جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « ecological capability » در نشریات گروه « جنگلداری »

Riparian forest ecosystems play a crucial role in maintaining ecological resilience and biodiversity in hot and arid regions. Additionally, these forests serve as vital safeguards against agricultural land erosion and alterations in riverbeds. Long-term monitoring is imperative to preserve the ecological capacity and biodiversity of riparian forests, which are continually impacted by climate change and land use/cover changes (LUCC). These changes have far-reaching implications for the environment, biodiversity, food security, and human health.

This study utilized the Landsat satellite series archive for Gotvand County in Iran. The analysis commenced with an image from the MSS sensor (Landsat 1) in 1972, followed by images from the TM, ETM+, and OLI sensors placed in orbit on 7/16/1982, 4/15/1999, and 11/2/2013, respectively. Raw calibrated pixel values underwent conversion to surface reflectance through atmospheric correction. Classification input layers included spectral bands and two indices (NDVI, SAVI for vegetation cover, and MNWDI, NDWI2 for water class), derived from available spectral bands for each year. Object-based classification, employing the SVM algorithm, was implemented to extract forest areas, water bodies, agricultural lands, and other phenomena. Various values for scale, shape, and compression were applied in the object-based classification method to enhance separation. Evaluation metrics such as Overall Accuracy, Producer’s Accuracy, User’s Accuracy, and Kappa Coefficient were employed to assess classification results.

The study observed the lowest difference between Red and NIR bands for the MSS sensor and the highest difference for the ETM+ sensor. Classification accuracy was lower for years when ground sample conditions were validated through satellite images compared to other years. In 2022, with improved spatial and spectral accuracy, the overall accuracy reached 98.9%, the Kappa coefficient was 0.89, and user and producer accuracies for the forest class were 97% and 99%, respectively. Agricultural land changes witnessed a staggering growth of over 4393% from 1972 to 2022. Riparian forest ecosystems, dominant in the area between 1972 and 2000 (ranging from 3670.6 to 2379.2 hectares), experienced a 35% loss. From 2000 to 2022 (covering 1569.6 hectares), an additional 34% of this plant ecosystem's area was lost.

The research findings highlight a 57.23% decrease in riparian forests over the past fifty years, reaching its lowest point of 1279.2 hectares in 2010. Concurrently, agricultural land area expanded by 45 times from 1972 to 2022, indicating a significant shift in land cover from forests to agriculture. The observed changes align with shifting precipitation (-1.5 mm/yr) and temperature (0.04 °C/yr) trends, impacting the studied ecosystems. This study serves as a crucial benchmark for the sustainable management of riparian forests along the Karun River in Gotvand County.

Forest natural attractions provide great potential for attracting tourists. The ecotourism recreational planning is necessary to prevent forest degradation and alleviate the pressure of forest-dweller communities on forest areas. It has a significant role in enhancing the cultural, social, and economic aspects of society as well as the protection of natural resources to achieve sustainable development. To achieve correct planning, it is necessary to assess the ecological capability of forest areas, align with the socio-economic capability to develop an accurate model. This study aimed to design an ecotourism environmental model for Hyrcanian forests located in the north of Iran. To develop the model, a set of ecological and socio-economic criteria along with relevant sub-criteria were identified through the literature review, then a questionnaire was designed to priority the set of criteria and sub-criteria based on the expert’s opinions. The entropy technique has been used to priority criteria, and fuzzy logic approach along with expert experiences applied to classify the sub-criteria. The results showed that 7 ecological criteria, 7 socio-economic criteria, 40 ecological sub-criteria, and 44 socio-economic sub-criteria, were effective on ecotourism based on expert’s opinions. The most important ecological and socio-economic criteria were water resources, vegetation, tourist attractions, and human historical and cultural aspects of forests, respectively, which the geological criteria were the less important criteria amongst others. Thus, the ecotourism environmental model was developed by a combination of the ecological capability model and socio-economic capability model for Hyrcanian forests.

TThe forest plantation strategy is to do with the identification of the most appropriate zones and the areas that are most suitable for different species. However, the success of this strategy requires the precise determination of the species ecological demands and the evaluation of the land before the establishment of the plantation. The purpose of this study is to assess the ecological capability and estimate the aboveground biomass for the forest plantation in Darabkola forest, so, the species could be prioritized according to these objectives, and also for future forest plantation in the same. In this study, at first, the suitable zones for the forest plantation was identified using the SQL search function in Arc GIS 10.3 software interface. Then, the carbon sequestration in forest plantation (per hectare) was estimated using the measured parameters of trees and alometric equations. Results showed that, by simultaneously considering the mentioned objectives, Maple, Coliseum maple and Ash, were ranked as the most compatible species from the ecological compatibility point of view, and the highest level of the carbon stock was found for oak species. Therefore, these species are in priority for forest plantation in the region. Due to the fact that, the former forest plantation focused mainly on considering the ecological potential of a given species, the current study emphasized taking into account the multiple objectives for the future forest plantation. In other words, in addition to the ecological capability, other goals should be considered.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of hillshade values, in comparison with terrain aspect, in the canopy changes and evaluation of ecological capability in vegetation domain of Zagros forests. In conducting the research, digital elevation model (DEM) was prepared and soil map was extracted from that. Due to the direct relationship of forest canopy with the site ecological capability, the raster map of hillshade was multiplied by forest canopy; and canopy area was calculated at different values of the hillshade map. Also, the map of the main slop aspects extracted by the DEM map and that was multiplied to the map of forest canopy. Then canopy area was calculated for different aspect; and that was presented as a histogram. Thereupon, the histogram and quadratic model equation of relationship between forest canopy percent and hillshade regime was prepared, in the entire study area. The histogram and the model, show that reducing the intensity of sunlight (Rising Shadow), strong influence on the increase in canopy. Also, the quadratic regression model (R2 = 0.58) and linear regression model (R2 = 0.56) of the correlation, with 17 repetitions, obtained in the form of a square block network. Because of the easiness and the low cost of hillshade mapping, and also, its superiority over the terrain aspect map; we recommend that hillshade maps be used as one of the key factors for of land ecological capability, in the Zagros forest and other arid and semi-arid forests.

Degradation of Zagros forests has been continuing since a long time ago because of traditional and often improper exploitations due to poverty, unemployment, and livelihood. In this study, in order to reduce forest degradation and improve sustainability, the feasibility of multipurpose using of Zagros forest was assessed in Baneh forests by using GIS, RS and AHP. All of the possible land-uses as well as criteria and sub-criteria were identified based on expert's judgment and literature reviews. Subcriteria maps was created using available data, field works, and IRS-P6 imageries. The weights of subcriteria were determined using AHP. The priority maps of each land-uses was produced with a weighted linear combination method using GIS. The final priority map was achieved by overlying the individual land-use priority maps. The final ecological capability map was prepared by editing the priority map. The results show the main area of current land-uses does not match with the ecological potential. However, ecologically, various land-uses meaning multiple-use can exist separately or together in the study area leading to reducing people’s dependence on forest trees, degradation and improving the forest sustainability.