فهرست مطالب sahar ghafari

Remote sensing data provide a high ability to represent habitat characteristics and use in species distribution models. The purpose of this study is to determine the most important of remote sensing predictors, including climatic indices (precipitation and temperature), primary and secondary topographic indices (elevation, slope, direction, Topographic Position Index (TPI) and Terrain Roughness Index (TRI) and remote sensing indices (Global Environmental Monitoring Index (GEMI), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Modified Simple Ratio Index (MSR), Normalized Burn Ratio Index (NBR) and Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI)) using two species distribution models (Boosted Regression Tree and Random Forest) to predict the presence of J. excelsa in Khalkhal County of Ardabil province and northern part of Zanjan province using SAHM software. The evaluation of prediction models using AUC chart (Area under curve) showed that it is at an excellent level for both the BRT model (0.991) and the RF model (0.974). The most important affecting habitat desirability based on the BRT method include annual precipitation, slope, digital elevation model, temperature, GEMI index and TRI index variables respectively. The most important variables affecting habitat desirability based on the RF method, respectively, include annual precipitation, digital elevation model, GEMI index, slope, VARI index, temperature, MSR index, TRI index, TPI index, NBR index, MNDWI index, LAI index and aspect. The region mapped in the study as suitable habitats’ for the species could be used in the planning strategies with the aim of evaluating the susceptible habitats, the possibility of conservation, reproduction and breeding. Considering that the modeling method choice is the main source of variability in predictions and choosing the best prediction model is not simple, therefore, it is suggested to use a combination of these models instead of relying on the outputs of a single model.

Research on wound healing agents is a developing area in biomedical sciences. Traditional Persian medicine is one of the holistic systems of medicine providing valuable information on natural remedies. Foeniculum vulgare mill has analgesic, healing, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. This study evaluated the effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of Foeniculum vulgare mill leaves on skin wound repair.Wounds were induced on 60 rats in four groups, control, nitrofurazone treatment, user ointment, and treated with Foeniculum vulgare mill the 10%onitment extract. The treatment was performed daily, until day 21 after wound induction. Wound closure was measured and the features of the repaired tissue were investigated by histopathology in 7, 14, and 21 days after wound induction, including epithelization, inflammation, collagen deposition, angiogenesis, and fibroblasts.The histopathological findings show that the Foeniculum vulgare mill Group and nitrofurazone group have significant differentiation from the control and user groups. Day 7 in collagen and fibroblast factors showed significant differentiation. Day 14 in epithelization factor and day 21 in collagen fibroblast and inflammation factors showed significant differentiation.Therefore, the ability of anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and antibacterial parameters of the Foeniculum vulgare mill could be suggestible effective for the treatment of wounds.

Aim :

This study was conducted to investigate the association between plant species diversity indices with topographic variables in the rangelands of Hir county, Ardabil Province, Iran.

Materials & Methods:

 Random-systematic sampling was performed in three elevation profiles at 11 sites. The elevation was divided into five classes, slope into three classes, and aspect into four classes. Indices of plant species richness, Margalef’s, Menhinick’s, Hill evenness, density, and dominance were calculated. Indices in different classes of topographic variables were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's mean comparison.

Findings:

 Results showed that the highest value of the Shannon-Wiener indices was observed in the elevation class of 1800-2000 meters above sea level (masl). The highest values of plant species evenness, richness, and diversity of Simpson’s and Shannon-Wiener were related to the slope of 0-20%. The values of species richness indices and dominance in the southwest direction, and Menhinick’s richness in the northwest direction, were higher than the other directions. At the level of Plant Functional Types (PFTs), the highest amount of evenness is at the grasses PFT and elevation classes of 1800-2000 and 2400-2600 masl. The maximum amount of Hill evenness at the shrub PFT and slope of 40-60%. The highest amount of Margalef’s richness and Shannon-Wiener plant diversity was in the forbs PFT and in the southwest direction.

