مجله تحقیقات حمایت و حفاظت جنگلها و مراتع ایران
سال نوزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 37، بهار و تابستان 1400)

Recently, Khuzestan province has been faced by dust storms with a higher mass concentrations and longer durations. Providing the water needed to irrigate the seedlings is one of the basic needs. The potential for runoff production at dust sources has been evaluated in the present paper. For this purpose, the volume and depth of runoff were determined based on the area's hydrologic soil group, vegetation cover and land use layers using the US Soil Conservation Organization (SCS-CN) method at the unit level of the studied areas.The results showed that most of the dust centers with an area of 643300 hectares are covered by barren lands with low vegetation and an area of 522,300 hectares is also included in the hydrological soil group C and D. The calculations derived from the amount of runoff generated in the dust center showed that in South East Dust Center of Ahvaz in the November to January quarter per hectare respectively 80, 120 and 95 cubic meters of water can be extracted. It is possible to produce runoff in the Omidieh-Hindijan dust center in December and January from about 60 to a maximum of 160 cubic meters per hectare, in Hoor Al-Azim-Khorramshahr dust center from 30 to about 80 cubic meters per hectare in the second half of the year and in the place of planting projects that the necessary arrangements must be made to manage the use of this possibility).

Grazing affects the nutrient cycle in the soil. Therefore, in order to investigate the effect of rangeland utilization on vegetation and as a result of carbon mineralization kinetics, Sadrabad Nodoshan rangelands of Yazd province were selected.The canopy cover and production was measured in three areas of enclosure, medium grazing and heavy grazing. Soil samples were sampled from a depth of 0-15 cm in a systematic random method. First, nitrogen, carbon, carbon to nitrogen ratio (C / N) of plant samples, nitrogen, carbon, lime, soil texture, pH, soil EC were measured. Then the soils of severe grazing area were selected for treatment and by increasing by 1% the organic carbon of Artemisia sieberi and Peganum harmala including control of 100% of Ar.si, 75% Ar.si and 25% Pe.ha., 50 % Ar.si and 50% Pe.ha, 25 Ar.si and 75% Pe.ha and 100 % Pe.ha were treated. The results showed Pe.ha residues have good degradability due to having less C / N than Ar.si. In all treatments, the process of carbon mineralization in the two study areas had an exponential distribution. Organic carbon mineralization in the soil of the two areas under Heavy grazing and exclusion is similar during the first week, but over time, carbon mineralization in the heavy grazing soil treatment with 100% Pe.ha is higher than other treatments. Therefore, the rate of carbon to biodegradation in areas with heavy grazing, is high and these lands have less carbon stabilization.

In order to identify the bacterial canker of poplar, various poplar clones in Gilan, Zanjan, Markazi, Western Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Hamedan provinces were visited. Branches of one to several years old and trunk with canker symptoms were collected. Bacteria were isolated from the collected samples from Zanjan and Markazi provinces on nutrient agar medium. The bacterial colonies were yellow and mucoid in nutrient agar sucrose medium. Pathogenicity of bacterial isolates was confirmed on poplar young shoots. All strains had hypersensitivity reaction on pepper and tobacco leaves. All bacterial isolates were gram-negative, oxidase, arginine dehydrolase, gelatin hydrolysis, lecithinase and urease negative, but catalase, esculin hydrolysis, levan production, tween-80 hydrolysis and production of H2S from cysteine and peptons were positive. All strains used sucrose, fructose, inositol, trehalose, galactose, sodium fumarate and sodium succinate. But they did not use l-arabinose, lactose, di-sorbitol, l-ramnose, raffinose, maltose, di-ribose and mellibiose. Based on their bacteriological properties and pathogenicity, all isolates were identified as Xanthomonas populi. The infection rate of poplar trees in Khosbijan station (Arak) were evaluated. Based on our results, the highest infection was observed in clones of, Populus nigra (P.n 56.52, P.n 56.21 and P.n 72.14) and the lowest infection was observed in clones of, P. alba (P.a 49.39) and P. betulifolia (P.b 56.21 and P.b 72.13) clones. The bacterium was not isolated from P.a 72.7 clone. This bacterium was not isolated from P.a 72.7 clone at Khosbijan station and from cankers of different poplar clones in Urmia, Kermanshah, Western Azerbaijan and Hamedan provinces.

