Farhad Aghajanlou; Peyman AKBARZADEH; alireza eftekhari
Volume 31, Issue 4 , January 2025, Pages 323-333
Abstract
IntroductionIncreasing awareness of the environment and efforts for sustainable management of natural resources require study and monitoring at different timescales and places. Continuous changes should be considered integral to any ecosystem. As natural ecosystems, Rangelands are not exempt from this ...
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IntroductionIncreasing awareness of the environment and efforts for sustainable management of natural resources require study and monitoring at different timescales and places. Continuous changes should be considered integral to any ecosystem. As natural ecosystems, Rangelands are not exempt from this issue. Therefore, Rangeland monitoring is a necessary part of the continuous investigation of these lands, considering their ecological importance, economic function, and potential for permanent changes.Research MethodologyIn order to monitor the trend and intensity of changes in the vegetation cover and soil indicators of the Rangelands over a 5-year period, ground data were evaluated and monitored at dagestan, a site in Zanjan province. The measurement of ground information includes plant and soil factors. Plant factors include the percentage canopy cover of the plant species, the percentage of leaf litter, the density of plant species (in the areas and species that can be investigated), the production of plant species, the condition of the Rangeland, and the tendency of the Rangeland. Evaluation was performed using an appropriate method with sufficient samples and proper distribution in different plant communities during Rangeland preparation and repetition. Soil factors include acidity, electrical conductivity, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic matter, apparent specific gravity, and soil texture.Results and discussionThe results of the statistical analysis of the measurement of vegetation changes and its effect on soil indicators under the influence of two modes of grazing and flood during a 5-year period were evaluated; The results showed a significant difference between most of the indicators, and in this regard, the amount of total crown coverage and the amount of total production of the Rangeland between the studied years and the type of site were significantly different at the 1% and 5% probability levels, respectively. The highest amount of vegetation cover (56%) was in the grazed area in 2018 and the lowest amount was in the Preserve site (30%) in 1400. The highest total production was at the Preserve site (126 grams per square meter) in 2018, whereas the lowest amount (48.7 grams per square meter) was produced at the preserve Site at 1400. The results of the total species density analysis indicated that there were no significant differences between years and site types, but an interaction was observed between site types and years. However, by comparing the average values of the data, we found that the density of shrubs outside preserveWas higher than that of the grass inside the arq, and the difference was significant. Vegetation under the influence of two types of flooding and grazing can influence some parameters related to soil indicators. The study of the soil in the area under the influence of grazing pressure showed that the increase in the intensity of grazing has caused a decrease in the amount of potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, organic carbon and electrical conductivity of the soil surface.ConclusionIn general, during the 5-year period, changes in vegetation due to grazing were significant, and the reduction in vegetation had a significant effect on the physical and chemical properties of soil. According to the results, the process of vegetation change in the studied area was slow and was influenced by rangeland management methods. As a result, examining the qualitative and quantitative changes in Rangeland vegetation in certain time intervals and being aware of their conditions is an important part of planning and applying Proper management is the exploitation of rangelands.
Rostam Moslempour; Reza Yari; Seyedeh Mahboubeh Mirmiran
Volume 31, Issue 4 , January 2025, Pages 334-344
Abstract
Background and objectives: Desert ecosystems usually receive less attention in carbon sequestration studies due to their low vegetation cover and limited carbon sequestration. However, since more than a third of the earth's surface covers 55% of the total area of Iran and more than 50% of the area of ...
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Background and objectives: Desert ecosystems usually receive less attention in carbon sequestration studies due to their low vegetation cover and limited carbon sequestration. However, since more than a third of the earth's surface covers 55% of the total area of Iran and more than 50% of the area of South Khorasan province, so they can be a significant carbon storage place. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the carbon sequestration by six desert species: Calligonum polygonoides, Seidlitzia rosmarinus, Artemisia sieberi, Stipagrostis pennata, Salsoa richteri and Zygophyllum eurypterum in the rangeland of Ferdows.
