Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity
Volume:5 Issue: 2, Spring 2021

Habitat loss, fragmentation, and alteration are among the most critical threats to freshwater pond turtles. There is scarce data on the distribution of suitable habitats and landscape connectivity of pond turtles in Iran. In this study, the maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) was used to predict the habitat suitability of the Caspian pond turtle (Mauremys caspica) in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province in the Central Zagros Mountains, Southwest Iran. Our findings showed that 10.46% (1729 km2) of the study area could be considered as suitable habitat for the Caspian pond turtle. In contrast, only about 6.23% (107.72 km2) of these suitable habitats are covered by conservation areas. Distance to the river (43.6%), distance to agricultural lands (14.5%), and minimum temperature of the coldest month (Bio6) (11.2%) were identified as the most important variables contributing to habitat selection by the species. The findings showed that while there is relatively good connectivity between many habitat patches, weak connectivity was predicted between some habitat patches. This study emphasizes the conservation priorities focusing on habitat protection, facilitating the movement of individuals between habitat patches and habitat connectivity.

One of the initial measures to planning the conservation strategies is knowing the ecological needs of a species and its favorite habitat. Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) is an applicable tool to achieve this goal. Zarudny's spur-thighed tortoise or Iranian tortoise (Testudo graeca zarudnyi) is one of three subspecies of spur-thighed tortoises found in Iran. To assess the conflicts threatening the habitat of this subspecies, the Maximum Entropy Algorithm (MaxEnt) was used. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the integrity of the T. g. zarudnyi habitat and discuss the conflicts threatening the suitable habitat of this taxon in Iran. First, 25 ecological variables were considered to evaluate the habitat suitability, including topographic, land use land cover, and climatic layers (19 Bios). Among climatic variables, only five of them were selected using Pearson correlation analysis at the level of 75%. Finally, 11 variables contributed to running the model. The cell size were set based on Bios cell sizes to prevent biases, only one presence point kept at each cell; therefore, 108 presence points were remained out of 137 occurrence data. The obtained model had a high degree of predictability (AUC= 0.911). Results showed that Zarudny's tortoise favorites good to moderate vegetation structure. Hence, areas with higher vegetation cover and an annual average temperature of 20°C are optimal, which emphasizes the importance of landuse changes in both the range dynamics and the conservation of this subspecies in Iran. Considering the overlap of the protected areas with the suitable habitat of Zarudny's tortoise revealed that insufficient amounts of suitable habitat are protected. Hence, considering the vulnerable conservation status of Iranian tortoise, the importance of establishing more protected areas through the suitable habitat of his taxon is emphasized.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are the most important genetic resources to improve and ensure global food security. Following Vavilov studies on CWRs, Iran is categorized in the higher ranks of conservation priorities. However, the species in this area are severely exposed to threats which make it necessary to protect them. Accordingly, the initial step to their conservation is to crate an ecological database. Despite the extensive efforts and valuable publications in the Iranian flora, little attention has been paid to the patterns and diversity centers of CWRs in Iran. The current study analyzed 804 grid cells (20820Km) in the Iranian geographic boundaries. Besides, nothing was recorded from 229 grid cells, though, 14 taxa (15.73%) were recorded from one grid cell. In this study, 3911 georeferenced locations of monocots CWRs were reported in Iran that belonged to 331 species, i.e. 80 genera of 16 plant families. Besides, Central Alborz, Eastern Alborz as well as northern and central sections of Zagros showed the highest diversity, respectively. Also, Poaceae (117), Amaryllidaceae (73), and Asparagaceae (36) showed the highest richness of species. Moreover, the Iranian monocots CWRs were categorized in 9 classes of elevation ranging from 0 m to more than 4000 m, and elevation ranging between 1500 to 2000m and 1000 to 1500m above the sea level with

