zhila ghorbani; Kiomars Sefidi; farshad Keivan Behjou; Mehdi Moameri
Volume 25, Issue 3 , November 2018, , Pages 500-511
Abstract
This study was conducted to assess the effects of different grazing intensities on the biomass amount of Agropyron libanoticum and Festuca ovina in summer rangelands of southern Sabalan, Ardabil province. After determining three sampling areas as different livestock grazing treatments ...
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This study was conducted to assess the effects of different grazing intensities on the biomass amount of Agropyron libanoticum and Festuca ovina in summer rangelands of southern Sabalan, Ardabil province. After determining three sampling areas as different livestock grazing treatments (light, moderate, and heavy grazing), plant sampling was performed by a random-systematic method in 25 plots along 600-m transects. A linear regression was used to determine the relationship between aerial and underground biomass. To assess the effects of different grazing intensities on biomass of these species a one-way ANOVA and Tukey test were used. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between aerial and underground biomass of two species in different treatments. Moreover, increasing the livestock grazing intensity resulted in a significant decrease in the aerial and underground biomass and total biomass of both species. In addition, increasing grazing intensity leads to decreasing aerial biomass in moderate and heavy grazing treatments compared to the light grazing intensity (26.31% and 42.24, , for Festuca ovina, respectively, and 22.04% and 48.76% for Agropyron libanoticum, respectively. Increasing grazing intensity leads to decreasing underground biomass in moderate and heavy grazing treatments compared to the light grazing intensity (25.14% and 42.75 for Festuca ovina, respectively, and 9.39% and 35.30% for Agropyron libanoticum, respectively. Generally, grazing intensity reduced the aerial and underground biomass of Agropyron libanoticum and Festuca ovina.Therefore, grazing control in rangeland management is necessary to prevent the destruction of these species.
Amir Mirzaie Moousavand; Ardavan Ghorbani; Mohammad Ali Zare Chahooki; Farshad Keivan B ehjoo; kiomars Sefidi
Volume 25, Issue 2 , August 2018, , Pages 235-247
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of environmental factors on Prangos ferulacea Lindl. and P. pabularia Lindl. distribution in the rangelands of Ardabil province. Seven habitats of Prangos genus were identified, so that P. ferulacea was distributed in three ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of environmental factors on Prangos ferulacea Lindl. and P. pabularia Lindl. distribution in the rangelands of Ardabil province. Seven habitats of Prangos genus were identified, so that P. ferulacea was distributed in three habitats and P. papularia in two habitats. In each habitat, sampling sites were identified and in each site three transects of 100m were established, and the density of the study species were recorded in ten plots of 4m2. Soil samples were taken from the depth of 0 to 30 cm at the start, middle and end of each transect. In the vicinity of each habitat, sampling was done in the same way. In sampling plots, elevation, slope, aspect, and soil characteristics such as organic matter, N, P, K, pH, EC, and texture were measured. To investigate the effects of environmental factors on the presence or absence of the study species and to compare the characteristics of the variables measured one-way ANOVA and Tukey test were used.Discriminant analysis was used to determine the degree of importance of the environmental variables measured in the distribution of the study species. Results showed that P. pabularia was distributed in the habitats with the high content of P, clay, EC, rainfall, sand, slope and pH; while P. ferulacea was distributed where the elevation was high but rainfall and the content of K were low. According to the results of discriminant analysis, variables such as EC, organic matter, K, elevation, slope, aspect, silt, clay, rainfall, and temperature were effective in discrimination of sites and species distribution. The results of the present study could be useful to propose the species for range management, improvement and reclamation.
Farshad Keivan Behjou; Hasan Mollazadeh Asl; Jaber Sharifi Naiaragh
Volume 25, Issue 1 , April 2018, , Pages 13-28
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of tree species canopy on production and diversity of grass species in the understory of trees in Fandoghlou, Ardabil. The study area was selected after extracting similar geomorphological units of Fandoghlou, Shoghal Dareh ...
