نشریه مرتع و آبخیزداری
سال هفتاد و دوم شماره 4 (زمستان 1398)

Attention to rangeland ecosystems is important because rangeland ecosystems have significant impacts on human agriculture and food security and also have various functions that would not be possible for humans to live without. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to estimate the conservation value and investigate the contribution and ranking of selected Sheikh Moussa rangeland ecosystem services through people's preferences in the form of Choice Modeling (CE). For the next study, the most important Sheikh Moussa rangeland services, including biodiversity, medicinal plants, ecotourism and artefacts, have been identified through field survey and ecosystem services separation. In order to investigate the preferences of the individuals, 170 questionnaires were distributed among the population of the Eastern Bandipur district in the 2017. The results of the present study showed that individuals' annual Willingness To Pay (WTP) to improve the status of the desired ecosystem services amounted to 66692.29 Rials ($ 2.55) and the total value of services rendered was 2667 million Rials ($ 8219.09). The results show that the variables of income, being the head of household and visiting the area are the most important factors affecting the willingness to pay. Based on the values obtained, the priority of the people of the region is to focus more on biodiversity services. Also, the value obtained by the selection test method was able to provide the contribution of each function according to Lancaster's theory. Consequently, ..

Density is an important indicator of vegetation evaluation, which several methods have been developed for its assessment, but their accuracy is concerned. To reveal accuracy of each methods, a study site of 32000-m2 in the steppe rangeland of Marjan, Boroujen was selected and divided into eight macroplots of 4000-m2. Then, the individuals of Astragalus verus and Astragalus albispinus were counted in each microplots. A transects of 100-m established parallel to the length of the macroplots (40 × 100 mm) and density was measured using closest individual, nearest neighbor, random pairs, point-centered quarter, third closest individual, angle order and variable area transect methods, systematic-randomly in 10 sampling points in each macroplots. The results indicate that the real density of A. verus and A. albispinus were 0.1593±0.084 and 0.0622±0.0282/m2, respectively. Closest individual (0.1357±0.1315/m2), nearest neighbor (0.1368±0.1432/m2), point-centered quarter (0.1016±0.1664/m2), random pairs (0.0588±0.0536/m2), third closest individual (0.1107±0.0775/m2) and variable area transect (0.0221±0.0105/m2) for A. verus and angle order (0.0927±0.0523/m2), nearest neighbor (0.0424±0.0357/m2) and third closest individual (0.0524±0.0447/m2) for A. albispinus showed no significant difference with controls. The results revealed that the closest estimation to the controls belongs to the nearest neighbor (-0.141) and third closest individual (-0.0098) for A. verus and A. albispinus, respectively. Moreover, the nearest neighbor (RMSE=0.6877, SE=0.0026 and R=0.1147) and closest individual (RMSE=0.5609, SE=0.0007, R=0.0320) showed the most precise estimation of densities of A. verus and A. albispinus, respectively. Generally, the closest individual for estimating plant density of A. verus and the nearest neighbor's for A. albispinus are proposed.

Haloxylon is one of the resistant plants in desert areas, which has always been considered by researchers and practitioners since controlling sandy soils as one of the solutions to erosion and sand fixation by biological methods. In this study was conducted in forest plantations eshtehard, Bases of haloxylon thate wilting and drying effects are visible, was chosen and pruning them. This factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with four treatments, pruning time (September, October, December, February) and four sub-plots pruning height (Complete pruning, 25 cm, 50 and 75 cm) were implemented. Before applying pruning, for homogeneous and the same size the bases, Variable height, canopy cove diameter and crown diameter was measured on every base. The end of July condition bases was investigated in terms of Tillering and not tillering. Results showed that pruning stimulates been tillering. Because 97.5 percentage of bases was tillering. Pruning in January from height of 75 cm with 100 tiller hade the greatest number tiller. The lowest tiller regarding of November with 5 tiller. There is no significant difference between treatments in term of tiller diameter, but in general thickest tiller was for pruning in January. Therefore, it can be said that pruning is about 75 centimeters in December as the best pruning time and heigh.

