نشریه علوم محیطی
سال بیست و یکم شماره 1 (پیاپی 79، بهار 1402)

Due to the growth and development of new types of communication and information technologies around the world, the use of digital services is widely increasing and our country, Iran, is no exception to this rule. Information technology and digital services industries consume significant amounts of energy in various forms as well as in various sectors such as production, distribution and use of relevant equipment and services and as a result, produce various pollutants, including greenhouse gases, and release them into the environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the eco-friendliness of digital services and IT industry of Iran in the web hosting and cloud services sectors through evaluating the north-west data center of Iran as a representative of the IT industry of Iran in the web hosting and cloud services sectors.

For this purpose, in this study, first the effective aspects of information technology on the environment as well as the environmental standards related to data centers were identified through library studies and review of existing domestic and foreign literature and after that, eight servers of “Iran Server” were investigated. In the next step, after estimating the amount of energy consumed and carbon dioxide produced by the north-west data center of Iran (which has 319 active servers), the efficiency and environmental compatibility metrics of this data center were calculated and finally, by analyzing and summarizing the obtained results, eco-friendliness of the north-west data center of Iran as a representative of IT industry of Iran in the web hosting and cloud services sectors, was investigated.

The results of energy consumption and pollutants production of the north-west data center of Iran indicated that this data center consumes an average of 185.16 MWh of electricity per month, and followed by that produces 533.26 tons of carbon dioxide per month. Also, the values of Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Energy Reuse Effectiveness (ERE) metrics in this data center were equivalent to 2.88 (kg CO2 per kilowatt hour), 4.03 and 4.03, respectively, and also the values of Energy Reuse Factor (ERF) and Green Energy Coefficient (GEC) were zero. These values indicate that the energy consumption of Iran's data centers is supplied from non-renewable energy sources and this energy is finally released in the form of excess heat in the environment after consumption in different sectors, which emits a large amount of greenhouse gases including CO2 in the environment and inflicts numerous and irreparable damages on the environment such as air pollution, global warming, climate change, etc.

A general summary of the information obtained from the study of various aspects of the eco-friendliness of the north-west data center of Iran as a representative of the IT industry of Iran in the web hosting and cloud services sectors and its comparison with other green data centers in the world shows, this data center has not met the necessary metrics to comply with environmental standards related to green or eco-friendly data centers and as a result is not very compatible with the environment and is far from other green data centers in the world.

Canola is one of the most important oilseed crops all over the world. This oilseed crop is mainly utilized for its high oil content (with about 40–45% oil). However, in recent years, the area under cultivation of canola has decreased due to water scarcity. Applying drought-tolerant cultivars with high water use efficiency can help to develop the area under cultivation of canola and increase canola production. Therefore, the current study was conducted to assess the water use efficiency of spring canola cultivars in warm and temperate climates.

This study investigated different cultivars as a strategy for increasing canola production and improving its water use efficiency under different climate types in Khuzestan and Lorestan provinces. For this purpose, four locations including Khoramabad and Kuhdasht in Lorestan Province as semi-arid climate regions and Dezful, and Shushtar in Khuzestan Province as hot and arid climate regions were selected. Daily long-term climatic data (including minimum and maximum temperatures, rainfall, and global radiation) were collected for these locations from Iran Meteorological Organization. In this study, Hyola308 (early-maturity), Hyola401 (mid-maturity), and RGS003 (late-maturity) cultivars were used. In order to simulate the growth and yield of canola in different locations, the APSIM-Canola model was employed. OriginPro 9.1 software was used for all statistical analyses and the generation of figures.