Methodology: In this Study, 30 plots of four square meters were randomly established in Calligonum polygonoides, Seidlitzia rosmarinus, Zygophyllum eurypterum and Salsoa richteri and in Artemisia sieberi and Stipagrostis pennata habitats, 30 plots of two square meters were randomly established and the canopy percentage and plant density were estimated in each plot. Vegetation cover and plant density were estimated in each plot. In the same plots, the soil profile was dredged down to a depth of 70 cm under the canopy, and the soil sample was taken and transported to the laboratory. By estimating the percentage of soil organic carbon (using the Walkley-Black method) and bulk density of the soils (using the paraffin method), the amount of soil carbon sequestration was finally measured. The data was used in the form of a completely random design, and Tukey's test was used to compare the means at the five percent probability level. The Shapiro-Wilk and Bartlett tests were used to check whether residual value variances were normal and homogeneous. The data obtained from the results of the experiments were analyzed using R software.
Results: In general, the results showed that the highest amount of soil organic carbon was observed in Salsoa richteri and Artemisia sieberi habitats and the lowest amount was observed in Seidlitzia rosmarinus habitat. The highest amount of bulk density was observed in Calligonum polygonoides habitats. The results of the analysis of variance showed that the effect of the habitat on soil carbon sequestration is significant (p<0.01) and the amount of this effect is moderate to high (ηp2 between 0.10 and 0.47). The highest and lowest amount of carbon sequestration was observed in Zygophyllum eurypterum (28.66 tons per hectare) and Seidlitzia rosmarinus (12.80 tons per hectare habitats, respectively. Also, in terms of the percentage of vegetation, a significant difference was observed between habitats. The highest and lowest of vegetation cover percentage was obtained in Zygophyllum eurypteru (36.84%) and Seidlitzia rosmarinus (10.15%) habitats, respectively. Seidlitzia rosmarinus habitat had the lowest amount of soil organic carbon and also the highest percentage of vegetation, and compared to other plants, it produced the lowest amount of carbon sequestration. The highest and lowest plant density was obtained in the Stipagrostis pennata and Zygophyllum eurypterum habitats, respectively. Despite the high organic carbon in the soil of its habitat, Salsoa richteri plant also had low carbon sequestration due to the low density and percentage of vegetation cover. The results of correlation analysis show that there is a positive and significant relationship between vegetation percentage and carbon sequestration (p<0.01), but no significant relationship was observed between plant density and carbon sequestration (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The amount of carbon sequestration was different depending on the percentage of vegetation and there was a positive and significant relationship between the percentage of vegetation and the amount of carbon sequestration, while no relationship was observed between the amount of vegetation density and carbon sequestration. So, in this study, Zygophyllum eurypterum habitat produced the highest percentage of vegetation cover and carbon sequestration, and Seidlitzia rosmarinus habitat had the lowest percentage of vegetation cover and carbon sequestration. Therefore, the vegetation percentage parameter can be used to estimate carbon sequestration. In other words, in the habitats that have bushy and shrubby plants, it is possible to estimate the amount of carbon sequestration based on the canopy percentage.
morteza Khodagholi; Razieh Saboohi; Alireza Eftekhari; Mina Bayat
Volume 31, Issue 4 , January 2025, Pages 345-355
Abstract
Background and purpose:
Increasing awareness of the environment and efforts for sustainable management of natural resources require study and monitoring in different time scales and places. Continuous changes should be considered as an inseparable part of any ecosystem. As natural ecosystems, rangelands ...
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Background and purpose:
Increasing awareness of the environment and efforts for sustainable management of natural resources require study and monitoring in different time scales and places. Continuous changes should be considered as an inseparable part of any ecosystem. As natural ecosystems, rangelands are not exempt from this issue. So that rangeland monitoring is necessary in the sense of continuous investigation of these lands with regard to the ecological importance, economic functions and constant changes of these resources. Access to such data is extremely important both for national planning and for the use of rangelands, and it provides the basis for the use of advanced facilities such as remote sensing. Based on this, in order to monitor the trend and intensity of changes in vegetation cover and soil indicators of rangelands for 4 years at the Goorab site located in Isfahan province, it was evaluated and monitored.
