فهرست مطالب الهام آبتین

The mugger crocodile is one of the most vulnerable species in the recent IUCN Red list classification. Most of the populations of the species are in decline and extirpation due to the threats caused by human activities. Nowadays, species distribution modeling plays an essential role in their conservational biology and ecological studies. However, considering the lack of such data on the mugger crocodile in Iran, this study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of the crocodile habitats in the country. Material and The watersheds of the Sarbaz and Kaju rivers in the Makran area are the westernmost part of the distribution range of the mugger crocodile, located in the southern part of Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Modeling the suitability of the crocodile habitats in this area was conducted using maximum entropy. The environmental variables of elevation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), temperature, rainfall, and the distance from urban and rural settlements‎, roads, and rivers were included in the study. To eliminate high correlation variables (<0.70), Pearson correlation test was used. By using Moran’s I, the lack of spatial autocorrelation between the presence data of the species was assured. Sensitivity and evaluation of the relative importance of each variable were done by the percent contribution and permutation importance of each variable. Also, the response curves of the variables and the jackknife test were calculated. Maximum training sensitivity plus specificity (MTSS) and equal training sensitivity and specificity (ETSS) were used as thresholds to classify the suitable regions. The amount of AUC was more than 0.8, indicating excellent ‎‎performance of the model. Based on the percent of contribution and permutation ‎importance of each variable and the results of the jackknife test, ‎the distance from the rivers, temperature and elevation were the most important variables. The threshold values of ETSS and MTSS were 0.52 and 0.18, respectively. According to the thresholds, the suitability of the habitat was classified into two suitable and unsuitable classes with an area of 312 and 1629 km2, respectively. Comparison of the thresholds in classification showed that ETSS is more accurate. Considering that the major part of the suitable habitats is located outside of the Gandou Protected Area, revision of the borders of the protected area is proposed as a suggestion for management for the conservation of this species. The study of the effect of dams on the crocodile habitat suitability in the area showed that dams increased the habitat suitability, but their negative impacts, like the loss of nesting sites, should be noted. Also, the fragmentation of the suitable habitats was obvious in the study, and considering the migration behavior of the species, corridors should also be included in conservation plans. Distance from the river, as the main variable determining the suitability of the mugger crocodile habitat, is affected by climatic fluctuations and the water amount. Conflicts between the crocodiles and local people for resources (water and food) as well as the immigration of crocodiles between separate habitat patches would be more severe in the warm seasons and drought situations. Therefore, in addition to revising the area of the protected area and conservation of the habitats, increasing species monitoring, public education and participation of local communities in the conservation actions would be essential.

Iranian black bear (Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus) (IBB) is a critically endangered subspecies in southeastern Iran which is threatened by population decline and habitat fragmentation. This study was carried out with the aim of identifying habitat blocks, habitat patches and habitat corridors of the IBB in Hormozgan province. Field survey was conducted to assess habitat blocks. Habitat modeling was carried out by using MaxEnt and habitat patches and habitat corridors were modelled by using CorridorDesigner. 9 habitat blocks were identified for the IBB in Hormozgan province. The largest population patch of the IBB was about 1041 km2 that covered the most important habitat block (i.e. Bashagard area). Habitat blocks of Bashagard area and Rudan area are linked by the most important and almost the highest length of corridor with about 70 km. Although the density of roads in the all habitat corridors was low (27.73 m/km2), most of habitat corridors were crossed by roads and roads create insecure condition for IBB movement through habitat corridors. Stepping stones, as the cover area for the IBBs, created 13% proportion of all habitat corridors. Conservation of main habitat blocks as well as habitat corridors of this endangered subspecies in Hormozgan province should be taken into consideration by the Department of Environment in Iran.

Due to the limited resources of water it is vital to investigate the quantity condition of reservoirs in order to plan for different usage of water as well as monitoring the sedimentation process. In this study the OLI sensor data from LANDSAT-8 satellite for Jan 2015 is used for producing Chah Nimeh water reservoir depth map and the map for the area around the lake. The water depths were measured with meter using boat. Water indices such as MNDWI, NDWI, AWEL, WRI and NDMI were generated using satellite data. By running simple linear regression between each index and field data the description coefficient R2 for water depth was calculated. Finally the water depth map was produced using MNDWI index which had the highest R2 equal to 0.85. The water depth map was produced using reclassifying of the MNDWI index. The map for the reservoir adjacent lands was generated using depth measuring results and hybrid image classification method. Results showed that the highest area are associated to 4-6m level depth. Map accuracy was assessed by producing error matrix which showed acceptable accuracy. Results showed that the map accuracy decreased with increase in water depth. The Z-TEST analysis showed however that in 0.01 level there was no significant difference between lowest depth map and deep water map accuracy.

