مجله تحقیقات حمایت و حفاظت جنگلها و مراتع ایران
سال بیستم شماره 1 (پیاپی 39، بهار و تابستان 1401)

Today, oak decline is one of the most important challenges facing the Zagros forest ecosystem. The phenomenon of decline is affected by various natural and human factors. Among the natural factors, heat waves have emerged as a consequence of climate change during the last two decades and have contributed to the decline of Zagros forests. In order to reveal the effect of heat waves on the decline of Zagros forests in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, the most important characteristics of heat waves including frequency of day with hot wave, number of hot wave events and continuity of hot waves in four Zagros decline monitoring sites were studied. Daily data from the nearest synoptic stations to the decline sites were used for a complete climatic period from1991 up to 2019. The wave features were calculated using ClimPACT software in R 2.10 programming environment. The year of onset of heat wave at the sites of decline and trend changes and trend slope error and significance of changes were extracted with P-value = 0.05. The results showed that all heat wave indices in all decline monitoring sites had an increasing and significant trend. The frequency index of the day with hot wave in Chigo and Ghale Sama monitoring sites started from 7 days with hot wave and reached 39 days in 2019. At Gel Sefid and Rahimaabad sites, 10 days with a hot wave in 2005 reached 38 days in 2014. The highest frequency of hot events at the sites of Chigo and Ghale Sama was six events in 2015. In sites of Gel Sefid and Rahimaabad, the highest number of hot wave events with seven events was in 2014. Examination of the frequency index of hot wave occurrence in the two declined sites of Chigo and Ghale Sama showed that the highest continuity of hot wave occurrence was for 32 days in 2018. In the two declined sites of the Gel Sefid and Rahimaabad, the highest continuity of the hot wave occurred in 2018 and lasted for 14 days. Comparison of hot wave characteristics between declined monitoring sites showed that in Chigo and Ghale Sama, located at a lower latitude, all heat wave characteristics were more intensive. Considering the increasing trend of global warming and the location of Zagros forests in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, it is expected that in the future the number of hot wave days, the number of hot wave events and the continuation of heat waves will continue with greater intensity, therefore managers and decision makers must adopt strategies to these changes in order to preserve the ecosystem

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the moral norm, intention and behavior of forest protection. The statistical population of this study consisted of rural households in four villages of Chegni dore (N = 1399) which based on Krejcie and Morgan table, the sample size of 300 head of households was selected. Sample individuals were studied using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by a group of professors and experts. In addition, to determine the reliability, the pretest was used and confirmed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (87/0-95/0). The results of structural equation modeling of path analysis showed that the variables of social capital and environmental attitude are variables affecting the moral norm and the variables of moral norm, environmental responsibility, environmental attitude and environmental awareness of the variables directly affecting intention and Behaviors are indirect. Also, two variables of social capital and intention had a direct and significant positive effect on the behavior of rural households in forest protection. Finally, these variables were able to predict 62%, 61% and 46% of the changes in the variables of moral norm, intention and behavior of rural households towards forest protection, respectively.

Conflict in natural resources arises from the disagreement over the availability, control, and use of the natural resources. This study aimed to identify the effective causes of conflict between stakeholders in natural resources management. In this study, legal, managerial, exploitation, and social components were examined from the perspectives of both experts and stakeholders in the forest watersheds downstream of Sefidrood and Polrud in Guilan province. The research was conducted basd on quantitative and survey methods. The natural resource experts and exploiters completed 173 questionnaires. The reliability of the questionnaire for all categories of items was more than 0.9. T-test was applied to compare the views of the two groups. The results showed a significant difference between the views of exploiters and government experts in terms of the factors affecting the conflict. The most important components for increasing the conflict in this region from stakeholders' perspective are the law-breaking, cutting-down trees, council ownership of pastures, the low presence of women in this field, and low cooperation. According to the experts, lack of laws, lack of rangeland union, non-compliance of watershed management plans with the ecological conditions, and low collaboration between people have been introduced. Both groups confirmed the low awareness of the exploiters, but issues such as early grazing, accumulated livestock, understory agriculture, plowing of national land were not recognized by the exploiters as the causes of rangeland destruction and conflict. Experts also did not confirm the important factors such as land-use conversion and assignments that led to the aggression in the region. In fact, both groups did not acknowledge the factors that could have contributed to the increase in the conflict. From the managerial point of view, both groups have declared that the most effective way to reduce the conflict is the confinement of forests and pastures and cooperative management.