Conclusion:

 According to the results, elevation, and slope have the greatest effect and the aspects of the slope have the least effect on the diversity of plant species in the region.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of environmental factors on the plant composition and diversity in QezelOzan - Kosar rangelands of Ardabil province, Iran in 2016. Eight sites with elevation ranging from 900 to 2100 meters above sea level were selected, and three 100-m transects with 10 plots of 1 m2 were established along each one. Species were collected from the plots and their vegetative forms were determined and the factors related to the frequency of species were recorded. Forbs frequency were determined as 2.1% to 33.3%, shrubs 0.4% to 29.2% and grasses 0.4% to 46.7%. Along each transect, a soil sample was collected from depths of 0 to 30 cm. Then, some soil properties such as pH, Electrical Conductivity, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Magnesium, Calcium Carbonate equivalent, Organic carbon and Soil texture were determined. Vegetation ordination analysis including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), redundancy analysis (RDA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were performed in Canoco4.5 and PC-ORD5 software. Results of PCA showed organic carbon with eigenvector values of (0.42), nitrogen (0.41) and elevation (0.37) were important factors influencing the distribution of plants. CCA showed that elevation with eigenvector values of (0.37), potassium (0.35) and clay (0.44) were the most effective ones in forbs and grass distribution, potassium with eigenvector values of (0.35), pH (0.58) and organic carbon (0.42) were the most important factors. RDA in shrubs distribution also showed slope with eigenvector values of (0.44), elevation (0.37) and sand percent (0.46) were the most important factors. By doing this research, the basic knowledge of the ecological requirements in the rangelands of these areas was obtained. Thus, by the increase of technical knowledge, some activities can be done to protect, systematically exploit and restore the degraded areas.

By evaluating land use change and land cover, it is possible to plan and land manage to reduce the impact of alteration and degradation of exploitations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate land use changes in Ardabil province between 1987 and 2015 using Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor of Landsat 5 and Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor of Landsat 8 satellite images. Firstly, the efficiency of the object-based classification method was evaluated using ground control points, error matrix, and comparing total accuracy and kappa coefficients for the resulting maps. Total accuracy and Kappa coefficients for 1987 were 82.3% and 0.70, and 2015 were 94% and 0.90, respectively. Change detection results showed that from 1987 to 2015, rangelands decreased by 4.2%, equivalent to 75039.3 hectares and forests decreased by 0.5%, equivalent to 9393.7 hectares compared to the total province area and irrigation farming increased by 3.1%, equivalent to 55276.8 hectares, residential areas increased by 0.8%, equivalent to 14989.7 hectares and dry farming increased by 0.7%, equivalent to 12632.4 hectares compared to the total province area. The most significant changes that occurred from 1987 to 2015 were the conversion of rangelands to dry farming with 13.8%, equivalent to 141794.2 hectares and irrigation farming lands with 4.8%, equivalent to 49836.9 hectares of rangelands, irrigation farming to dry farming with 7.7%, equivalent to 11464.8 hectares and forests to rangelands with 6.1%, equivalent to 1059.9 hectares which indicate that the requirement of a serious revision of the management policies.

This study aims at comparing the performance of MaxEnt and logistic regression in preparing the predictive habitat distribution map of Thymus kotschyanus and determining the factors affecting in the northern of Ardabil Province rangelands. 28 sites were selected and at each site, three transects with a length of 100 m and on each transect ten 1m2 plots were established. Soil samples were taken digging of nine soil profiles and samples taked from 0-15 and 15-30 cm depths. Geostatistical techniques were used to provide the soil maps. Digital elevation model was used to prepare the topography maps as a data layer. The Landscape metrics using Fragstats was calculated. Model accuracy in MaxEnt method was evaluated by using the AUC. By jackknife method and response curve, the most important environmental predictor variables were found. Model accuracy in logistic regression method is evaluated by using Hosmer and Lemshow Statistic and ROC. Then predictive distribution maps were produced. The Kappa coefficient index was used to evaluate the accuracy of the distribution maps. Based on logistic regression model, potassium of the 2th depth, aggregation index (positive correlation), slope and bare soil were the negative correlations and based on MaxEnt model, clay of the first depth, patch area (coefficient of variation), slope are the most influential factors affecting the presence of this species in this habitat. T.kotschyanus is widespread on light-textured soils (clay<15%), potassium (<18 meq/L), Silt (<20%) and high elevation (300-2700 meters above sea level), and slope (35-55%). Based on kappa coefficient, logistic regression model was able to predict the habitat distribution of studied species at the good level (kappa= 0.64) and MaxEnt had in intermediate level (kappa 0.42). These results indicate that the logistic regression model is more accurate.