As result of population growth, natural resource using have increased and biodiversity has decreased. The high rate of extinction has caused to more attention to vital values of species and this has led to protective measures in protective areas. Jazmorian is a seasonal wetland in the western Sistan and Balochestan province. It protects a lot of wildlife species, especially bird’s community in south east of Iran. In order to effective conservation of wildlife communities in Jazmorian wetland, the map of areas with high protected priority was created. At the first, land use and land cover map, was produced using Landsat 5, TM sensor image for April, 2010 using hybrid image classification method. For determining area with high conservation value, criteria’s were determined with collecting expert and local people idea using Delphi method and criteria’s were determined as four class distance from roads, residential areas, deep water and vegetation. AHP method was used to determine the criteria’s weight. For each criteria, distance maps were produced and then FUZZY functions were determined and turned to fuzzy maps. Then using multi-criteria evaluation and with weighted linear combination method, Fuzzy layers were combined and area with high conservation priority (safe zone area) were determined. Some area with lower than 10 hectares, which didn’t have effectiveness for proper protection management, using filtering method were removed. Finally near 10 percent of study area were determined as safe zone.

Wetlands are one of the most important ecosystems on the Earth that are a source of water supply and valuable habitat for plant and animals. This subject shows the necessity of these areas management. Hamoun wild life refuge is the biggest fresh water lake in Iran, which is viable for protection of wildlife, especially migratory birds, which has passed periods of drought between 1998 and 2008. In this study, in order to ecological zoning of Hamoun wildlife refuge, bird’s dependency to each part of the area studied by field studies. Land cover map was prepared using LANDSAT satellite TM data 2008. Land cover map was prepared in 5 classes. Wildlife use from any part of the study area and biological value investigated by field studies and attention to land cover effect on each other. Each cover class was ranked by attention to layers ecological importance. The map of Hamoun wild life refuge ecological importance was produced in 7 classes using several GIS techniques. First class has highest habitat value and final class has lowest protection value. The results showed that in the time of study, bar land which was 7th, habitat suitability class, was vastest class and then water body which was 3th habitat suitability class, had second area.

Land use and land cover changes are among the important factors in hydrologic system, erosion and biodiversity in protected area. Detecting the Land use/cover changes makes ecosystem management possible for protective objections. In this study for detecting the land use/cover changes in Hamoun wildlife refuge during past three decades, the satellite data were used. Images from 1987, 2001 and 2009 were used. Image correction was done with RSMe lower 0.54 pixel and land use/cover maps were produced using hybrid classification method. Vegetation map was produced using tasseldcap greenness index and field study, water, salt; and bare land maps were produced using normalize difference water index (NDWI) and PCA processing on satellite images. Merging of each layer land use/cover maps were prepared for each year. Changes were detected by post classification comparison approach. Results have shown that wetland has completely become dried in 2001 and during 1987 to 2001, because drought vegetation dramatically decreased and salt land increased. In 2009 the wetlands were filled with water in some areas and vegetation grew again and increased to 20% of total study area (from 6% in 2001); and the salt lands decreased from 39% in 2001 to 13% in 2009.

For determination and classification of Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) for Mugger (Crocodylus palustris), 10 areas indexes along the Sarbaz River, were measured with (HEP) method. In this study, 49 variables including: climatic characteristics, physical and chemical factors of soil and water habitats in 10 areas were measured monthly for one year. By using Pearson correlation test with 95 percent accuracy, we found that among 49 variables, the percentage of vegetation, slope habitats, existence of fish types and amphibians, EC and water depth are factors that have a key role for ‍Crocodiles habitat selection. Finally, the downstream area of Pishin dam with suitability number 1, (HSI = 1) as suitable habitat and Kalani pond with a suitability number 0.2 (HSI = 0.2) as unsuitable habitat were chosen for Mugger.