Journal of Rangeland Science
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Summer 2021

Land-use and land-use change can directly affect soil organic carbon. Improper land management can lead to carbon loss from the soil, which can greatly intensify global warming. Despite the abundance of evidence on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in Iran, no paper has so far compiled the data for this region. Therefore, data were collected from 120 papers and 393 data points regarding land use and SOC changes. Stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between SOC with annual precipitation, average annual temperature, latitude and average depth of sampling. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between SOC and other factors. Based on the results, primary forests and reforested areas had significantly higher SOC stocks at the depth of 20cm with average values of 70.03 (±4.45) Mg C ha-1 and 84.38 (±9.01) Mg C ha-1, respectively while there were no significant differences among other land use categories. The findings of this study showed no changes in SOC stocks among land-use change categories and average annual rates of SOC changes. However, among farmlands, evidence was obtained for a significant SOC reduction in cases with a historic forest land-use (-15.2%) compared with those with historic grassland use. Results indicated that farmlands and primary forests had the highest level of SOC input from litter and fine roots, respectively. By evaluating the impact of different factors on SOC using a stepwise regression analysis, it was demonstrated that 31% of the variations in soil carbon storage at different land-use types can be explained by precipitation, temperature, latitude, and sampling depth. Using the obtained equation, SOC variation in Iran was simulated and mapped showing that except for a narrow strip in northern Iran, the rest of the country suffers from low SOC levels. Totally, protecting forests against land conversion is recommended as the top priority for land managers in Iran.

The study presents flavonoids compounds patterns of thirty two Lamiaceae (Mint) taxa from Oshtorankoh located on Zagros Mountains, Iran for understanding flavonoids role in mint chemotaxonomy and their usages as food additive, edible, spices and medicine. This is a novel report of some Iranian Mint taxa flavonoids using two-dimensional paper chromatography and thin layer chromatography methods. Results showed all of the studied taxa contained flavone C-&C-/O-glucosides and flavonoid sulphates. Eight taxa had aglycones while the rest lacked. Quercetin was found in all of taxa except Lamium album ssp. crinitum and Nepeta persica. Stachys setifera had not myricetin while others had. Rhamnetin, tricin and morin were not detected in all taxa exceptional Salvia brachycalyx and Salvia staminea those had. Kaempferol was found in all taxa except Ajuga chamaecistus, Lamium amplexicaule var. amplexicaule, Nepeta persica and Stachys pilifera. All of taxa except six species had luteolin. These results showed aerial parts flavonoids compounds variation in studied taxa can be useful for studying relationships within relatively narrow taxonomic limits, e. g. at the species and genus levels and their importance in chemotaxonomic surveys of mint genera. Also flavonoids compounds presence in studied taxa increase their quality and antioxidant activity as edible, spices and medicinal plants.

Environmental factors have major impact on the distribution and yield of plant species. For this purpose, the responses of Khorasanian sainfoin (Onobrychis chorassanica Bunge.) were evaluated with regard to some environmental factors in habitats of Khorasan Razavi province in 2018- 2020. Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was used to investigate the response of this species to soil and topographic factors. The results indicated that O. chorassanica exhibited a substantial response to some environmental factors in its habitat. The response pattern of this species includes the gradient of soil, Total Neutralizing Value (TNV) as well as soil clay percent, followed by the monotonic increase model. Therefore, with the increase in the values of these factors, its vegetation cover percent increased. In contrast, the response of this species along with the gradient of soil sand percent followed the monotonic decrease model and with enhancement of the factor amount, the presence of O. chorassanica decreased. Soil studies have revealed that this species is mainly distributed on loamy to sandy loam soils. The response pattern of O. chorassanica along with the gradient of Organic Carbon content (OC%) and soil litter percent complied with unimodal model and its optimal growth levels for these factors were 0.4% and 30%, respectively. The geographical response of this plant also displayed that the vegetation cover percent of the studied species increased in the western and north aspects and is rarely apparent in the southern and southeastern aspects. Investigation of O. chorassanica response on gradient of topographic and soil factors provided valuable information for determining ecological needs of this species, which can be considered in vegetation management and range improvement operations in similar areas.