In this study, changes in species diversity, richness, evenness and dominance of rangeland plants were investigated using Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, Menhinick, Margalef and Hill indices in the elevation gradient from the near Ghezel Ozen river rangelands to the highlands of Kosar county in Ardabil province. In this elevation gradient, eight habitats were selected from the near of Qezel Ozen River to the highlands and three 100-meter transects were located in each habitat and then samples were collected from ten 1 or 25 m2 (only on site two) along each transect. Species were collected from each plot and then identified and their plant functional types were determined and, in each plot, canopy cover percentage and density of species were recorded. Diversity, richness, evenness indices and dominance of species were calculated at the total level of plants and one-way anova and Duncanchr('39')s test were used to compare the differences between the sites. The results showed that changes in elevation, slope and aspect had a significant effect on diversity, richness, evenness indices and dominance at the total level of plants, but at the level of plant functional types, elevation on forbs and grasses was not significant, but in shrubs, except Menhinick richness index, which was significant, the effect of slope and aspect had fluctuations. The results of comparing the values of the indices showed that the highest dominance was observed in the elevation class of 937-965 m and the indices of diversity, richness and evenness were observed in the elevation class of 1635-1677 m for total plants. The highest dominance was observed in slope class 30-45%, diversity and evenness indices were observed in 45-60% class and richness in 0-15% class. Moreover, the highest dominance was observed in western aspect, and diversity, richness and evenness indices were calculated in northeastern aspect for total plants. In general, it can be concluded that due to the severity of the use of low altitude rangelands, the diversity and richness of the species have decreased, while in higher altitudes, due to reduced livestock populations and improved climatic conditions, indices have mostly increased. Therefore, according to the results of this study, changes in the indices of species diversity, richness and evenness can be used as a criterion to improve the rangelands condition in the study area, as well as to adopt appropriate management plans.

Assessing the process of land use and land cover (LULC) changes leads to a clear understanding of how humans and the environment interact. Landscape metrics can be used as a basis for comparing different scenarios of landscape or recognizing changes and developments in landscape over time. The use of landscape metrics, while saving time, makes it possible to assess the environmental impact of human activities in the shortest time. Population growth in recent decades, the region's high potential for farming, rising expectations and higher demand for income, low employment rates, tourism in the region, the development of communication routes, as well as inappropriate decisions in recent years have led to many changes in Ardabil province. Given the ecological importance of the study area, it seems that the analysis of the relationship between landscape metrics and LULC changes of Ardabil province in the period 1987 to 2015 is a way to quantify the impact of these changes on the landscape.

In this study, the data of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor (1987) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor (2015) were used in a 28-year period to evaluate the trend of LULC changes in Ardabil province. In order to accuracy assessment and geometric correction of LULC maps, 1:25000 topographic maps of the National Cartographic Center of Iran were used. After preparing LULC change maps, LULC metrics were extracted using the FRAGSTATS software. In order to avoid the production of additional information, based on the literature review and expert knowledge, and according to the appropriateness of the criteria with the aim of studying and paying attention to the correlation between there, a set of landscape metrics related to LULC change was extracted. Then, the index of class area (CA), percentage of landscape (PL), number of patches (NP), mean patch size (MPS), edge density (ED), largest patch index (LPI), total edge(TE) and patch density (PD) were calculated and their relationship to LU/LC changes was analyzed by comparative analysis method.