The results showed that grain yield, biomass, water use efficiency, grain weight, actual evapotranspiration, the average temperature during the canola growth period, and the length of the canola growth period were substantially affected by cultivar and region (climate type). According to the results, the highest grain yield and water use efficiency (3037 kg ha-1 and 6.9 kg mm-1 ha-1, respectively) were achieved for the mid-maturity cultivar (Hyola401). Furthermore, simulation results revealed that temperate and semi-arid regions compared to hot and arid regions increased grain yield, biomass and water use efficiency by 2507 kg ha-1, 10100 kg ha-1, and 2.7 kg mm-1 ha-1, respectively. Khorramabad × Hyola401 treatment had the highest water use efficiency, grain yield, and biomass (9 kg mm-1 ha-1, 4954, and 17943 kg ha-1, respectively) due to lower the average temperature during the canola growth period (10.9 ° C) and higher the length of the canola growth period (2424.9 day), while the lowest amount of these traits was recorded in Dezful × Hyola308 treatment (5 kg mm-1 ha-1, 1369, and 5514 kg ha-1, respectively).

The results indicated that expanding canola cultivation in temperate regions can be used to boost canola production in Iran and to improve the sustainability of canola cultivation agroecosystems. Also, using a mid-maturity cultivar such as Hyola401 in both temperate and hot climate conditions can increase water use efficiency and sustainability of canola production agroecosystems through higher production per water consumption.

Non-native species are one of the important threats to biodiversity. Some non-native fish species pose environmental impacts and are known as invasive species. Rivers of the southern Caspian Sea are home to a vast variety of native or commercial fish species. Non-native species invasiveness risk assessment tools are used to identify the species with high invasive potential risks and are used as a decision–making tool. The main aim of this study is to calibrate and validate the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK) for non-native fish species of rivers in the southern Caspian Sea basin.

AS-ISK was used to assess non-native (NN) fish that may pose a high potential risk of becoming invasive in rivers of the South Caspian Sea. Fifteen NN fish species were assessed, 14 of which are extant and 1 is horizon species in the risk assessment (RA) area. The statistical methods were used to compare the scores obtained by each assessor. The threshold score was calculated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Also, the Köppen-Geiger climate system was used to match the climate between the native range of NN fish species and the risk assessment area.

Risk assessment of NN fish species led to the identification of 73 % of the species as potential invasive species in the RA area. Carassius gibelio and Carassius auratus achieved the highest risk score and Anguilla anguilla obtained the lowest risk score among all NN fish species. There was not a statistically significant difference between assessor-specific mean risk scores. Threshold scores were 9.5 and 11.5 for AS-ISK and Basic Risk Assessment (BRA), respectively. The area under curve was 100%, which shows an excellent output for the efficiency of the AS-ISK in the RA area. Eleven out of the 15 NN fish species were identified as potential invasive species and the rest as non-invasive NN species in the RA area. Confidence factors were different from 73% to 64%. All NN fish species were categorized in three lists i.e., black, grey and white in regard to their risk ranks in order to manage prioritization.

The AS-ISK efficiently identified NN fish species that pose a high risk of being/becoming invasive in rivers in the south Caspian Sea to prioritize them based on their risk rank and to support conservation managers, decision-makers and policymakers in the aquaculture development plans.

Pollution of water-receiving sources in waste disposal sites is the most important risk of waste disposal on the environment. Therefore, this research has estimated the ecological risk (human society, natural flora and fauna) considering the characteristics of sources and pollutants, and its type. The risk analysis has examined their effects with a comprehensive prioritization.

In this integrated applied study, during a step-by-step process and using available information and statistics (in terms of time and spatial area affected), including examples of the concentration of elements and chemical and physical compounds of pollutants with the origin of waste Urban and waste disposal activities, all types of risks were identified and the contribution of each of the effective, effects and affected was obtained. Axure RP program was used to draw diagrams of safety level calculations, risk and dimension and their distance and risk analyses.

The results showed that the ecological risk of receiving resources around Bojnord Burial Center as the selected center of North Khorasan Province is in the range of low ecological risk. The biological risk caused by heavy metals is moderate, and the risk for the human food cycle and animal and plant cover is low and without threat to the food cycle. The pollution risk index of the effective factors in the calculation for the Bojnoord landfill with current implementation conditions was estimated as Rm=81%. The status of pollution risk index is on the verge of very high risk with potential environmental dangers.