Feeding areas, and the spatial distribution of recharge in karstic aquifers, depends to factors such as geomorphology karst and its development, climate, slope, vegetation, soil and geological factors. Karstic aquifers in the study area, has the main role in the development of human civilization and supply water to communities. The purpose of this research is modeling the aquifer feeding areas Azhvan-Bisotun in Kermanshah province using KARSTLOP model. The results feed zoning show that the annual charge Bisotun karst aquifer obtained for between 36 to 83 percent. The greatest amount of recharge in areas with more than 78% charged, is accordance sinkholes and the recharge rate of 36 to 40% and 40% to 45% occur in alluvial plains. Bisotun geomorphology karst mountains represent a major role in the spatial distribution of values in the aquifer is recharged.

Implementation of watershed management projects without the participation of people has not been very successful. Therefore, prioritizing indices and sub-indicators affecting their poor participation is an important step in managing of watersheds and it can lead to taking measures to eliminate barriers to participation and maximum participation of stakeholder in planning. Therefore, in this research the priority of investigation of stakeholders in prioritizing factors affecting their poor participation in watershed management projects in Morad Abad watershed in Meymand, west of Fars province so after completing 72 questionnaires from the head of the household using T test and Friedman nonparametric test were done. The results showed that from the views of stakeholder, the indicators such as "economic", "educational-extensional", "design-executive" and "social" were the maximum and minimum priorities of poor participation of stakeholders in watershed projects in this watershed. Also, the most important sub-indicators on poor participation of stakeholders in watershed projects in this watershed are "low income residents of the watershed," "lack of local power in implementing projects (job creation)", "ignoring income for stakeholders as a direct incentive to implement of watershed management projects ", and" low level of literacy and awareness". Accordingly, the range of average ratings varies from 6.93 to 10.25, so that the sub-indicator "low income residents of the basin" with an average rating of 10.25 has the highest relative priority and "late watershed project efficiency" with an average of 6.93 had the least relative priority in poor participation of stakeholders in watershed projects in this watershed.

Due to the lack of information in most of the watersheds, many researchers attempt to use spatial analysis within Geographic Information System (GIS) in hydrological and Flood Prone (FP) area studies. The present study was designed to compare the efficiency of three models i.e. Support Vector Machine (SVM), Generalized Linear Model (GLM) and Generalized Additive Model (GAM) for preparing the flood susceptibility mapping in Guilan province, Iran. For this purpose, slope, aspect, plan curvature, elevation, distance from the river, drainage density, geology, land use, Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and Stream Power Index (SPI) layers were derived in GIS (ArcGIS and SAGA-GIS). Using 220 flood locations, 70% and 30% out of total flood locations were then used to calibrate and to validate the performance of the models, respectively. The evaluation results of the models accuracy using the area under the curve (AUC) and Kappa indices showed that in terms of AUC, the SVM with 0.835 and the GAM with 0.827, and the GLM with of 0.79 performed very good and good classes, respectively. In terms of Kappa index, the SVM with 0.58, GAM with 0.53 and GLM with 0.48 are performed good and acceptable classes, respectively. Therefore, based on the mentioned indices, the SVM superior to other two models for identifying the flood susceptibility areas.

This article investigate the effects of watershed interventions Ghareh-shiran watershed, Ardebil province. In this paper, five socio-human, economic and environmental-physical capital were investigated. Thestatistical population of this research was informed users of six villages covered by the project execution and five villages outside the project execution area in the same watershed. Using the Morgan table, 200 households were surveyed using targeted sampling. The research tool was a questionnaire. Its reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.7 to 0.8). The results showed that between socio-human capital and environmental-physical capital at the place of execution, there was a difference between project and its non-implementation. There is no difference in financial capital at the place of execution and non-execution. There was no significant difference in social capital between the two regions in terms of group membership, tendency to migrate and social trust. In human capital, there was no difference between the two regions in the level of awareness. In natural and physical capital, indices of garden-dry land and irrigated land, flood damage and number of livestock were considered, which were significant at 98% level. In financial capital, the basin income index was considered to be no different between the executed and non-executed areas. The results show that although beneficiaries' livelihood are directly dependent on natural resources, watershed management projects have been effective on natural and physical and to some extent social capital of the area and in particular it has not been able to increase income and job opportunities in the region.