Green oak tortrix, also known as green oak leaf-roller (Tortrix viridana), is a pest that changes the phenological pattern and leaf area index (LAI) of trees in the Zagros vegetation area. We compared changes in LAI changes in control (pest-free) and pest-affected areas of oak forests in Sardasht City of west Azerbaijan province, western Iran. During the developmental stage of the canopy at both study sties (i.e., from April to December 2020), 32 pictures were taken at 15 locations using a fisheye lens camera. Changes in LAI were correlated to changes in temperature, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), precipitation, evaporation, and sunshine hours. Average LAI in the control (1.51) was significantly greater than the pest-affected areas (0.90) (p-value < 0.01). LAI peaked at 1.32 in the pest affected area on 8 June 2020, whereas the peak value of 1.81 was observed 8 days earlier (31 May 2020) in the control area. Apart from rainfall, LAI had a significant, positive correlation with all climatic parameters in both control and pest areas. However, LAI showed a stronger correlation with climatic parameters in the control area (mean r=0.6) compared to the pest-affected areas (mean r=0.4). In both studied areas, temperature had the highest correlation coefficient with LAI (0.7 in the control vs. 0.5 in the pest affected area). The sensitivity of LAI to both green oak tortrix and climatic parameters suggests that the climate change may result in future alterations on oak tree phenology.

by the replacement of the government in the management of rangelands with nomads. On the othr hand,considering the limitations of the government system, the issue of feasibility of reassigning this responsibility to the nomads and providing the ground for their role-playing in rangeland management has been proposed as one of the ways out of the inappropriate and inefficient situation of the current management system. For this, the Nomadic Affairs Organization, the Forests , Rangelands and Watershed Organization , Research Institute of e Forests and Range lands; considered it logical to enter the issue through research. After holding several meetings, the summer range lands of Laleh Vazhgon plain in Koohrang city were selected as a pilot, to test the impact of nomadic management and organization support on vegetation changes in this area. The evaluated indicators were, range lands capacity, range lands condition, trend and exploitation percentage in two stages before the arrival and after the departure of the nomads from the range lands. For this purpose. Representatives of the tribes introduced and implemented the project in the form of a quadrilateral memorandum No278/5/246 dated 95/1/23 between the above-mentioned organs and the representatives of the tribes. The study began in 2016 for 4 years. First, two plant types were separated in the area and the necessary evaluations were performed in each of them.

Environmental protection means the optimal and proper use of it to maintain its quality in terms of human life. In this regard, promoting ecological literacy is very important. The development of environmental literacy is an essential issue in society that ultimately leads to increased knowledge, positive attitudes, and responsible behavior towards the protection of natural resources. This study investigates and evaluates the knowledge, philosophy, and environmental behavior of various stakeholders, including university professors, students, and the local forest-dwelling community of Laghman province in Afghanistan, about forest conservation and restoration, compare them with each other. The research method is applied in terms of purpose, field survey, and process of doing work. In this study, descriptive statistics were used to examine demographic information, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS22 software. The results showed that among the three target groups, the local community has a lower level of environmental literacy to the conservation of the forest ecosystem than the other two groups, namely students and university professors. Therefore, due to the increase in population in recent decades and its increasing trend and increasing use of forests in Laghman province and their destruction and pollution, it is necessary to develop a training program to promote and improve the knowledge of forest dwellers.

Olive (Olea europaea) as an oily plant and oleander (Nerium oleander) as an ornamental and evergreen shrub are gorwn in Iran. Olive and oleander knot diseases are caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi (Psv) and P. savastanoi pv. nerii, respectively. Oleander gall samples were collected from Mazandaran province and olives knots were received from Guilan and Qazvin provinces. Symptoms including swollen lumps with a spongy, irregular appearance were observed on various host tissues, including petioles, branches, twigs, trunks, and leaflets. Fluorescent pigment colonies were appeared on King'S B medium after 48 hours incubation at 28°C. Pathogenicity of 14 and 18 strains among 150 and 180 isolated strains were confirmed on two years old olive and oleander trees, respectively. Moreover, four strains isolated from oleander were able to induce gall on olive trees. All strains were Gram-negative and catalase-positive. Strains were negative for levan production, oxidase, potato rot, and arginine dihydrolase activities and positive in production of hypersensivity reaction on tobacco. The 388 and 349 bp products were amplified in PCR using PsvF/R and PsnF/R primer pairs in Psv and Psn strains, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses based on the sequence of three house-keeping genes including rpoB, rpoD, and gyrB indicated that representative strains grouped with P. savastanoi pathovars.

Gall-inducing species Pemphigus spyrothecae, P. vesicarius , P. borealis and Camarotoscena fulgidipennis were considered as an important sucking pest of poplars in Hamadan province and Iran. In this study that was carried out during 2010-2011, its density on 15 native and exotic poplar clones belonging to Populus alba, P. nigra, P. deltoides and P. x. euramericana were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. From stands planted in the middle of each plot, 5 were randomly chosen, then 4 branch in 100-200 cm height was selected in each geographical direction and number of galls on it were counted. The clones of P. alba, P. deltoides and P. x. euramericana haven't gall and completely resistant and these infestation was observed in P. nigra clones. The statistical data were analyzed by SPSS 16.0 software. A significant difference in infection rate was found between clones. Mean comparison with Duncken’s test showed that highest number galls of P. spyrothecae, P. vesicarius, P. borealis and C. fulgidipennis were observed in 6, 1, 1 and 1 clones and lowest number galls weer observed in 4, 5, 6 and 3 clones repectevely. By these results, Clones of P. nigra 49/5, P. nigra 62/167, P. nigra 62/172, P. alba 58/57, P. deltoides missoriensis and P. x. euramericana 214 had the highest yield in wood production and were resistant to the these pests.