According to the identification and analysis of the types of risk around the Bojnord landfill, equal risk and equal safety maps were drawn, as a result of which vulnerable centers could be identified and proper planning can be done to control and protect them. In fact, the design of the co-risk map and the potential and actual sources of pollution, the type of pollutant and the target and affected environment, taking into account the time domain, can greatly improve the quality management of resources and complete the existing database in the country and province and prepare for long-term planning.

However the role of water in sustainable development is vital, the launched infrastructure projects of Integrated Water Resources Management Plans in recent years have not been able to completely maintain the balance between human consumption for socio-economic activities and the water needs of natural ecosystems to guarantee the sustainable life for riverine ecosystems. In this regard, this research investigated the hydrological effects and ecological consequences of the construction of dams in the upstream basin of Jiroft Dam as the key water supply zone in the western Jazmurian watershed, which is also known as Halil-Rud River.

In this research, the significance of the long-term changes of the mean annual discharge in the rivers of the study area at the hydrometric stations of Solatni, Baft, Hanjan, Meydan, Qale-Rigi, Konarooiye and Hossein-Abad, as well as the alterations in the mean annual precipitation of rainfall gauges in the period of 38 years (1980-2018) have been analyzed by Mann-Kendall Test and then 33 hydrological parameters (based on the daily discharge of Hossein-Abad hydrometric station in the mentioned period) as indicators of ecological needs (which is affected by the Baft and Jiroft reservoir dams) have been analyzed by using the variability range approach and IHA software in two periods before and after the construction of the dams.

According to the Mann-Kendall test results, although the mean annual discharge in the rivers upstream of Jiroft dam has had a significant drop at the level 95 and 99% of discharge during the past 38 years, the trend of change in the mean annual precipitation in the same period, except one station (Hanjan), was not significant and this difference was due to the negative effects of dams construction and it was also confirmed by the output of the IHA model. It should be noted that based on the output of the mentioned model, 33 hydro-ecological features of Halil-Rud river flow showed fundamental alterations since the operation of Jiroft Dam (1992), but the operation of Baft Dam upstream of Jiroft Dam in 2008 has led to intense negative effects of flow characteristics (outside the acceptable range of ecological variability) in Halil-Rud River.

In order to prevent the magnification of the water crisis, the cumulative effects of the construction of chain dams should be considered using hydro-ecological approaches, as well as the water allocation programs, especially the environmental flows should be revised according to the upstream developments of each dam basin, so that the sustainable socio-economic needs as the goals of integrated water resources management would be provided and also the health and survival of the natural ecosystem would be guaranteed.

The contrast of the organization's environmental performance with the green image presented is an example of greenwashing. Greenwashing in eco-lodges (which were created with the aim of developing sustainable tourism), has wide consequences for the environment, industry, tourists and other stakeholders. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the factors affecting greenwashing in these eco-lodges in order to control the problem. According to previous research, factors affecting can be divided greenwashing into three categories: 1. Causal factors (motivation to take advantage of the short-term benefits of green including image improvement, increasing market share, attracting capital, winning the trust of stakeholders, economic efficiency and competitive advantage); 2. Background (weakness of the internal environment (individual psychological triggers), the weakness of environmental knowledge) and the weakness of the external environment (weakness of informing relevant departments, the weakness of supervision)); 3. The moderator (tourist's environmental feedback); But due to the limited resources, in order to plan more precisely and control greenwashing, a quantitative test of these relationships is necessary. Therefore, in the current research, the effect of the mentioned factors on greenwashing in the eco-lodges of Isfahan Province was tested.