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The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of tree species canopy on production and diversity of grass species in the understory of trees in Fandoghlou, Ardabil. The study area was selected after extracting similar geomorphological units of Fandoghlou, Shoghal Dareh and Niaragh. Inventory was conducted by systematic random sampling and dimension of plots was determined regarding the structure of vegetation. The number of plots was selected using statistical formulas, and the list of species, canopy cover, litter, rock, and bare soil percentage were recorded. Sampling in open and forested rangelands was done in four slope classes including 0-10, 10-20, 20 -35 and 35-50% and in four geographical aspects including northern, southern, eastern and western. The results showed that the highest vegetation cover percentage was observed in the understory of trees in Fandoghlou, Niaragh and Shoghal Dareh in slope classes of 10-20%, respectively, with 20, 25 and 25%. The highest vegetation cover in open rangelands were observed in slope classes of 10-20%, respectively, with 81, 86 and 86%. The northern aspect compared to other aspects had the highest vegetation cover in both rangelands. According to the results, the highest production was observed in open rangelands, showing a significant difference with forested rangelands. In addition, the production of grass species and interaction of rangeland type and aspect showed significant differences in the study rangelands. Accordingly, production in the open rangelands of northern slopes was significantly higher as compared with forested rangelands. On the other hand, the results of diversity and evenness indices in open and forested rangelands showed that the highest amounts of these indices were observable in forested rangelands.
Robab Bagherian; Kiomars Sefidi; Farshad Keivan Behjou; Ali Ashraf Soltani; Behzad Behtari
Volume 25, Issue 1 , April 2018, , Pages 183-190
Abstract
To evaluate the effects of grazing on some physical and chemical properties of soil, in the summer rangelands of southern slopes of Sabalan, three regions with different grazing intensity were selected after field observation and 27 soil samples were randomly taken along three 200-m transects. Soil samples ...
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To evaluate the effects of grazing on some physical and chemical properties of soil, in the summer rangelands of southern slopes of Sabalan, three regions with different grazing intensity were selected after field observation and 27 soil samples were randomly taken along three 200-m transects. Soil samples were taken from the depths of 15-0, 30-15 and 45-30 cm and transported to laboratory and soil properties such as texture, organic matter, organic carbon, phosphorus, potassium, EC and pH were measured. Analysis of variance and mean comparison were made using Duncan's test. Results showed that no significant difference was found for soil pH and phosphorus among the grazing intensity treatments and soil depths; however, significant differences were observed for other variables. The results showed that organic matter content decreased with increasing of grazing intensity and the lowest content was recorded for the 30-45 cm soil depth in the heavy grazing area. According to the results of this research it can be concluded that soil structure is degraded with increased grazing intensity; therefore, a balanced grazing need to be taken into account in summer rangelands to prevent soil degradation.
Amir Mirzaie Mousivand; Ardavan Ghorbani; Mohammad ali Zare Chahooki; Farshad Keyvan Behjoo; Kiomars Sefidi
Volume 24, Issue 4 , January 2018, , Pages 791-804
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of environmental factors on distribution of Prangos uloptera in rangelands of Ardabil province. The habitats of Prangos were identified and the habitats, in which the study species was present, were selected. Sampling was also carried out in the vicinity ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of environmental factors on distribution of Prangos uloptera in rangelands of Ardabil province. The habitats of Prangos were identified and the habitats, in which the study species was present, were selected. Sampling was also carried out in the vicinity of each habitat where the study species was not present. Three transects of 100-m length were established, on which canopy cover percentage and density of species were measured within 10 plots of 4m2. Soil samples were taken from the beginning, middle and end of each transect. In sampling places, altitude, slope, aspect, and soil characteristics were measured. Independent t test and cluster analysis were applied to comparison and classification of presence and non-presence areas and determination function was applied to determine the importance of factors affecting the presence of this species. The results of t test showed that there were significant differences between all variables except for temperature and precipitation. According to the results of cluster analysis, the studied species had more distribution in places with high altitude and steep slopes, high organic matter, and high nitrogen and sand. The results clearly showed that climatic parameters including precipitation and temperature as awell as altitude and sand percentage in the first grade and then aspect and soil characteristics including nitrogen and phosphorus in the second grade were the most important factors affecting the distribution of study species. According to the results, better decisions could be taken to use this species for range management, improvement and reclamation.