Collaborative governance strengthens the relationship between different beneficiaries in line with up-bottom approach to natural resources management. Social capital is one of the major components contributing to the collaborative governance of natural resources. Accordingly, the level of social capital of local beneficiaries was investigated both prior and post collaborative project implementation through the measurement of trust and collaboration ties as well as the measurement of whole network quantitative and mathematical indexes (density, reciprocity, transitivity, and Geodesic distance). Present study was carried out in AsadAbad Sofla village in Abarkuh district of Yazd province as a part of carbon sequestration project. It was revealed that all above-mentioned indexes increased following project implementation during two years (from 2014 until 2016. Density of trust and collaboration ties increased hugely. In other words, bonding social capital enhanced. Consistency and the balance of network was average pre-project implementation but these indicators increased to higher levels. The unity of beneficiaries increased significantly and considerable improvement in trust ties was observed. Therefore, following the implementation of carbon sequestration project, trust building and reinforcement of cooperation occurred and bonding social capital strengthened which left positive effects upon the collaborative governance of natural resources.

According to the important role of rangeland on the exploiters of its and rangeland ecological changes in the economic and social systems, planning and decision-making to assess the current situation is the most important. In this regard, this study intends to determine the difference between experts and exploiters to examine and compare the affecting factors on the utilization of rangelands according to four priority measures including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities and threats. For this purpose, the SWOT analysis was used to analyze the affecting factors on the exploitation of rangelands. Identified factors using the questionnaire set based on Likert spectrum items and AHP analysis were prioritized and compared by the pastorals and experts. The results of the comparison indicate that prioritize of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is different between experts and stakeholders, and in some cases there is a considerable distance between experts and pastorals. The factors related to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats had priority the adaptation of animal species and plant cover-weight with weight 0.117, weighing experienced pastorals resignation with weight 0.026, increase scientific studies on rangeland in research centers, the Department of Natural Resources with weight 0.185 and weighting fluctuations in livestock markets with weight 0.076 respectively.

One of the main challenges of land degradation management in arid and desert areas of Iran is the stabilization of sand as well as the control of dust; therefore the use of mulches, particularly eco-friendly mulch, is one of the ways to stabilize sand used. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of using residues such as black liqueur and malass as mulch to stabilize the sand. To prepare the substrate for treatments in the laboratory environment, Rig Boland sandy of Kashan was used. Metal trays with dimensions of 100 × 30 × 2 cm were used for the experiments. For spraying of malass, black liquor and control treatments in a single layer and double layer of 2.5-liter sprinkler were applied and a completely randomized design with three replications was performed. To evaluate the performance of these materials, the shear strength, saturation, and dry strength and water permeability were measured and the data were analyzed by appropriate statistical software. In vitro results showed that the penetration resistance of molasses and black liqueur mulches were 9.8 and 7.8 kN/m2, respectively. These two types of mulch have significant differences with each other and with control (water) treatment. The highest penetration and shear strength were related to Malass treatment, which increased the penetration resistance by 9.8 times and the shear resistance by 14 times. The infiltration rate in one-layer liqueur mulch was significantly different compared to Malass and control (water) mulches, while the infiltration rate decreased with increasing thickness.

Studying species diversity and analyzing of the relationships between plants, environmental factors and disturbance play an important role in studying the dynamics and management of ecosystems. We studied the species diversity patterns in relation to some physiographic factors and grazing along an altitudinal gradient of 1000 meters and at different altitudes with 100-m intervals. The Margalef, Sheldon, and Shannon-Wiener indexes were used to assess richness, evenness and diversity, respectively. Partial Canonical Correspondence analysis was used to investigate the relationship between vegetation, physiographic factors (with an emphasis on altitude) and grazing. The study of the relationship between altitude and grazing showed a significant correlation between these two factors (P <0.01, R2 = 0.55). Results showed that increased species diversity and richness was observed at lower altitudes up to 2200 meters above sea level; however, at the altitude above 2200 m, the species diversity and richness decreased. This result is consistent with the mid-domain effect (MDE) hypothesis. Overgrazing at low altitudes has led to a shift in vegetation toward annual and ruderals species. The areas with intermediate grazing had the highest richness and diversity and the areas with high and low grazing intensity had the lowest richness and diversity. This result is consistent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Species evenness also increased with increasing grazing intensity, although these changes were not significant (P> 0.05). Therefore, the changes in species diversity along ecological gradients cannot be evaluated without considering the grazing intensity.