The research has a comparative approach, practical orientation, philosophical foundations of positivism, quantitative methodology and survey strategy. Data collection was done in the field and through a closed questionnaire. The formal and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts. Internal and external validity, and reliability (Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability and factor loadings) of the measuring instrument were also calculated and confirmed. Sampling was also done by a simple random method from the statistical population of managers of eco-lodges in Isfahan Province and the data was analyzed using partial least squares structural equations.

The findings of the research showed that background factors have a direct positive effect and environmental feedback has a direct and indirect negative effect (due to background factors) on greenwashing, but the effect of causal factors and the moderating effect of environmental feedback (on the effect of causal factors on greenwashing) is not significant. Therefore, it is necessary to try to receive environmental feedback from guest tourists in eco-lodges. It is also recommended that tourism planners and officials focus on reducing background weaknesses. In this regard, the following solutions can be fruitful: increasing supervision, improving information and training of managers of eco-lodges regarding issues such as environmental considerations, the consequences of failure in this field and its effect on the long-term success of the eco-lodge in attracting tourists.

The findings of the research showed the fact that eco-lodges do not practice greenwashing in order to take advantage of the green benefits, but the underlying weaknesses make them negligent in fulfilling their environmental obligations. On the other hand, more feedback from tourists makes relevant agencies and environmental activists more aware, as well as managers of eco-lodges, and this sensitivity leads to improving performance and reducing background weaknesses and greenwashing. Therefore, according to the results of the research, we provided some practical suggestions to the officials and planners of the industry. The main axes of these suggestions are: increasing the awareness of the managers of eco-lodges, increasing the environmental monitoring of the activities of these accommodations, encouraging and reminding about the environmental sustainability of eco-lodges, and focusing on strengthening the environmental feedback of tourists (through encouraging sharing of opinions, rating the green performance of accommodation and adjusting demand again based on environmental performance).

Each of the different exploitation and management methods in rangelands have different effects on the rangeland ecosystem functions. Incorrect and inappropriate ways of rangeland use, especially in the last few decades, have caused severe damage to natural resources. There is a few research on the effects of grazing on sand habitats of desert areas. The aim of the current research is to investigate the effect of different methods of rangeland utilization on ecological characteristics, including the percentage of vegetation cover, plant density, species richness, diversity, evenness and dominance, and species similarity in the studied rangelands.

This research was conducted in the outskirt, seminomadic, settled nomadic and enclosure in Zirkouh, South Khorasan province. In each rangeland, the list of plant species, density and vegetation cover of each species was determined separately. Also, the range condition was evaluated by the modified four-factors method. In addition to numerical indices, the ranking of species diversity was investigated using the Renyi diversity ordering curve. In order to check the species similarity between the four studied rangelands, Jaccard's similarity index was used, and hierarchical cluster analysis (Euclidean distance and Ward's method) was used to better display the species similarity. Finally, the relationship between vegetation cover and the number of species and biodiversity indices was tested by Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Based on the modified four factors method, the condition of outskirt and seminomadic rangelands were moderate and settled nomadic rangeland was poor and enclosure rangeland, has been evaluated as good. The results of ANOVA showed that the effect of grazing methods on the vegetation cover (at the 0.05 level) and the total and average species richness (at the 0.01 level) were significant. Enclosure rangeland had the highest plant cover percentage and plant density (54.73% and 80, respectively) and the settled nomadic rangeland had the lowest plant cover percentage and plant density (15% and 5, respectively). The highest species richness belonged to enclosure rangeland and there was no difference between other rangelands. Compared to other rangelands, the seminomadic rangeland had the highest proportion of native plants and the lowest proportion of increaser plants in the plant composition of total richness. The highest proportion of increaser plants was observed in settled nomadic rangelands. In terms of species diversity, enclosure rangeland had the highest Shannon-Wiener diversity index (2.03) and Simpson diversity index (0.80) compared to other rangelands. The results of the correlation coefficients of vegetation cover and the number of species and species diversity indices showed that, in general, there is a significant positive correlation between the diversity indices and vegetation cover and the number of species. In addition, there is a significant negative correlation between the species evenness and dominance indices, as well as vegetation cover and the number of species. The results of the Jaccuard similarity index show that the highest degree of species similarity is observed between the outskirt and the settled nomadic rangelands (62%).