The biggest change in the mean patch size of LULC in the period of 1987 to 2015 (75186 and 1164.354 hectares, respectively) is related to rangelands with a decreasing trend. Population growth in recent years and the resulting to decrease distances between urban and rural areas, low-density construction, transportation network development, and strip or linear growth have led to an increase in the number of man-made patches over time. Moreover, in order to access the living needs, Due to the climatic potential there is an increase in farmlands by changing rangelands throughout the region, especially in the north (Parsabad and Bilesvar counties) and south (Khalkhal county) of Ardabil province, which reduces the percentage of rangelands (From 58.17 to 53.89%). In fact, the process of rangelands change is fragmented, which reduces the mean patch size and, in other words, reduces the stability of the rangelands. On the other hand, man-made land use types have spread in a very heterogeneous and inappropriate way in Ardabil province, which has increased the common border with natural patch and as a result has increased the influence on natural patch (forests and rangelands) and further destroyed them. The increase in class area, largest patch index, total edge, patch density and number of patches of water bodies in the period 1987 to 2015 are due to the increased construction of dams in this period. The increase in requirement and the desire to produce more, and on the other hand the availability of water resources in this period, has changed the rangelands to farmlands (irrigated farming) and as a result, the development of agricultural levels in the region. On the other hand, with the increase of water resources in the province, in the largest patch index of the patches occurred during the study period in dry farming lands. Evaluation of the number of patches showed that the biggest change during the period 1987 to 2015 was related to dry farming class with an increasing trend (2651 patches), which due to human population growth in recent decades, high potential of the region for agriculture and increasing expectations and demand to earn money, this increase indicates the fragmentation and disruption of the landscape, which has resulted in a decrease in forest and rangelands and an increase in farmland land uses. The highest changes in edge density in the period 1987 to 2015 are related to rangelands with an increasing trend (11.78 m/ha) and the lowest change in edge density is related to the forest with an increasing trend (0.66 m/ha). Comparison of edge density showed that the expansion of man-made lands and the increase in agricultural land use (dry and irrigated farming) have increased the edge density of rangeland patches and have been fragmented more than other. The increase in the agriculture level due to the joining of the patches to each other has caused the decrease in the number of patches and the increase in the mean patch size due to the reduction of fragmentation. From the increase in the number of patches in the study period (from 20065 to 23802 patches), it can be concluded that due to human intervention and occupation, the tendency of land appearance in Ardabil province is towards fine-grained structure and the number of man-made artificial and semi-natural patches which has reduced forest and rangelands. The results showed that residential and farmlands (dry and irrigated farming) during the study period had a perfectly aligned change trend, while the reverse trend with forest and rangelands, which can be due to the direct effect and intensity of human presence in determining the distribution pattern for all kinds of LULC.

Due to the uncontrolled growth of residential and farmlands (dry and irrigated farming) in recent years, to prevent further destruction and also to preserve forests and rangelands, it is recommended to perform land use planning based on structural elements and concepts of landscape. The change in the landscape structure has taken in land use types with different degrees, and quantifying these changes using landscape metrics is one of the issues which can help analyze the pattern of spatial changes.

The study of plant communities is the best way to learn about vegetation structure and distribution as well as various interactions among the plants in an ecosystem. Elevation factor plays a vital role in plant distribution that ultimately leads to specific phytogeographic regions. This study evaluated the changes in species composition, density, frequency, canopy cover and palatability of species along the elevational gradient in the sampling plots, which were conducted from 100 to 3300 meters above sea level. In each site, three 100 m transects and along each transect, 10 plots of one m² were sampled. In each plot the parameters of species composition and density, the canopy cover of each species were recorded. One-way analysis of variance and Duncan test were used to examine elevation with various life-form spectra and grouping. Regression analyses were employed to explore the inter-relationship of elevation with plant index. A total of 387 species belonging to 200 genera and 44 families were recorded from the study area. Results showed that Asteraceae family is by far the most species-rich family, followed by Poaceae and Fabaceae. The number of species was highest (168 species) at the elevation of 1200-1500 m and lowest (29 species) at 3000-3300 m. The number of plant varieties was increased with the increment of elevation up to 1500 m, whereas, the frequency of plant varieties was decreased in high elevation areas (>1500m). The diversity and species richness increased with increasing elevation and then declined while canopy cover showed a reverse trend. The species class I and II declined as the elevation increased and then increased, while class III species showed a reverse trend. The maximum species diversity at the middle elevation of disturbance is the result of inappropriate management and poor rangelands.

The aim of this study was to predict the habitat expansion of Festuca ovina by maximum entropy method and to determine the effective factors on its spread in the elevation gradient of Moghan-Sabalan rangelands of Ardabil province. The 28 study sites were selected and in each study site 3 transects and along each 100-meter transect 10 plots of 1 1m2 with a distance of 10 meters from each other were selected for sampling. Soil sampling in each study site was sampled from two depths of 0-15 and 15-30 cm. Soil properties using spatial statistics, topographic characteristics using digital elevation model, climatic information using meteorological data of the region, and land use measurements prepared with the help of a user map. Prediction maps related to the distribution of F.ovina were prepared using the maximum entropy modeling method. The role of environmental factors affecting the distribution of the species was investigated using the Jackknife method and response curves. Height variables, slope, patch size (coefficient of variation), potassium (15-30 cm depth), and lime (0-15cm depth) had the highest share in the model. The area under the curve index (AUC) was 0.86, which indicates the accuracy and average efficiency of the model in identifying the most desirable distribution areas. The kappa coefficient obtained from the comparison of forecast and actual maps was 0.72, which is at a very good level.

