries. There is well evident that it is lack of information in ecological indices, such as knowledge of the production potential of forest ecosystem biomass and its species. Allometric equations are useful tools estimate the biomass of trees. For this purpose 28 trees of Quercus Persica species were selected randomly (without replacement) in the region MelahShbanan in Khorramabad. Knee diameter, diameter at breast height, crown diameter and height of standing trees were measured and then these trees were cut. In order to determine the ratio of dry weight to fresh weight the different parts of trees such as trunks and branches were separated and weighed, then discs (samples) of different parts of trees were taken and send to the laboratory. With this ratio, the dry weight of the crown, trunk and eventually woody aboveground biomass was calculated. The 28 trees of the study, 26 trees were selected with good distribution. Using Stepwise, linear, Quadratic, power and exponential regression models, allometric equations with a high coefficient of determination (p The results showed that generally between the independent variables, crown diameter with indices of modeling was produced better equations (0/927). Also, the Quadratic regression regression model was better than other regression models. The 28 trees of the study, 26 trees were selected with good distribution. Using Stepwise, linear, Quadratic, power and exponential regression models, allometric equations with a high coefficient of determination (p