Seed-eating insects are the important factors affecting seed viability and the seed germination percentage of rangeland plants. These pests in nature and warehouses, diploid seed contents and by destroying their embryos reduce germination power and seed viability of plant seeds. This study was conducted from 2010-2011 in the rangelands of Qazvin province and areas that were less prone to degradation and grazing. Sampling was carried out from the late April to the late October from the beginning of flowering phase to the end of seeding Leguminosae plants in the selected stations.In this study, 500 seed samples were collected, identified as 44 species of Legumes (the family Fabaceae) invluding 20 species of Astragalus And 24 species of Range Legumes (except Astragalus). Twenty plant species from the collected samples had no sign of damage. sixteen plant species of the five genera of Legume (Fabaceae) are reported as the new host of Bruchinae beetles in the world as follows:Astragalus ammodendroides Bornm Ex Rech. f; A. askius Bunge; A. avicennicus Parsa.; A. brachydontus Bioss.; A. campylorrhynchus Fischer & C.A. May; A. nervistipulus Boiss; .....The beetles identified in this study, belong to the genera Bruchidius, Palaeobruchidius and Paleoacanthoscelides. They are listed as follows:Bruchidius astragali (Boheman, 1829); B. fulvicornis (Motschulsky, 1874); B. glycyrrhizae (Gyllenhal, 1839); B. lutescens (Blanchard, 1844); B. poecilus (Germar, 1824); B. pusillus (Germar, 1824); B. tibialis (Boheman, 1829); B. virgatus (Fahraeus, 1839); Palaeobruchidius plagiatus (Reiche & Saulcy, 1857); Paleoacanthoscelides gilvus (Gyllenhal, 1839)

The ecotourism industry has become a powerful tool for investment in developing and developed countries. The north forests of Iran are highly regarded by the authorities due to their many and unique attractions as one of the potentials for attracting tourists. Therefore, this expansion and development must be accompanied by minimal ecological and environmental consequences in order to maintain the expected goals in the tourism industry and the ecological potential of the environment in the long run. This study investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the sustainable development of tourism in Bola forest located in Mazandaran province. For this purpose, the SWOT and prioritize them using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and finally the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) has been used to determine strategies. The results of evaluation of strengths and weaknesses from internal factors showed a total value of 1.89 and evaluation of opportunities and threats from external factors showed a value of 0.93.Which states that the Bola forest is in a relatively weak position in terms of strengths - weaknesses and opportunities – threats and the threats are a little more than the opportunities around them. Due to the intersection of the values obtained from the matrix of evaluation of external and internal factors, the appropriate strategy in tourism management of Bola forest was located in the defensive zone. In other words,

Forest ecosystems provide a wide range of multiple ecosystem services (ESs) that are important for sustaining life on earth and maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems. One of the most important forest ESs is climate regulation. On one hand, carbon accumulates through growth of trees into forest growing stock. On the other hand, Land use/land cover (LULC) change activities impact carbon stocks. Because of the ongoing Hyrcanian deforestation, we focused on how different LU change affect GHGs emissions in Golestan province based on REDD project. Four carbon pools include above-ground, below-ground, litter and soil organic carbon provided by the results of reviewing 31 internal studies and IPCC reports. For projection of 2047 year deforestation under the baseline scenario, the Markov Chain was used. With the implementation of the base scenario, the CO2 emission was estimated at 43655472 tons by 2047. The conversion of forests to other LULC types by fire is an important source of other GHGs emissions such as CH4 and N2O. Forest fire information of Golestan province shows that since the year 2011 to 2018, 1511 fires have occurred. The results showed that fire would emitted 16083.51 tCO2e GHGs (CH4 and N2O) by the year 2047. The highest emission rates of CO2 equal to 17 million tons occurred in Marave-Tappeh township. The results shows the important role of Hyrcanian forests in reducing GHGs emission.

Insects are one of the most important biomass components in a forest ecosystem and estimating their species richness is very important which can provide a suitable perspective for assessing the biodiversity of forest ecosystems. The present study has compared three methods of collecting some beetles in one of the northern beech forests of Iran (Golestan Province). For this purpose, 12 plots were selected, and beside direct sampling, one window and two pitfall traps were installed in each plot. Based on the results of three sampling methods, a total of 3341 specimens from 226 species were collected of Coleoptera order, including 635 specimens in direct sampling, 694 specimens in the pitfall traps and 2012 specimens in the window traps. Species richness in the window traps increased at a higher rate in comparison to the other methods. The results of non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showed that the species composition in each sampling methods is significantly different. Considering the Venn diagram of 226 identified species, out of a total of 3341 specimens, 22 species were common in the three sampling methods but 93, 39 and 23 species were caught only in the window trap, pitfall trap and direct sampling, respectively. In the present study, Scraptia sp. from the family Scraptiidae was recognized as an undescribed species in window trap. Additionally, the indicator species of pitfall traps, direct sampling and window traps with highest index value of 0.7544, 0.5000, and 0.7500 were Geotrupes spiniger (Scarabaeidae), Uleiota planata (Silvanidae) and Megathous menentriesi (Elateridae), respectively

