جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Iraq » در نشریات گروه « اکولوژی »

Vegetation determines the percentage of soil covered with green vegetation. Spatial and temporal changes of vegetation occur in the same year due to plant cycle, crop harvesting, animal grazing, and plant pruning. Vegetation areas can be divided into five main types: forest, grassland, tundra, desert, and ice cover. Climate, soil, the soil's water-holding capacity, and the slope or angle of the land determine the types of plants that will grow in a particular area. Relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air at a given temperature compared to what the air can hold at that temperature. The air is not able to hold onto the water vapour, since it is moving so fast. To understand the expected changes in the climatic elements of the atmosphere and water, alterations in the behaviour of temperature, relative humidity, and vegetation cover were studied. Four stations were used over Iraq extending from north to south. The reason for choosing these stations is due to the difference in climatic changes and also, the geographical nature plays an important role in determining the difference of these variables from one region to another and other weather phenomena. We obtained average monthly and annual temperatures, dew point, and relative humidity during 1988-2018 for selected stations in Iraq from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast. Several results were reached, including that the highest value of vegetation cover for four selected stations during the study period recorded in Baghdad station was more than 0.9, and the lowest value observed in Basra station was less than 0.4. The highest relative humidity value was recorded in the Mosul Station where it covered 69% in the northern and central regions of the country specifically in the winter season, and 18% in the western regions of the Rutba Station in the spring and autumn, in addition, 13% in the southern regions in the summer as seen in the Basra Station. We note that the maximum temperatures were recorded in the summer in July and August due to evaporation in these areas as they are of a dry or semi-arid nature, reaching 55 ºC, while the lowest value in the Mosul station in December and January, since this area enjoys green plants and forests and precipitation. When using Spearman's test, it was found that the strength of the correlation is strong between relative humidity and vegetation cover and the relationship is positive between them. In contrast, the relationship between vegetation cover and temperature, the relationship is inverse and the strength of the correlation is weak to medium. Finally, it was found that the spring and autumn are characterized by dense vegetation cover, and this period is important for plant growth due to the availability of appropriate weather and environmental conditions.

Giardia duodenalis is considered as one of the important common protozoa between humans and animals in the intestine, which has eight groups (A-H) in different hosts. Studies have shown that the assemblages A, B, and E can infect livestock. In this study, the prevalence and genotype of Giardia duodenalis was determined by polymerase chain reaction of ssu-rRNA gene and by performing polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) on glutamate dehydrogenase gene of the parasite in water buffalo (n = 60) from Iraq. Based on the results, prevalence of G. duodenalis infection in water buffalo was estimated 25 % (n = 15), and according to age groups, higher infection group was 40% at ≤ 6 months, followed by > 6 -12 months, 1 -2 years, >2 years which showed 26.6%, 13.3% and 20.1%, respectively. The result of distribution of genotypes of G. duodenalis showed that assemblages AI and E were recorded in water buffalo isolates by 60 % and 40 %. Infection of assemblage AI was reported in buffaloes under 12 months. The present study determined that G. duodenalis is highly prevalent in water buffalo, and is involved in creating a zoonotic disease for giardiasis in Iraq. Due to the direct relationship between food and public health, as well as the influence of geographic and host conditions on the spread and pathogenicity, it is necessary to further investigate different genotypes and their common aspects between humans and livestock.

This study was conducted to investigate the complete sequences of nuclear ITS region, which determined five species of Eryngium L. Apiaceae in Iraq to inference phylogenetic relationships. Pycnocycla aucheriana was used as outgroups. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using ClastalW in MEGA6 version 7.0.4.1 with high supported (bootstrapping) value for each clade in a dendrogram. The phylogenetic trees showed Eryngium glomerutum as the basal lineage in a dendrogram. The sister clade to E. glomerutum was E. billardieri which form the second clade in phylogenetic trees. The third clade included only E. creticum which is considered as a sister clade to the E. campestre and E. thyrosoideum in the dendrogram. Finally, the monophylly of each clade was well supported, and phylogenetic relationships between Enyngium species was cleared based on DNA Sequencing character.

A total of 93 Individuals of wild spiders were collected from June through September 2019, from different regions of Al-Najaf Province, Iraq. Five spider species were recorded, four belong to Araneae order: Plexippus paykulli (Audouin, 1825), Habronttus aestus Maddison, sp. n., Artema doriae (Thorell, 1881) and Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour 1820). One species belonging to order Solifugae is Galeodes arabs C.L. Koch, 1842. This is the first record of species H. aestus in Iraq. The results also showed that the highest rate of the appearance of H. aestus was 61.3%, while the lowest belonged to G. arab (4%).