Nowadays, population growth and the exploitation of the natural environments lead to encroachment of human activities in wildlife habitats, which increases human-wildlife conflicts, especially with carnivores. The investment of livestock owners and natural conservationists for mitigating these inconsistencies is vital. There is more evidence of an increasing trend in the complaints reported by Kharvana herders on wolf damages. This study aimed to capture people's attitudes about wolves and investigate the familiarity and feasibility of four nonlethal methods, including attractant removal, guarding dogs, alarm and scare tactics, and moving livestock for reducing the wolf depredation on small livestock (goat and sheep) in the region of interest. In this study, 15% of the herders in each village from Kharvana were selected for interviews. We analyzed survey responses from 77 Kharvana-based herdsmen. Surprisingly, the results indicated that although the majority of survey respondents reported an insufficient current level of protection from wolves and had a high desire to eliminate and kill wolves. There was a considerable number of responses that neither agreed nor disagreed with having experienced negative impacts from wolves. We found that there is a perceived feasibility of implementing all four strategies in areas used as wintering feeding sites compared to areas that are allowed to be grazed during the warm part of the year. The use of guarding dogs (median rank = 1) was the most and significantly locally-feasible livestock protection measure(Friedman (3) = 118.6, p <0.0001) for inclusion in conflict reduction programs that have already been used in the Kharvana area by the most herdsmen.

The study evaluated some population parameters of Galeoides decadactylus in coastal waters of Ghana. A total of 567 samples were collected from some selected coastal communities along the Greater Accra region of Ghana from August 2018 to August 2019. The total length of individual fish samples was measured and analyzed using TropFish R statistical package. Von Bertalanffy parameters were estimated at asymptotic length (L∞) = 39.6 cm, growth rate (K) = 0.19 per year, and growth performance index (Φ′) = 2.484 with an Rn value of 0.37. The length at first capture and maturity was 17.2 cm and 22.7 cm, respectively. Mortality parameters were calculated as total mortality rate (Z) = 1.49 per year, natural mortality rate (M) = 0.36 per year and fishing mortality rate (F) = 1.13 per year. The exploitation rate (E) was 0.76, indicating that G. decadactylus fishery in Ghana is overexploited. Monitoring of fishing efforts and the use of legal mesh size are some of the recommended management measures to sustain the G. decadactylus fishery in Ghana.

The present study focuses on the distribution patterns of Iranian endemic monocots and concentrates on important zones for these taxa in a phyto–geographical context. Iranian endemic monocots included 152 species belonging to 35 genera of 10 plant families, and comprised about 2.08% of Iranian plant flora as well as about 6.9% of endemic flora of Iran. Monocots mostly stretched between latitudes of 35˚ to 37˚ North latitude. In Iran, 70.3% of taxa can be classified in endangered categories and are mostly distributed in the Zagros and Alborz ranges. On the basis of endemic richness map, the central Zagros, central Alborz and Kopet Dagh ranges are the areas of top priority for conservation. The present study reaffirms the Irano–Turanian region as a center for plant endemism in Iran and worldwide. Major efforts for conservation actions must be focused on these centers.

The paddy field ecosystem is the primary habitat for insects that utilize the paddy crop as their food source from the seedlings to the harvesting phases. The diversity and abundance of insects vary in this ecosystem and the growth stages of the paddy plantation. In the present study, the insect diversity in paddy fields at Uthamapalayam, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India were surveyed fortnight from December 2019 to February 2020. A total of 587 insects belonging to 26 species and nine orders, viz., Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Mantodea, Odonata, Orthoptera, and Thysanoptera were recorded. The most abundant order was Orthoptera and Coleoptera, and the least one was Thysanoptera. The diversity index represented by the Shannon-Weiner index ranged from 0.07 to 0.23, and the overall index was 1.26, and diversity evenness ranged between 0.26 and 0.42. Thus, assessing and recording insect diversity aims to build a strategic framework to monitor its biodiversity, which relies upon various factors.

During 2007-2018, a total of 451 specimens of the European grayling Thymallus thymallus from drainage basins of the Neva River, Onega River, Severnaya Dvina River, Pechora River, and the upper Volga River were collected by angling, electrofishing, gill netting, and seine netting. According to the results of the analysis of length-weight relationships, the regression parameter b ranged from 2.83 to 3.25, indicating shifts of the growth pattern, from negative-allometric to positive-allometric. The values of the coefficient of determination were greater than or equal to 0.97. The results of this study are useful for grayling’s stock management and conservation efforts in the region.