The results showed that the overgrazing around the livestock pen in the settled nomadic rangeland is clearly visible and it has led to a significant decrease in vegetation cover, plant density and species diversity. Resting in rangelands (in the enclosure) and delaying grazing (in seminomadic rangeland) can also enhance vegetation and biodiversity. In terms of the percentage of vegetation cover, density and plant composition, the seminomadic rangeland is located next to the enclosure. The most proportion of forage species was observed in the plant composition of the seminomadic rangeland. If we accept the hypothesis that range enclosure causes the plant succession towards the climax stage and in range management, the sub-climax stage is always better than the climax stage, in this case, in terms of livestock and range management, the temporary settlement of nomads will be more beneficial than range enclosure.

Russian olive (Senjed) is planted in a large area in Iran, and at the same time, there are limited natural habitats for its species. This elder tree can be found in different types of soils and moisture conditions, but preferably it grows better in flood plains and humid coastal areas. Russian olive has a special place as one of the important products of Kerman Province. The area under cultivation and the amount of its production in Kerman are 309 hectares and 1100 metric tons, respectively. In this province, native trees are mainly cultivated along streams and on the edge of fields due to the deliciousness of their fruits. In spite of the wide variety and potential of it, there is less information available on the number of species and the genetic diversity of local genotypes. This study, as a preliminary investigation, showed the existence of high morphological diversity in the native Russian olive genotypes of the province, which reveals the importance of using them in future multi-breeding programs.

In this research, six qualitative traits include fruit shape, fruit aroma and flavor, fruit skin color, fruit ripening date, flowering date, and leaf shape, and fourteen quantitative traits including panicle length, panicle width, petiole length, petiole width, thorn length, thorn width, fruit length, fruit width, seed length, seed width, fruit tail length, fruit tail width, fruit weight, and seed weight were studied between 22 Russian olive native genotypes from Sirjan, Bardsir and Kerman regions.

The results showed the existence of many traits among genotypes. The average fruit length was 1.87 cm, fruit diameter 1.12 cm, fruit weight 1.49 grams, seed weight 0.52 grams, leaf length 4.27 cm and leaf width 2.48 cm. The highest fruit weight and fruit quality and flavor were reported in genotype number (4) of Mahmoudabad, Sirjan. The highest positive correlation coefficient at the probable level (p<0.01) was observed in petiole length and spine length (r=0.669), petiole length and fruit tail length (r=0.601), and fruit length and fruit diameter (r=0.584). Analyzing into main components in qualitative traits showed that the first two components explained 62% of the total changes. In quantitative traits, the first five components included 74.77% of the total changes. Based on the dendrogram of the scatterplot of quantitative and qualitative traits, all genotypes were divided into three separate groups. In the present research, the classification of masses based on quantitative traits did not follow their geographical distribution.

The highest fruit weight belonged to the genotype of Mahmoud Abad Sirjan, which is a tropical region of Sirjan, and it had a sweet taste and a good aroma. The highest correlation values of traits were observed in PC1 between the traits of flowering date, leaf shape, leaf, fruit and seed dimensions, as well as seed weight. The presence of superior leaf traits and the subsequent improvement programs on them can expand the scope of use of elderberry from the fruit-only state. Environmental conditions and being at different heights above sea level do not play a significant role in the classification of genotypes.

Planning for proper waste management and attention to its harmful effects on the environment in any country is one of the most important and necessary principles to provide long-term benefits and move towards sustainable development. The overall purpose of this study was to analyze the barriers to rural waste management in the central part of Urmia. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of the obstacles, problems and limitations that have caused the unfavorable management of rural waste in the studied area.