This study was carried out to study of performance two-year old plants of Populus alba in soil affected by municipal effluent. For this purpose, a pot experiment was done in a completely randomized design with two factors 1) soil in two levels and 2) poplar clones in two levels. In both poplar clones, after two growth seasons, significant increase (P < 0.01) of growth properties, leaf area, biomass and uptake and accumulation of micro and macro nutrients and also heavy metals in organs of plants treated by soil affected by municipal effluent was observed compared to plants of control treatment. In both poplar clones, the highest uptake and accumulation of Fe, Cu, Ni, Cr and Pb took place in the roots and Zn and Mn in the leaves. After two growth seasons, the two poplar clones did not demonstrate significant differences in terms of growth and biomass parameters, however, the effect of clone on uptake and accumulation of micro nutrients and heavy metals in plant organs was significant (P < 0.01). The highest amounts of most micronutrients and heavy metals were seen in plants of P. alba 20/45 treated by soil affected by municipal effluent. Tolerance Index of both poplar clones in soil affected by municipal effluent after two growth seasons was above 100% and the effect of clone on this Index was not significant. Due to the good performance of two year-old plants of Populus alba in soil affected by municipal effluent, these poplar clones can be considered ....

The object of this study was to investigate the knowledge mechanisms of pastoralists in the conservation and rehabilitation of rangelands in the Jajarm city of North Khorasan province. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that was interviewed by 10 experienced pastoralists using the snowball method. The results showed that the conservation and restorative knowledge of rangeland pastoralists in the study area had a significant difference in 99% confidence level and their conservation knowledge was more than their restorative knowledge in rangeland management. Findings from wald test showed that the variables of experiencing as stocking holders, dependence on rangelands and participation in training and participating in courses on conservation and restorative knowledge of pastoralists in rangelands were positive and significant and variable level of literacy also has a negative and significant effect. So that the independent variables were able to estimate 31.1% of the variance changes of the knowledge of pastoralists in the rangelands (R2 McFadden = 0.311). Considering that rangeland sustainability is affected by the level of knowledge and awareness of stake holders about conservation, rehabilitation and improvement programs, and consequently the level of participation of rangeland pastoralists as the main beneficiaries of rangelands, it is possible through training and focused sessions tried to transfer local knowledge and experiences and successful models in other areas to pastoralists so that their level of knowledge will improve in line with sustainable rangeland management policies to reach the relative ideal.

Today, in near-to-nature forestry, biodiversity conservation, with emphasis on forests conservation, as a valuable genetic resource, has received much attention. Deadwood, as a habitat, plays a key role in diversity and abundance of saproxylic fungi in forest ecosystems. The uncontrolled exploitation, and the management programs applied in forests, have significantly reduced the deadwood volumes and diversity, jeopardizing diversity and abundance of saproxylic fungi. In this study, 29 saproxylic fungal species belonging to 15 families from the phylum Basidiomycota were collected from Asalem forest, Guilan province, northern Iran. The recovered species were identified based upon their morphological characters, using available identification keys. The results showed that the family Polyporaceae (31%) and the species Trametes versicolor (18.4%) have the highest abundance between other families and identified species, respectively. The importance of saproxylic fungi, introduction of deadwood, as a habitat and a key factor in biodiversity of saproxylic fungi in forest ecosystems, have also been discussed.

Proper management and planning to prevent the decline of groundwater levels, requires knowledge of the factors, indicators and criteria for changes in groundwater levels in areas affected by this phenomenon. Therefore, in order to be aware of the status of groundwater level fluctuations, it is necessary to conduct detailed studies in order to plan, operate and maintain water resources development plans and to predict and warn in time of drought periods. For this purpose, in the present study, the trend of groundwater changes in aquifers of Mahidasht study area in Kermanshah province in a statistical period of 35 years ending in 1396 was investigated. Then, the impact of droughts on the trend of groundwater level changes was analyzed using PDSI, GRI and SDI drought indices as well as changes in irrigated and rainfed arable lands. According to the results, the highest groundwater level is in the southeast and is about 1531m. Groundwater level changes in Mahidasht plain are generally declining and the groundwater level has dropped by 24.78m during the study period. Also, the results of low correlation between climatic and groundwater drought indices showed that the cause of water level decline in plain aquifers due to irregular impressions and management. Although Mahidasht aquifer has been selected as a case study in this article, the proposed method can be used in other areas to improve the protection and management of water resources.