In terms of surface temperature control, ozone is a greenhouse gas that has a significant influence on weather and climate system regulation. O3 absorbs the visible and ultraviolet region of the spectrum solar radiation, leading to a variation in the electronic energy of the molecule. The more powerful absorption occurs in UV rays, with lower absorption in the visible region. O3 may absorb the infrared (IR rays) of the earth's atmospheric system. The methods used in the present study were based on ground-based UV measurements over Baghdad City- Iraq, where the considered UV radiation values were measured every 10 minutes during the period from October 2014 to December 2015. The sun radiation was measured by a station located at Mustansiriyah University in Iraq (33º08’44” N; 44º05’53” E; altitude 34 m). The results showed a positive direct relationship between the ultraviolet B (UV-B) and Global Solar Radiation (G) for hourly values in Baghdad, with a correlation coefficient of R = 0.885, and the UV levels rise with an increase in G. As a result, an empirical relationship association between them were established. In all areas of correlation relationship, the Determination Coefficient (R2) of the two variables was greater than 0.98. With a good agreement between calculated values of hourly UV (UVe), and corresponding measured values (UVm), correlation coefficient R = 0.94. Calculated linear regression accounted for 90 % of the variance. So, the results of the UV-G relationship may be used to estimate UV-B values for measurements taken over a period of time at the Mustansiriyah site, for values that are difficult to measure, or for any place in Baghdad or the central area of Iraq, or sites with comparable climates.

Long-term exposure to large quantities of toxic gases and heavy metals emitted by brick kilns can affect directly or indirectly on farm lactating animals, which influencing human health through consumption of their dairy products. Therefore, we investigated concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) including cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), as well as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), antioxidants, catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in addition to malondialdehyde (MDA) in fresh milk. Totally, we selected 180 lactating cows; 140 reared / pastured near the active brick kilns as exposed group, and 40 cows existed at agricultural regions as control group during June-August 2021. The findings of exhibited a significant elevation in Cd, Pb, H2S and MDA, while decrease in CAT, GPx and SOD levels in exposed group. Among different age groups, there were variable significant values for the examined parameters. In the cases of  Cd, Pb and H2S levels, significant higher values were observed in a group of >8 year-olds in comparison with a group of < 4, while in the cases of CAT, GPx and SOD, significant drops were detected in the over 8-year-old cows than in the 4-8 and < 4.  Elevated values of MDA by age increasing were also observed. In conclusion, milk and its derivatives may likely exposed to HMs contamination. To date, available information is fragmentary; therefore, further studies of milky products are essential to monitor an existence of HMs regularly and to provide important information about their HM contents.

Iraq is one of the states in the world, affected with coronavirus. Mapping spatial patterns analysis distribution of disease incidence and danger can be assist as a suitable tool for detecting exposures of public health concern. A geographical information system (GIS)-based methodology to examine the relationship between the reported incidence of coronavirus and spatial patterns analysis in eighteen provinces of Iraq was analyzed in 2020. So, the study was applying spatial statistics to inspect the spatial patterns and areas of clustering detection to describe the pattern of coronavirus in Iraq. In this study, local Moran's I has been applied to measure spatial distribution of coronavirus in the study area and examined how provinces were spread or clustered. Spatial patterns statistics were used to apply Moran’s I test and it estimated considerable negative spatial autocorrelation of coronavirus disease incidences from 24/02/2020 to 06/04/2020. The results described spatially random clustered and spatial pattern of this disease in the study area. The study determined that the coronavirus cases were increased in the northeastern- and southwestern-side provinces of Iraq.

The results of isolation from infected quince trees showed pure individual colonies of bacteria, Pantoea sp. by microscopic and morphological characteristics for growing colonies. Biochemical tests of the diagnosis was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This is the first record of Pantoea sp. on quince tree, Cydonia oblonga Mill. in Karbala Province, Iraq.

Drought is a climatological phenomenon that occurs across all climate zones of the world. It causes environmental and economic loss and can negatively affect agricultural profit, especially in dry and semi-arid areas. This study used the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to model drought impacts on agricultural production. The role of meteorological and hydrological parameters was considered simultaneously. The results revealed that: (1) the increase of drought intensity leads to the reduction of crop production, while in the case of high-level drought, the production stays consistent; (2) NDVI could model the impacts of drought on crops production (R2 = 0.60 and RMSE = 0.42); (3) NDVI had a better ability for showing SPI fluctuations, but in higher drought intensities, it was less sensitive to SPI fluctuations; (4) the spatial pattern of drought in the study area showed that the northern parts of the Basrah Governorate have the highest sensitivity to drought; (5) the temporal pattern of long-term SPI showed a high level of risk for agricultural activities due to drought; and (6) air temperature and humidity are the main meteorological parameters of crops production affecting the interpretation of the impacts of drought on agriculture production in Basrah, Iraq