Identification of the barriers and socio-economic factors of villagers for rural development is evident. To identify this issue, consideration of social capital and socioeconomic variables that affect the satisfaction of watersheds has been considered. The purpose is to assess the level of satisfaction of watershed dwellers from the fifth agricultural development and income generation program (between 2008 to 2013). The study was an applied and descriptive cross-sectional study in 2017. The studied population of the Saravan watersheds included Morti, Kalehgan, and Qaderabad. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha test with 0.79 was relatively good. 102 questionnaires were completed and collected for collecting data in the studied basins. A nonparametric analysis was conducted to compare the mean of satisfaction of the three basins by the Kruskal-Wallis statistical method. Results were shown in many cases, the Morti watershed showed significantly more satisfaction. The level of satisfaction from GDP with an average of 3.5 and capital possessions with an average of 3. 3 had good satisfaction among the watersheds. The conclusion shows that the level of satisfaction from the fifth development plan was relatively good, which was not satisfactory with financial resources. Satisfaction rate based on the Morti watershed with 558 dwellers due to the abundant water and production, were more satisfied than Kalehgan and Qaderabad. We propose that to evaluate of fifth develop plans for watersheds of Iran in different provinces.

One of atmospheric phenomena of dry and semi-dry areas and areas adjacent to these areas is the phenomenon of dust and production of particulate matter (PM10) that have many environmental hazards. The purpose of this research is determination of chemical composition and source identification of elements in aerosols in city of Kermanshah. Enrichment factor are used to identify natural and anthropogenic sources of these elements in aerosols. Tracing of sreams is performed using contour line in level of 500hpa . Samples of aerosols is analyzed for 20 elements by ICP-OES. According to this study, The elements such as iron, potassium, calcium, selenium, arsenic, cobalt, phosphorus, magnesium and sodium have low EF- values, this indicates that these elements have originated from the crust. These elements account for 84% of the total concentration of elements. This shows that crustal elements are the main contributor to the elements in PM10 in the Kermanshah atmosphere. The results of this research show that the most frequent pass of streams to west Iran; west to east of Iraq is in the first rank, then, westnorth to eastnorth of Jordan, east to westsouth of Syria and east to west of Mediterranean. Therefore, it can be stated that Iraq and its neighboring regions have important role in production of aerosols.

Rangelands as a source of meat, forage, water and soil play a significant role in the country's economy, but the increase in the number of livestock and livestock in the rangelands has eliminated the balance between production and harvest. In this research, the effect of rangeland projects on various indices such as plant diversity, condition, rangeland trend, production and canopy cover percentage in five rangeland (Tajrud, Sangolabad, Ali Abad, Garmab and Dochahi) located in Torbat Heydarieh county has been investigated. For this purpose, after measuring the mentioned indices in the rangelands (treatment) and their adjacent sites as a control, statistical analysis were performed using t-test. The results of the comparison of the mean vegetation percentage indicate that the canopy cover percentage of the planted area with the rate of 51/64% is higher than the ungraded area with a rate of 47.5% with a significant canopy at 5%. Also, despite the high number of production in the area with a plot (73.08 kg / ha), compared to the area without design (67/99), this difference is not significant. The average score of the score for the area inside the project (27.4) and outside the plan (23.4) are not statistically significant with each other. The implementation of rangelands in three regions from all five regions has been proven to negatively affect rangeland tendency. Also, the implementation of the rangeland scheme has significantly increased the Shannon-Wiener heterogeneity indices and Simpson's uniformity in the design, rangeland has not changed significantly in the Margalaf richness index.