Cattle production is important to both communal livelihoods and the national economy of South Africa. Understanding the foraging ecology of cattle is important for managing both the animals and their rangelands. This paper reports the dietary preferences of Nguni cattle under holistic management and Brahman cattle under conventional management at two farms during both the wet and dry seasons in high altitude grasslands of South Africa. Foraging patterns were monitored through focal sampling from June 2015 to January 2016. We found that dietary utilization and selectivity varied between the wet and dry seasons for both Nguni and Brahman cattle and both breeds showed strong preferences for certain plant species. In the dry season, Nguni selected strongly for the grass Eragrostis plana. The Brahman selected high value grass species, particularly Sporobolus fimbriatus, Panicum ecklonii, Pennisetum clandestinum, and Themeda triandra, which they continued to utilize in nearly the same proportions in the dry season, even though they were not as widely available as in the wet season. This study suggests that cattle breed may influence foraging ecology and highlights the need for future research on how this interacts with management. Furthermore, our results suggest that due to their greater flexibility in diet and reduced reliance on supplementary feed, Nguni cattle may be particularly well-suited to this heterogeneous landscape with a marked dry season when resources are scarce.

This study aimed to trace changing patterns of vegetation attributes in association with soil physicochemical properties at selected seasonal grazing sites central Sudan (Khartoum State) namely Tundub, El-Farish, Abuseweid, Medaisees, Buhat, Abudolou’a Km 72 and Abudolou’a Km 42. A combination of sampling procedures was followed to sample vegetation and soil. Comparisons between sites were made using one way ANOVA, followed by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Pearson’s correlation analysis was made between plant attributes and soil physicochemical properties. Study sites varied significantly in plant productivity, diversity and soil properties. Abuseweid site achieved the highest herbaceous diversity, density and total dry matter productivity values. Tundub and Buhat were higher in woody perennial attributes having the highest browse productivity and percentage canopy covers. Tundub exceeded other sites in plant ash, Ca, Mg and K contents followed by Medaisees every time. Medaisees exceeded others in plant P and N contents, given that Tundub, Medaisees and Buhat were higher in perennial woody attributes. The sand dune sites Abudolou’a Km 42 and Km 72 were the poorest sites in all vegetation attributes measured. Variation between sites in plant attributes was strongly related to variation in soil physical and chemical properties. Two groups of soil physicochemical factors regarding their associations with vegetation attributes were observed, soil Na, N, clay, water holding capacity (WHC), EC, OC, OM and silt contents were positively correlated to vegetation attributes; pH, Ca and sand contents negatively correlated to vegetation attributes.

Astragalus squarrosus Bunge is one of the native and compatible range species in the dry lands of Iran. It is of great importance in terms of tolerance to specific ecological conditions as well as high nutritional value and soil conservation. In order to study the effects of seed priming on some morph-physiological traits, an experiment was conducted in form of split plots based on a completely randomized block design with five replications in Torud Research Farm in Semnan Province, Iran in 2017. Seed samples were collected from their natural habitats in Yazd, Kashan and Semnan in Iran. Seeds of three A. squarrosus ecotypes were treated by hydropriming (distilled water), hormonal priming (gibberellic acid: with concentrations of 125 and 250 ppm), (Salicylic acid: 100 and 200 mg/l), (Ascorbic acid: 100 and 200 mM) osmopriming (potassium nitrate: 0.3 and 0.2%) and control (without priming). The primed seeds and controls were sown in the field. No seeds were germinated for control and gibberellic acid (250 ppm). The results showed that the effect of priming was significant on leaf carbohydrate content, vegetation cover, dry matter (DM), yield and plant height (p<0.01). According to the results, the highest DM yield and plant height with average values of 82 (g/m2) and 34 cm, respectively, were related to the ecotype of Yazd treated with salicylic acid 100 mg/l. The highest vegetation cover with an average value of 34.6% was observed in Kashan ecotype by applying salicylic acid 100 mg/l. For carbohydrate content, the highest value of 36 (g/100gFW) was obtained in Semnan ecotype using 100 mg/l salicylic acid. The highest rate of proline with a value of 3.39 (Mm/gFW) was obtained in Semnan ecotype using 125 ppm gibberellic acid. It was concluded that application of hormonal seed priming of A. squarrosus could be useful for direct seeding of this species for rehabilitation of degraded arid rangelands of Iran.