Rapid development of cities due to extensive changes in land use and land cover has had negative effects on global environmental quality. Land cover and  land use changes, and the development of urban and agricultural regions and deforestation are changing the regional and local temperature regime. Knowing the land surface temperature degrees contribute significantly to a wide range of issues relating to the Earth science such as urban climate, global environmental changes, and the study of the interaction of human and the environment. The lack of sufficient meteorological stations to be aware of temperature values in regions lacking a station is considered as a major flaw in monitoring the land surface temperature. Due to the information limitations, collecting data especially to a large extent,  is associated with many problems and obstacles, and the real-time access is difficult or impossible. Therefore, the need to use remote sensing technology with time conditions along with the feature of continuity and data collection in wide ranges can be very effective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the land surface temperature of Namin county in a period of 28 years and to compare the obtained results with land use and vegetation changes.

The data used in this study included  Landsat 8 satellite image of the OLI sensor in order to extract land use map and  TIRS sensor image to extract land surface temperature for the year 2015. Moreover, Landsat 5 satellite image of the TM sensor were used to extract land use map by using visible and infrared bands, and also to extract land surface temperature by using thermal bands for the year 1987. Images were taken in late spring and early summer due to the lack of high cloudy and snowy covers , as well as the high intensity of sunlight. The eCognition8.9 software was used for object-based classification. Classification in five classes (dry and irrigated farming, rangeland, forest and residential) and six classes (dry and irrigated farming, rangeland, forest, residential and water bodies) were selected  for the years 1987 and 2015 respectively. To assess the accuracy and comparison of the obtained maps, the error matrix, overall accuracy, and kappa statistics were used. Split-Window method was used to extract the land surface temperature of the study area. Finally, in order to analyze the relationship between land surface temperature with vegetation index, the correlation coefficients between land surface temperature and vegetation index were calculated based on land use types in the years 1987 and 2015.

The highest land use area in the years 1987 and 2015 belongs to the rangeland use with 43781 and 34114 hectares  respectively and the second land use area belongs to dry farming use with 23854 and 33277 hectares respectively. Moreover due to the lack of water use , the lowest land use area in 1987 belongs to residential use with 1301 hectares, while in 2015 with the construction of water structures, water use with an area of 86 hectares has the lowest land use area. The highest land use area increase was in the dry farming with 9423 hectares, which is a significant increase compared to 1987. The highest recorded temperature for Namin county in 1987 and 2015 was related to dry farming use (34°C and 27°C, respectively), indicating the concentration of heat in these regions. This type of land use has the highest temperature due to the factors such as the dryness of the products at this time and the harvest of the products. In 1987, dry farming use had the highest temperature (34°C), but in 2015 it experienced a decrease in temperature (27°C), despite the fact that it had the highest land surface temperature compared to other  types of land uses in 2015. The reason can be attributed to the factor of harvesting crops. Due to the fact that the rainfed crops in the study area are mostly wheat, and at this time of the season, most of the wheat is ripe or harvested, so the transpiration of these products is insignificant. The lowest recorded temperatures in Namin county are related to the uses of water bodies (21°C), forest (21°C) and irrigated farming (22°C), respectively.  Since water has a high heat capacity, it has the greatest effect on reducing the temperature. In forest and irrigated farming land uses, due to the higher vegetation density, the land surface temperature has the lowest value (23°C and 24°C in 1987 and 21°C and 22°C in 2015 respectively) compared to the other land use types. Agricultural land use in this area has the lowest land surface temperature (24°C in 1987 and 21°C in 2015) after forest areas. Due to the fact that the crops cultivated in this area are plants such as potatoes and these plants have more water needs, therefore these plants have a high greenness value at June to early July, which has led to more transpiration in the area where they are cultivated than other areas, thus it has been very effective in keeping the land surface temperature cool. The rangeland use has had high land surface temperatures (27°C and 25°C, respectively) in the two study  years, and there is little difference between the two years. According to the study season which was late June to early July, the high temperature of this land use type is due to the increase in the areas lacking canopy cover or areas having low or scattered vegetation. Due to the fact that in August, most of the leaves and brunches of the existing plants are dry and the transpiration is low, high temperatures are also recorded. The relationship between land surface temperature and vegetation index in rangeland use in the two study years had the highest correlation (0.91 in 1987 and 0.83 in 2015), while the correlation coefficient of the forest use was the lowest (0.46 in 1987 and 0.23 in 2015).