Rangeland protection in complex socio-ecological systems has uncertainties due to constant changes, therefore rangeland protection organizations need to understand the norms that affect the participatory behavior of local people. This study was conducted to analyze the norms affecting the participatory behavior of ranchers in rangelands of Dehgolan city in Kurdistan province. This study is a descriptive-correlational research in which the survey technique is used to collect data. The number of populations consisted of 418 rangers and the samples were randomly selected. The method of data collection and information was a questionnaire. The result of descriptive analysis of indicators showed that the participatory behavior of ranchers and three independent variables is moderate. The results of Kendall Tao b correlation coefficient show that the items related to the variables of normative beliefs, legal norms and participatory norms have a positive and significant relationship with the participatory behavior of ranchers regarding of rangeland protection. Also, the results of Spearman correlation coefficient showed that all three independent variables have a positive and significant relationship with the dependent variable (participatory behavior of ranchers) at the level of 1%. The route analysis results showed that the most direct effect and indirect effect and the most total effect on the participatory behavior of ranchers were related to the variable of legal beliefs. It seems as much as the norms and beliefs of the ranchers regarding to rangeland protection improve, they will show more appropriate participatory behavior, in which stability of rangeland will be increased.

Species diversity means the number of existing species and their abundance in a geographical area, which increases with the number of existing species. Tachinidae is the second family of Diptera in terms of diversity, with about 8500 valid species worldwide, and nearly 1,600 in the Palaearctic region. This family is ecologically and economically important due to their parasitoid lifestyle on other insects. Tachinids attack a wide range of arthropod hosts. In the present study, the relative abundance and biodiversity indices of these flies were investigated based on continuous and regular sampling using Malaise traps traps in Gilan province during 2010. A total of 249 specimens belonging to 57 species of this family were collected and identified. Species of the subfamily Exoristinae are most abundant in the study areas, followed by Tachininae. Biodiversity indices were significantly difference between studied areas of Gilan province (P ≤ 0.05) based on Menhinick and Margalef richness indices, Shannon & Wiener diversity index and Simpson evenness. Orkom region with the predominant vegetation of deciduous trees and hazelnut orchards has the highest values of richness and diversity indices among the studied areas and the lowest values of these indices belong to the region Ashman Kamachal, which covered with rice fields. A positive correlation between biodiversity indices and altitude of studied areas was observed.

Protection of natural resources is an important task that is the responsibility of the country's Natural Resources Protection Unit (NRPU). The purpose of NRPU is to protect natural resources more effectively due to the attacks on rangers and foresters by offenders, wood smugglers, and poachers. One of the problems regarding NRPU is how to manage conflicts with local communities relating protection of natural resources. Various strategies exist for resolving conflicts addressed in the present study. The study population consisted of official agents (180 people) and nonofficial agents (variable in number) of the NRPU in Golestan province that 264 of them were randomly investigated. The results showed that in the range of 1 to 5, the mean score of conflict between the agents of NRPU and local people is 3.10, which could be assessed as moderate to high. “Solution-oriented, "control", and "avoidance" methods have also been used to manage conflicts, respectively. Official agents as well as city dwellers, have increasingly used the "avoidance" method. With increasing of the level of education of the NRPU agents, the use of “control” method has increased, but older agents have used this method less. It is suggested that agents with lower levels of education and older age be used for minor violations and disputes that do not require harsh treatment with local people. In addition, it is recommended that individual and group communication skills training courses be provided for NRPU agents to improve the dialogue between natural resources conservation agents and the public.

Forests may be heavily damaged during armed conflict. The key question is which rules created in international humanitarian law to protect forests during armed conflicts It can be said that, despite the few rules, some of them can be identified in the set of international rules. This paper attempts to answer this question by using a descriptive-analytic method. These are two categories. First, the general rules that encompass the area of forest law, in addition to the humanitarian law. Secondly, specific rules that specifically cover vegetation and forests, including the Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use of Firearms and the ENMOD Convention. The basic presumption of this article is based on the answer to the main question is rules on the forest protection during armed conflict are few and need to be developed in international humanitarian law for better the protection of forests.

Natural regeneration is responsible for the conservation of species and the protection of biodiversity in forest stands and an important step in forest dynamics towards sustainable management. In order to evaluate the effect of long-term exclosure on the density and diversity of natural regeneration, two forest habitats were selected including excluding stand and control stand, regenerations were measured and counted in six sample plots with an area of one hectare. Regenerations were divided based on height into four categories: seedlings, coppice large saplings, standard large saplings, and small saplings. the indices of richness, diversity, and evenness were calculated and statistical analysis was performed for each habitat. The results of the density showed that the exclosure area had a higher number of regeneration densities per hectare. The types of regeneration classes were more frequent in the exclosure area, except for coppice large seedlings, which were more abundant in the control area. Diversity and evenness indices were less in the control area than the exclosure habitat with a significant difference, but the richness index was not significantly different (p≤0.05). A successful stand recovery process is necessary to enhance regeneration and community sustainability in the future. Enhancing natural regeneration is a cost-effective way to improve the quality of forest stands. Based on the results, it is proposed to determine the optimal duration of exclosure in order to prevent the reduction of biodiversity and also to investigate the effect of exclosure on soil seed banks in the studied area.