The research was applied in terms of purpose and data were collected in the field. The statistical population of the study included all villagers in the central part of Urmia city, in which rural waste management was performed (N = 136). The questionnaire was the main research tool that was designed using content review and interviews with experts and faculty members of the university. To evaluate its reliability, 30 questionnaires were completed and the Cronbach's alpha value was 0.91, which indicated the acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software and exploratory factor analysis technique.

The results of factor analysis showed that rural waste management barriers in six groups of educational-cultural barriers (variance dimension 18.13), health-environmental (variance dimension 18.06), knowledge (variance dimension 12.53), environmental (variance dimension 10.96), disposal management (variance dimension 10.24) and equipment (variance dimension 6.92) were classified as 76.84% of the total variance changes related to rural waste management barriers in the study area. In prioritizing the items of educational-cultural obstacles, the absence of the required culture regarding less consumption was the first rank. In terms of health-environmental obstacles, leaving and disposing of waste by villagers in the nearest place (on roads, along rivers, on the side of roads, etc.) and the occurrence of parasitic diseases for the villagers, was the first rank. In terms of knowledge barriers, lack of awareness and low knowledge of the villagers regarding the economic value of reusing agricultural residues was the first rank. In the disposal management factor, the lack of a separation plan at the source and as a result mixing wet, dry and special waste together was the first rank. Regarding the environmental factor, the presence of verminous insects and rodents and their increase at certain times of the year at the disposal site and roads until the time of garbage collection, was ranked first and finally among the factor factors. equipment, lack and lack of conversion industries for reuse of waste and agricultural residues, took the first place.

Empowering people through awareness, information and education using appropriate tools in the field of waste management can be helpful and practical. Coherent and purposeful management for waste management and success in improving environmental issues in the study area requires specific methods and strategic plans. Therefore, it is necessary to take the necessary planning and measures in this regard. It is also recommended to use the participation of people and NGOs to separate at the source and to organize informal activities of collection and recycling of materials in recycling programs, while it is necessary for municipalities, organizations and affiliated bodies. Assist the government in providing the facilities and equipment needed for rural waste management.

The process of extraction and exploitation of oil and gas resources requires the cycle of production, sending, and recycling of drilling mud or drilling fluid, so achieving the right combination of drilling mud and its recycling is an essential and fundamental matter in the industrial oil and gas and also the environment.

Determining the level of contamination of heavy metals and organic matter in the drilling mud and drilling cuttings can be necessary so that intelligent methods to estimate these contaminants can be indirectly effective. This study tried to estimate the contamination rate of drilling cuttings, despite the formation parameters of 10 oil wells drilled at different depths (66 data sets), using the regression learning limit of an artificial neural network.

A total of 60 data sets were prepared to estimate the rate of change in the concentration of heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the learning and testing process, and another six sets of data related to a well that was randomly selected and used in the artificial neural network validation process. Limit learning regression algorithm for ten heavy elements and ten aromatic compounds contaminating cutting and drilling mud on two different data sets in a drilling area in one of the oil fields in southern Iran was evaluated.

The results are suitable for estimating the contamination of drilling cuttings and subsequent environmental protection processes. Such processes of contamination and recycling of drilling mud will play an efficient role.

The forest ecosystem, as a valuable natural resource, provides various functions and services for human beings, the maintenance of which should be the main goal of human activities. Therefore, nowadays, the study and analysis of the attitudes and behaviors of native communities to conserve forest ecosystems have become very important due to their environmental problems and challenges. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate and analyze the attitude and environmental behavior of native communities on the margins of Shiadeh and Diva forests of Babol city in Mazandaran Province.