Land use type and land use and vegetation changes have a significant effect on land surface temperature changes. However, areas without vegetation have a higher land surface temperature than the areas with vegetation. The results showed that there was no significant correlation between vegetation cover and land surface temperature, which is mainly due to sufficient vegetation. In general, the results showed that in most areas with lower temperatures, there is high density vegetation indicating an inverse relationship between vegetation index and land surface temperature.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of topographic, edaphic, climatic and landscape metrices on the distribution of plant communities in the altitude gradient of Moghan-Sabalan rangelands in Ardebil province. To determine and study the ecological species groups, 28 sites and 840 one square meter sampling plots were samples by the random systematic method. To determine soil factors, soil samples were collected from each site from 0–15 and 15-30 cm depth and physicochemical parameters were measured at the lab. Using TWINSPAN, vegetation of the study area was classified and then PCA and CCA were used to investigate the relationship between species and environmental factors. According to TWINSPAN results, four ecological groups were identified. The first ecological group is located in the opposite direction of elevation, slope, rainfall and patch area gradients, and the same direction with pH, clay and dispersible clay (the first depth), bulk density, edge density and patch area (coefficient of variation). The second and third ecological groups are located in the interfaces of the first and fourth ecological groups in terms of plant composition and environmental conditions. These two groups prefer the middle elevations. The fourth ecological group at the end of the elevation, rainfall, slope, patch area and inverse direction of clay and dispersible clay (the first depth) and typically prefer high altitudes and light texture soils.

The aim of this study effect of different grazing intensities in the degradation of rangeland, on the same vegetation type with almost the same ecological condition, on the indicators of vegetation and soil properties in the rangeland of Panjalo village in Ardabil province was conducted. At each site three transects and in each transect 10 plots of 1m² was taken. In each plot, the parameters of density, production, canopy cover, litter, bare soil and stone and gravel were recorded. Soil samples were collected from a depth of 0-30 cm. The soil parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, potassium, lime, phosphorus, organic carbon and nitrogen were measured. One-way analysis of variance and Duncan test were used to examine all parameter means equality and grouping of treatments respectively. The results showed the highest production and canopy cover (129/61 gr/m2 and 87/41%) in the light grazing and the lowest (71/91 gr/m2 and 25%) in the heavy grazing. The highest bare soil and stone and gravel amount (65/63 and 5/31%) in the heavy grazing and the lowest (10/05 and 0%) in the light grazing were observed. The highest diversity and richness (0/85 and 2/28) in the medium grazing and the lowest (0/79 and 2/08) in the heavy grazing were observed. The results showed that by increasing grazing intensity, the amount of EC, lime and phosphorus were increased (P<0/01). The highest amount of potassium (3/96) and pH (7/82) in the medium grazing and the lowest amount of organic carbon in the heavy grazing were observed.

This study evaluated the distribution pattern of various life-form spectra along the Moghan-Sabalan rangelands, Ardabil province, Iran. Sampling was conducted in eleven elevation classes at 300 m elevation intervals (100-3300 meters above sea level, masl). In each elevation interval, 30 quadrats (1×1 m) were used to collect vegetation data (density, frequency and canopy cover). To detect significant differences along elevational gradient, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan test were used to compare averages and grouping of the plant index. Regression analyses were employed to explore the inter-relationship of elevation with various life-form spectra. Overall, 386 species, which comprised 44 families and 200 genera, were identified in the study area. Therophytes and hemicryptophytes were the most frequent life form constituted each with respectively 164 and 162 species, while phanerophytes with 3 species were the least frequent form of life. Density, canopy cover, IVI, species richness and diversity of therophytes decreased with elevation, while hemicryptophytes species richness and evenness increased.