Fatemeh Alilou; farshad keivan Behjou; esmaeil sheidae karkaj; reza ahmadkhani; javad motamedi
Volume 24, Issue 3 , October 2017, , Pages 596-609
mina sadeghi; Farshad Keivan Behjou
Volume 24, Issue 2 , July 2017, , Pages 259-267
Abstract
Production rate in a community is the most important indicator to present the level of economic activity in that community which, on the one hand, depends on the extent to which the factors of production are available and, on the other hand, how these factors are combined to produce goods and services. ...
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Production rate in a community is the most important indicator to present the level of economic activity in that community which, on the one hand, depends on the extent to which the factors of production are available and, on the other hand, how these factors are combined to produce goods and services. This study was aimed to calculate rangeland economic rent related to the livestock products. The research method in this study was field-descriptive, and statistical population of present research consisted of rangeland exploiters of over 124 families. A randomized sampling was conducted in this research and the number of samples was calculated to be 124 families using Cochran formula. The data were collected using questionnaires. The results indicated that average income from livestock products in Kojenagh was 7861195.65 Tomans and benefit was calculated to be 291915000 after subtracting obvious and hidden costs. Economic rent related to livestock products was 62375 Tomans per hectare in year and rangeland expected value from livestock products regarding discounted rate of 10% was 6237.5 Tomans per hectare. Marketing margins related to livestock production was estimated to be 19 percent annually, and annual employment was about 16.
Amir Mirzaee Mousavand; Ehsan zandi esfahan; Farshad keyvan Behjoo
Volume 23, Issue 3 , January 2017, , Pages 606-617
Abstract
This research was aimed to investigate the effects of exclosure on species diversity changes under grazing and exclosure conditions in the northeast rangelands of Delfan County, Lorestan province. For this purpose, 120 quadrates of 1*1 m2 were established in a randomized-systematic method along 12 transects ...
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This research was aimed to investigate the effects of exclosure on species diversity changes under grazing and exclosure conditions in the northeast rangelands of Delfan County, Lorestan province. For this purpose, 120 quadrates of 1*1 m2 were established in a randomized-systematic method along 12 transects of 100 m length at four altitude classes (three transects on each altitude class). In each quadrate, the list of species, density, the percentage of canopy cover, litter, stone and gravel, and bare soil were recorded. To evaluate the numerical indices of diversity, Ecological Methodology software (Ver., 6.2) was used and numerical indices of diversity and evenness were calculated. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (Ver. 18). According to the obtained results, a number of 132 species were identified, belonging to 30 families and 104 genera, of which 124 and 108 species were recorded in the rangelands under exclosure and grazing conditions, respectively. Our results clearly showed higher numerical indices for richness, evenness, and species diversity under exclosure as compared with grazing condition. The canopy cover percentage of perennial grasses and forbs as well as litter percentage was higher inside the exclosure while the canopy cover percentage of annual grasses and shrubs as well as bare soil percentage was lower as compared with outside the exclosure. The density of perennial grasses and forbs increased, while the density of shrubs decreased inside the exclosure. In addition, a higher production was obtained from the rangeland under exclosure condition.
Fateme Aliloo; Farshad Keyvan behjou; javad moetamedi
Volume 22, Issue 4 , March 2015, , Pages 625-638
Abstract
The current study was aimed to investigate the relationship between the production of Artemisia aucheri and Agropyron trichophorum and their morphological features and providing regression models. For this purpose, three rangeland sites were selected in Dizaj Batchi and Ghotor Ranglands of Khoy. Stratified ...
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The current study was aimed to investigate the relationship between the production of Artemisia aucheri and Agropyron trichophorum and their morphological features and providing regression models. For this purpose, three rangeland sites were selected in Dizaj Batchi and Ghotor Ranglands of Khoy. Stratified random sampling was used within one square meter plots at 10-m intervals and along 100-m transects. Various regression models including one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and multiple regression models were applied. Among the significant models, the best model was selected at the species level based on model evaluation criteria. The results showed that each of the features investigated had a significant relationship with production. One-dimensional models demonstrated better results and crown diameter (D1) in both species, and all three range sites was chosen as the most efficient morphological feature in order to estimate production. According to the obtained results, suitable models were recommended for the study rangelands and study species.