Materials and methods:
The site of Goorab Fereydoonshahr Isfahan is located 230 kilometers west of Isfahan city and 35 kilometers west of Fereydoonshahr city. Plant factors including canopy cover of plant species and production rate of plant species and percentage of dead leaves were evaluated. Evaluation was done in the first year by random-systematic method and in the following years systematically with sufficient number of samples and appropriate distribution of samples in the plant type determined at the time of rangeland preparation. Soil sampling was done in the
Results:
The results showed that the 4-year average vegetation canopy cover percentage of Goorab site is about 42.2%, and the highest and lowest coverage is 59.4% in 1398 and 31.6% in 1400, respectively. The production rate is 1374.2 kg of dry matter per hectare. The production, like the canopy cover percentage, shows a lot of changes during the 4-year evaluation at the Goorab site, so that in 2019, the production reached 1957 kg per hectare, and in 2021, it decreased by 50% compared to 2019 to 955.7 kg per hectare. The results of the correlation and regression test also showed that the amount of precipitation in the growing season had the highest correlation with the amount of crown cover and production of plants in the region.
Conclusion:
Considering the importance of rangelands, both in terms of production and in terms of environmental values and services they provide to the society, studying the changes of rangelands in terms of the aforementioned factors and knowing the factors of those changes will be an effective help in developing a basic management plan and sustainable use of rangelands.
Hamed Joneidi; Neda Ragideh; Parviz Karami
Volume 31, Issue 4 , January 2025, Pages 346-356
Abstract
Background and objectives
Allelopathy refers to the direct and indirect harmful effects of one plant on another. These effects occur through the production of allelochemical compounds and their release into the environment, causing stimulation or inhibition. Considering the importance of the ecological ...
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Background and objectives
Allelopathy refers to the direct and indirect harmful effects of one plant on another. These effects occur through the production of allelochemical compounds and their release into the environment, causing stimulation or inhibition. Considering the importance of the ecological relationships of the two species Daphne mucronata and Amygdalus lycioides as one of the most important and suitable plants for implementing rangeland improvement projects in the region, it is essential to examine their allelopathic relationships in order to achieve the results of improvement programs.
Methodology
In order to investigate the separation factors of D.mucronata and A.lycioides habitats, the effect of the allelopathic D. mucronata was studied on the early seedlings of Amygdalus Lycioides seeds. An experiment was conducted in an entirely randomized design with 20 iterations to investigate the allelopathic Daphne effects on germination (percentage and velocity, plumule growth, early growth indices (seed vigor, percentage deterrence, average germination time, mean germination time) and A. lycioides seeds. Test treatments were accomplished with the ratio of 0 (control), 20, 40, 60 and 80 percentages for both root and leaf extracts in experiment in a plate and germinator. Data analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA. Duncan test was used for grouping these treatments. All statistical analyses were performed in SPSS software.
Result
According to the results, the allelopathic effect was observed in D. mucronata leaf extract in concentrations of 60 and 80% and D. mucronata root extract in all concentrations. D. mucronata leaf extract in concentrations of 60 and 80% decreased germination (by 6.5% and 13%, respectively), root length (by 20.1% and 26.2%, respectively) and inhibition percentage (respectively). 6.8 and 13.6 percent). The greatest effect of D. mucronata root extract on A.lycioides seeds was observed at a concentration of 80%, which decreased the germination percentage (69%), root length (93.01), inhibition percentage (73%) and average germination time (9.2%). and germination speed (12.42%).
The root extract showed more allelopathic effect than the leaf. Also, in both root and leaf extracts, the allelopathic effect increased with increasing concentration. Finally, these investigations showed that the effect of allelopathy is one of the factors that played a significant role in the separation of daphne and almond habitats in a region. This finding indicates that when implementing rangeland improvement projects, especially biological operations in similar areas using these two species, ecological considerations should be taken into account in terms of the harmful effects of these two species on each other to increase the likelihood of success of such projects.
Elham Fakhimi; Touraj Mokhtarpour; Javad Moetamedi; Golnaz Taasoli; Hamzeh Ali Shirmardi; Yaghoub Iranmanesh; Mohsen Habibi
Volume 31, Issue 4 , January 2025, Pages 357-368
Abstract
Background and objectives
Gandoman wetland is one of the top ten wetlands in Iran, Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari province. This wetland is an important system that contains a vast array of plants and animals and help regulate the climate, as well as provide flood and erosion control, while at the same time ...
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Background and objectives
Gandoman wetland is one of the top ten wetlands in Iran, Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari province. This wetland is an important system that contains a vast array of plants and animals and help regulate the climate, as well as provide flood and erosion control, while at the same time storing and recycling nutrients. Unfortunately, in recent years, due to human interventions, climate changes and improper management, many changes have occurred in this wetland. Therefore, in order to economically value their services and functions, and consequently to optimally utilize vegetation cover and achieve a sustainable management plan, these changes must be identified and evaluated. This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating vegetation cover indicators (percentage of canopy cover and biomass of different habitats of Gandoman Wetland.