The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of flora composition in the elevation profile of 937-2162m a.s.l. over 29 Km in the QezelOzan to the altitudes of Kosar county rangelands. Eight habitats and in each three 100 to 500m transects with 10 plots varied from 1 to 25 m2 were selected. Species were collected from the plots, and life forms, growth types and their geographical distribution and conservation were determined. Results show that 32 families, 101 genera and 146 species are distrbuted at the selected areas. Asteraceae families with 39 species (27%), Poaceae with 18 species (13%), Fabaceae with 13 species (9%), Astragalus with 8 species (48.5%) and Centaurea with 5 species (42.3%) are the most important elements of the flora. Spermatophyta with 1 species, angiospermae dicotyledoneae with 27 families, 82 genera and 124 species, and angiospermae monocotyledoneae have 4 families, 18 genera and 21 species. Respectively, the highest and lowest ratio of the family to the genera is at 1583-1683m 1:3.27 and 2139-2162m 1:1.92; the ratio of the family to the species is at 1583-1683m 1:3.91 and 1635-1677m 1:2.11; and ratio of the genera to the species is at 1568-1609m 1:1.30 and 937-965m 1:1.03. For bs with 105 species (72%) is the dominant growth type and trophytes with 62 species (43%) is the most abundant life form. Sixty nine species (47%) belong to the Iranian-Turanian region. Also, 14 native species of Iran, 8 low risk species and 2 vulnerable species are distributed at the study area.

Sustainable development for utilization of medicinal plants, is required identifying the genetic resources, geographical distribution and recognizing the potentials of those, through recognition of capabilities and appropriate programming be able to prevent the excessive exploitation of them as direct harvest from the nature that cause the destruction and extinction of valuable species. By review of literature, and extensive fieldworks medicinal plants were collected, and identified and investigated in terms of floristic, lifeform, used by honeybee and being aromatic with comparison with the literature. Overall, 242 medicinal species were identified, which belong to 154 genera and 46 families and Asteraceae families with 46 species, Lamiaceae with 33 species, Apiaceae with 19 species, are the most important families at the study area. Achillea and Artemisia genera each with six species and Alyssum, Thymus, Plantago and Rumex each with five species were the richest genera. There are 107 aromatic medical species and 111 species, which are used by honeybee in the study area. According to the red book of Iran, eight species were classfied, which seven of them are in low-risk and one is in the lack of information status. In general, through identifying the genetic resources, geographical distribution and potentials in relation to medicinal plants and creation a systematic framework for planting and harvesting of them, in order to protect natural resources, treatment of diseases and production of raw materials for related industries, employment creation and providing suitable resources to export, will be possible.

Chemical assessments of forage clearly determine the forage quality; however, traditional methods of analysis are somehow time consuming, costly, and technically demanding. Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) has been reported as a method for evaluating chemical composition of agriculture products, food, and forage and has several advantages over chemical analyses such as conducting cost-effective and rapid analyses with non-destructive sampling and small number of samples. This study aims to estimate Nitrogen (N) and Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) content of grass species using NIRS.A total of 171 samples of grasses (Poaceae) at vegetative, flowering, and seeding stages were collected from different regions in Iran. The samples were scanned in a NIRS DA 7200 (Perten instruments, Sweden) in a range of 950-1650 nm. The sample set consisted of 110 samples for calibration and 61 samples for validation was used to predict N and ADF. Samples were previously analyzed chemically for Nitrogen (N) and Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) and then were scanned by NIRS. Calibration models between chemical data and NIRS were developed using partial least squares regression with the internal cross validation. The coefficients of determination (r2) of linear regression between chemical analyses and NIRS were 0.90 and 0.94 for N and ADF, respectively. The standard errors of prediction were 0.30% and 3.10% for N and ADF, respectively. The results achieved from this study indicated that NIRS has a potential to be used in the measurement of N and ADF contents regarding the forage samples.

One of the areas of research in Comparative Literature is the investigation of similarities and evolution of literary techniques in world literature. In the literature of the twentieth century, experimentation and innovative models of narration came to the fore and led to the formation of new expressive tools. Adaptation of other literary texts, or "prefiguration" as John White calls it, is one of the literary techniques in modern novels. A comparative study of prefiguration helps us to trace the development of an idea and the changes it undergoes in different texts. There are instances, in what critics call modern Persian literature, of such structural adaptations; Abbas Marufi's Symphony of the Dead can be cited as an example. In this novel, Marufi has used the ancient story of Abel and Cane as prefiguration. The comparison of this novel with similar Western novels would reveal to us how successful Marufi has been in adapting this technique in his book.