m. r. ashrafzadeh

Specialized species living in high mountain areas face more threats compared to species living in low altitudes, primarily due to habitat destruction or fragmentation and climate change.The Caspian snowcock is a  species with a specialized ecological niche and serves as an indicator of mountain ecosystems. Despite the high sensitivity of this species to habitat changes and its role as an umbrella or flagship species in mountainous areas, there is a scarcity of data on the ecology of this species. In the current study, we predicted the geographical range of this bird using 262 presence localities and 10 environmental and anthropogenic variables within an ensemble framework, resulting from five modeling algorithms. Based on the ensemble model, about 96527.4 km2 (5.8%) of the country was identified as a suitable habitat for the Caspian snowcock. Potential habitats of the species appeared to be strongly influenced by topographical roughness (30.02), average annual temperature (29.61), altitude (18.57), and isothermality (14.14). About 16.04% and 23.13% of the predicted suitable range overlapped with no-hunting  and protected areas. It is suggested that effective conservation measures should be taken by focusing on the possible threats caused by human activities, including the development of tourism infrastructure, road networks, overgrazing, and poaching.

Human fear of large carnivores can affect human willingness to share the landscape with these species. Also, fear has the potential to influence decision-making processes and the implementation of management interventions. People who fear of large carnivores show more opposition to protect these carnivores and are more likely to support killing them. This study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the fear of local communities toward brown bears in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. In order to find out the attitude of the local communities towards the bear, a specialized questionnaire was designed and the sample size was estimated at 332, using Cochran's formula. Social network analysis was used to assess the vulnerability of local communities towards brown bears. Based on the results, inadequate knowledge of local communities about bears leads to fear and behavioral changes, when facing this species. Efforts to reduce the human fear of bears should be focused on communication with local people. In order to reduce the conflict between human and bears, it is recommended to increase knowledge and awareness of local communities about the brown bear behavior along with other management measures.

Although turtles are the most threatened taxonomic group within the reptile class, we have a very limited understanding of how turtles respond to climate change. Here, we evaluated the effects of climate changes on the geographical distribution of Caspian pond turtle (Mauremys caspica). We used an ensemble approach by combining six species distribution models including artificial neural network, generalized boosted model, generalized linear model, flexible discriminant analysis, random forest and multivariate adaptive regression splines. To predict the future distribution, modelling projection of MRI-CGCM3 was used for the year 2070 under four scenarios of representative concentration pathways (RCP). Based on the findings, the suitable habitat of Caspian pond turtle was estimated to be about 835941 km2 (about 8.73%) of the study area. Our model projections showed that about 26 to 33% of the current suitable habitats will be unsuitable by 2070 due to climate change. The annual precipitation (24.56%), precipitation of wettest quarter (24.28%), precipitation seasonality (16.93%) and temperature seasonality (14.64%) had the highest contribution to model performance of Caspian pond turtles. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive understanding of the complex effects of climate change on the species, specially turtles.

The Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus, as a globally endangered species, is significantly affected by conflicts with human, leading to the decline of this species population. Availability of food resources is known as one of the most important factors affecting the distribution of the Egyptian vulture. In this study, we employed an ensemble modelling approach to predict the  suitability of the  foraging habitat for the Egyptian vulture based on seven distribution modelling algorithms. According to our results, suitable foraging habitats for this bird accounted for about 4.19% (1021.40 km2) of the study area, of which only approximately 31.92% (326 km2) was covered by the conservation areas. Livestock density (31.82%), the presence of wild ungulates (15.36%), distance to dump sites (14.77%), landcover (12.46%) and elevation (11.85%) made the highest contribution to the ensemble model of this species. Our results indicated that Egyptian vultures mainly rely on dump sites, nomadic areas and livestock farming sites, thereby reflecting the vulture's tendency to livestock carcasses. Thus, it is important to develop effective strategies for proper monitoring and managing human activities in these areas.

Genus Acomys comprising 14 species from mouse like rodents and substituted in Murinae subfamily. The aim of this research was surveying external, cranial and dental character differences among diverse populations of Acomys dimidiatus in Minab, Boushehr and Geno biosphere reserve. Sampling was performed during summer 2003 and 2005. Total of 52 species were collected from mentioned sites. The results of ANOVA revealed a significant differences of all characters between study areas except Length of Diastema and Length of anterior Palatine foramina. Analysis of PCA showed Khaeez and Jam samples (Boushehr region) was stand in separated group and had a positive relationship with second axis. These samples were similar by Cranial Width. Minab samples had an optimistic association with Occipitonasal Length, Condylobasal Length, Zygomatic Length and Length of Mandible. Some of Geno samples were similar to Minab samples but others were disparted because of negative relationship with Occipitonasal Length, Condylobasal Length, Zygomatic Length and LM characters. Comparisons of cranial characteristics revealed importance of Occipitonasal Length and Condylobasal Length to distinct populations. Our results suggested mentioned morphometric characters as a good index to separate individuals from different areas.

In this study، we investigated the importance of vegetation and elevation in the determination of the diversity and abundance of rodents in Geno Biosphere Reserve، Hormozgan Province. The study area was divided into seven plant types and four elevation classes. The binary similarity coefficients were used for the investigation of the plant types similarity base on the presence of rodents. The maximum similarity obtained between Ac. +Ziz. +Pros.، plant type and Zyg. +Gym. +Euph. +Con.، plant type and minimum similarity obtained between Euph. +Gym. +Con.، plant type and Ac. +Ziz. +Pros.، plant type. To study the correlation of rodents abundance with plant types and elevation، X2 Test was used that showed a significant difference. The maximum abundance of rodents was on? 1500 meter elevation and Amig. +Pist. + Junip.، plant type، while the least abundance found on? 1000 meter elevation and Ham. + Sal. + Gym.، plant type. Also، the maximum diversity of rodents was on? 1000 meter elevation and Ac. +Ziz. +Pros.، plant type، while the least diversity found on? 500 meter elevation and Pros. +Ziz. +Ac.، plant type.