This research is an applied research in terms of nature and the method is part of descriptive analytical research based on a survey. In this study, documentary and field methods were used to collect information. The statistical population of the study included 150 native households in the villages along the Shiadeh and Diva forests who benefited from the services of the forest ecosystem of the region. The instrument of the study was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by several forestry experts and its items' reliability was achieved using Cronbach's alpha test (0.87%). In the study, a single sample t-test was used to analyze data. Socio-economic variables in this study included eight variables: age, marriage, gender, occupation, household size, education, cost and income.

 The results of a survey of respondents' interest in the biosphere value attitude towards forest ecosystem services showed that 80.67% of the respondents had a positive view of environmental issues and 79.20% of the subjects had an altruistic view of environmental issues and 24.84% of the respondents had a selfish view of environmental issues. Also, 82.62% of native communities were willing to conserve the services of the forest ecosystem in the region. The results of data analysis showed that among the items of biosphere value attitude, altruistic, selfish and conservative, "Forests and rangeland level of the country is decreasing", "My family cares about the environment, especially the forests", "I do not have enough financial potential to pay for the conservation of the Shiadeh and Diva forests" and "To conserve the environment, I warn others and abide by forest conservation laws" items took the first rank, respectively. Also, the results of the one-sample t-test for the environmentalist attitude of native communities showed that respondents with conservative and selfish attitudes had the highest and lowest average behaviors, respectively.

According to the results, the conservation value attitude in the research area has a higher average than other value attitudes. This indicates that native communities the environment and surrounding resources belong to themselves and strive to conserve.

Invasive species are currently the concern of ecologists, conservationists and natural resource managers, and they may decrease biodiversity due to their rapid spread. These species cause changes in ecological processes, function and structure of communities in natural ecosystems. The most obvious change in the invaded areas is the reduction of biodiversity and the creation of a pure community of invasive plants. One of the invasive species in our country is Prosopis juliflora, which is important in the field of combat desertification, biological control and stabilization of quicksand dunes in the southern regions of Iran due to its resistance to adverse environmental conditions.

In the present study, the efficiency of five discrimination group models (GLM, GBM, ANN, SRE, RF) and a profile model (MAXENT) and their ensemble with the weighted average approach in the spatial distribution of this species in Makuran region and determining the most important environmental factors affecting the invasion distribution were investigated. By recording 63 occurrence points and 100 absence points, using climatic, physiographic and human variables as environmental variables, and evaluating the performance of models by Area under Curve (AUC), True Skill Statistics (TSS), Sensitivity and Specificity, the species invasion potential was determined.

Among the single algorithms, according to the threshold-independent and threshold-dependent evaluation criteria, two machine learning techniques, i.e. RF and GBM, predicted the climatic habitat of this invasive species with higher accuracy. Also, the evaluation criteria in the ensemble prediction were higher than the average of all single modeling algorithms. According to the ensemble model, P. juliflora habitats occupy about 15% of the total study area. After generalization of the models to the geographical space, it was found that the invaded areas have spread in a uniform strip on the shores of the Oman Sea and the Persian Gulf. Evaluation of variable importance indicated that altitude was the most important independent variable justifying about half of the changes in the ensemble model and has the greatest effect on species distribution. The variable of distance from the road was the next important variable. However, the aspect was mentioned as the least important environmental variable affecting the scattering of the invasion. Based on response curves, the maximum probability of the species' presence was observed at the altitude of 50 m above sea level and a distance less than 50 m from the road. Also, the species is most likely to be present, if the temperature in the warmest month and the coldest season of the year is more than 34 and 14 °C, respectively, and the precipitation seasonality is 100-150. 

It was found that the integrated algorithms in the framework of ensemble modeling showed higher accuracy and the maps derived from the potential distribution of species invasion make it possible to restrict and manage the distribution range of invasive species by providing management solutions and conserving plans to protect native species. In fact, the results of this study can be used as a basis for subsequent monitoring to prevent further spread of invasive species and to create a balance between the native vegetation protection programs of the region and desertification management measures.