A part of plant species composition in natural ecosystems is live seeds that are hidden in the soil and known as soil seed bank. Detecting this species resource has a key role in protecting and restoring the vegetation. The present study aims to investigate the soil seed bank and its relationship with the aboveground vegetation along an elevation gradient in Kashan, Iran. For sampling from the soil seed bank, three transects with 200 m length were established in June 2017. The soil samples were taken from two depths ranging 0-5 and 5-10 cm out of 1 m2 plots with 20 m intervals. The soil samples were transferred to the greenhouse. Moreover, the cover percent of plant species within each plot was recorded in the vegetation season in spring 2018. The features of soil seed bank in different elevations were compared by F-test. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed that the effect of altitude from sea level on the Shannon's diversity and soil depth on the density, Menhinik and Margalef richness was significant. The higher value of Shannon diversity in upper altitude (2800-3000 m above sea level) and higher value of Dnensity, Margalof and Menhinik in upper soil depth (0-5 cm) was obtained. The results of greenhouse experiments showed that most of the germinated seeds belong to annual grass species. While the surface cover of most species is related to perennial plants. The highest coverage of Artemisia aucheri was from 2600-2800 m and the lowest percentage of cover belonged to Alyssum linifolium in the elevations of 2800-3000 m. It can be concluded that in the study area, seeds of perennial plants do not have a readiness for germination in soil depths or they should remain in soil for a long time and should be described as stable seed banks.

The browse vegetation of the Cholistan rangelands is diminishing with the passage of time due to climatic extremities, overgrazing, and human exploitation. Therefore, this study was planned to collect the baseline data about ecology, ethnobotany, and conservation status of browses. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to record information of plant species from nomadic peoples (85 males, 05 female) and by ecological observations during field visits. In this study, a total of 25 browse species belonging to 17 genera and 12 families were documented, however family status showed that Chenopodiaceae and Mimosaceae were most dominant families. In these rangelands three-soil microhabitats sandunal, interdunal and clayey saline were noted, and each have different species structure and composition. According to life span and life form, all identified species were found as perennials and phanerophytes, respectively. Leaf spectra of Raunkiaerian approach revealed that leptopylls dominated study area, which is an indicator of arid conditions. Phenological observations revealed two flowering seasons, first season was from February to April and second was from September to November, both were associated to winter and monsoon rains, respectively. Further ethnobotanical observations have divided species into four categories based on their uses i.e. firewood, timber wood, forage and medicinal. The peoples of this area depend on local plants and different parts of plants (bark, leaves, shoots, roots) were used for different treatments. Out of total species, 24 species were observed to have forage value that shows potential of this area as rangeland whereas based on grazing response, maximum number of species (40%) were noted as decreasers. According to conservation status, most of browse species have become threatened followed by endangered, vulnerable, least concerned, and critically endangered, respectively. Results showed current status and potential of browses to apply quick conservation measures with suggestion of further floral investigation in Cholistan rangelands.

Dr Victor Squires AM is a desert ecology explorer, educator and researcher. At a time when the world is crying out for a greater understanding of Food Security and Land Usage under conditions of Climate Change, Dr Squires’ work provides a depth and breadth of critical insight. A former Dean of the Faculty of Natural Resources in the University of Adelaide, Dr Squires is an internationally recognised dryland management expert with a focus on ecological restoration of degraded areas and on desert ecology. He has contributed his knowledge through academic and practical fields, working directly with peers and mentoring students in desert or degraded rangelands in most of the main dry-lands of the world, covering 35 countries on every continent except Antarctica.Dr Squires work extends across the environments of China, Mongolia, East Africa, North Africa, Iran and Central Asia. He has authored and edited more than 20 books and peer reviewed over 180 papers. He has undertaken more than 10 major projects in the north-west provinces of China, especially in Xinjiang, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Gansu, and in neighbouring Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Having first travelled to China under the auspices of the Australian Academy of Science and the Academia Sinica in 1985, he lived in western China for 6 years. Dr Squires has been a regular contributor to the World Bank, to UN agencies including the United Nations Convention for Combating Desertification, and to the United Nations Environment Program. He has also contributed to the ‘World Atlas of Desertification’ and influential work with the Asian Development Bank. Another notable achievement during Dr Squires career was voluntarily editing, and commissioning the authors of seven volumes of the UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, involving over 1400 pages and 72 authors.