Material and methods
For this purpose, different types of the vegetation cover of the wetland were identified. Three transects with a length of 100 m were installed in each plant community. Depending on the plant community and the vegetation cover distribution and the distances between plant points were 50 to 100 meters. Each transacts contain three plots 1×1 were identified. Totally, 30 plot 1×1 were installed in each plant community and the percentage of canopy cover, aerial biomass of plant species, bare soil percentage, density and litter were estimated. The double-sampling method and relationship between the percentages of canopy cover with aerial biomass of plant species of plant species were estimated for forage yield.
Results
The results showed that there are five types of plants in the wetland. Phragmites australis-Carex riparia was frequent dominant species in the Gandoman wetland with an area about 52.90 ha. Wetland vegetation cover was 76.02 percentage and total forage yield was equal to 1695.52 grams per square meter. The greatest forage yield was belonged to Phragmites australis species (2986.7 grams per square meter).
Conclusion
In general, considering the significant amount of aerial biomass of plant types, it is recommended, In order to optimally utilize the productive plant cover and also maintain the sustainable balance of the Gandoman Wetland, plant types have been segmented and areas with plants in danger of extinction are fully protected and in areas with high density of vegetation and high susceptibility to fire, balanced, selective, and periodic harvesting methods should be used to create fire suppression, while taking into account environmental considerations.
Kazem Saedi
Volume 31, Issue 4 , January 2025, Pages 369-381
Abstract
Background and objectives: Producing basic knowledge about a rangeland ecosystem is a necessary instrument for any management practice in rangelands. This study is one of the prior attempts to determine vulnerability or persistence of key species in response to grazing in Saral rangeland, Kurdistan province, ...
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Background and objectives: Producing basic knowledge about a rangeland ecosystem is a necessary instrument for any management practice in rangelands. This study is one of the prior attempts to determine vulnerability or persistence of key species in response to grazing in Saral rangeland, Kurdistan province, Iran.
Methodology: For assessing clipping (simulated grazing) effects on important species Ferula haussknechtii, a 0.5 ha exclosure established before 2007 growing season in Zardawan paddock. Inside the exclosure, 40 plants selected of which 10 replications allocated to a specific treatment of ocular clipping of the 20-40, 40-60, and 60-80% of aboveground annual growth. For a precise clipping intensity, the whole clipped and the rest of the forage after the sleeping stage were caculated.10 replications were assigned as control (unclipped) plants. The grazing season in the traditional livestock grazing system called "Shagaldari" is about 3-4 months. Clippings were done every month for the three-month current grazing season in April, May and June. Monthly-clipped plant materials were dried to calculate the accurate clipping intensity as well as the residues of all plants (except controls) at the end of growth season. Each year, vigor, mortality, plant maximum height, yield, and reproductive shoot number measured or estimated. This was done for 4 years. In the fifth year, to monitor the effects of clipping treatments in the resting growing season, these attributes were measured without clipping. Split plot in time was used as the statistical design. During these four years, only one case of death was recorded among the 40 selected plants. Duncan's multiple range test was used to compare the means.
Results: Mean density of the species in the studied exclosure area was 0.41 plants per m2 and in some patches make it was dominant species and sometimes the main species of the vegetation composition. The results showed that only one of the treated plants was dead. None of the clipping treatments resulted to a death case or even decrease in their vigors. The plants that were clipped in different intensities produce the similar weight of annual yields, had the similar final heights (P ≥ 0.01). The interaction treatment×yaer was significant for annual aboveground yield (P ≤ 0.001) but not significant for final height (P ≥ 0.05).
Conclusion: The high density of the species in the ranch, despite the high palatability, indicates the resistance of the plant to livestock grazing. In confirmation of this issue, the treatment of harvesting the annual growth of aerial parts with an intensity of about 70% could not damage the plant. However, the results clearly showed that the rest year should be included in the grazing system of this species. A rest grazing system is an unavoidable necessity for seed production. This species is very important in the indigenous knowledge of ranch management, especially in the traditional grazing system of "Shagaldari". Also, considering the high palatability of the species for native sheep, the abundant presence of the species is a sign of the health of the rangeland and the closeness of the plant community to its climax.