 Available water for irrigation of canola decreases towards the end of the season, due to reduced rainfall and the simultaneous late-season irrigation for other spring crops. Therefore, the possibility of the plant facing drought stress in the final stages of growth is very likely. So, the selection of drought-tolerant genotypes is very important in arid and semi-arid regions.

 The field experiment (2016- 2017 and 2017- 2018) was conducted as a split-plot arrangement in a randomized complete blocks design with four replications in Karaj agricultural research station. Treatments included drought stress regimes (common irrigation, withholding irrigation from the silique setting stage, and flowering stage) in main plots and canola genotypes (Talayeh, Okapi،SLM046, Ahmadi, Zarfam، Licord, Neptun, NataliGK Gabriella, and Opera) in sub-plots.

 The results showed that drought stress significantly reduced the number of pods per plant, the number of seeds per pod, 1000-seed weight, seed yield, growth period duration, oil content, oil yield, and water use efficiency (WUE). Under common irrigation, the highest seed yield was obtained from okapi، Neptun, and Natali genotypes with 5558, 5698, and 5076 kg ha-1, respectively. Under drought stress, SLM046، Zarfam، Natali and Opera had the highest seed yield with 3144, 2864, 3237, and 2951 kg ha-1 in withholding irrigation from the silique setting stage and 2377, 2472, 2441, and 2539 kg ha-1 in withholding irrigation from the flowering stage, respectively. GMP, MP and STI indices were highly correlated with seed yield under both stress and non-stress conditions. Therefore, they were introduced as suitable indices to identify superior genotypes for both environmental conditions. Accordingly, the most resistant genotypes were Okapi, SLM046, Zarfam, Neptun, Natali and Opera.

Based on the results, Okapi, SLM046, Zarfam, Neptun, Natali and Opera are recommended as suitable genotypes for cultivation in Karaj climatic conditions.

Color has always been a part of describing experiences and memories of people and landscapes. Achromaticity in urban spaces can affect aspects such as memorability and can consequently lead to diminished mental images, challenging the perceptive quality of inhabitants. On this basis, experiencing the vitality of colors in cities can improve the quality of urban spaces. Despite the importance of color in people’s perception of urban spaces, few studies have investigated the understanding of chromaticity in such areas. This gap widens in developing countries, such as Iran with extensive construction in its urban areas.

In this study, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used as a qualitative approach to provide an accurate examination of personal life experience of urban color perception in order to discover the nature of the lived experience of human understanding of color without any previously prescribed theoretical premise. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were carried out to obtain individuals’ perceptions of color in urban spaces of Tehran, Iran. Eleven experts in urban planning and development and architecture were selected through snowball sampling. The interviews were then analyzed in MAXQDA 2020, which yielded four main themes.

The interaction between the following four themes—i.e., 1) diminished color palette in modern constructions in Iranian cities, 2) attempt to embed colors in urban spaces, 3) colorful life in urban spaces, and, 4) attachment to colorful environments—underlined the color perception of Tehran’s urban spaces in two themes. The first theme was chromophilia, which increased place attachment (boosting the quality of the environment), and the second was chromophobia, which reduced place attachment (ignoring the improved quality of space and its preservation). Chromophobia can result in paleness, mattness, and grayness of the general aspect of color in the metropolises of Iran, particularly, in Tehran. The fading of local color can cause a diminution of the variety of colors and visual annoyance, which has led to diminished connection and attachment of the city and urban spaces to Tehran. Another finding emphasized using of color in improving attachment and belonging, influenced by environmental context and the formal and color landscape of cities (as well as climate, nature, function, and economy), to indicate principles such as spatial unity, eligibility, mystification, variety, citizens’ presence in a context where participation is based on the needs of different demographic-social groups.

Using color could encourage social life and place attachment to urban spaces and it could improve population health, particularly, mental health. The results of the study can add up to the tacit knowledge of urban planners, designers, and managers to attract citizen participation in improving the quality of urban spaces.