ECOPERSIA
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Winter 2024

Aim Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters has carried out actions since its establishment until now, and there are disagreements between supporters and opponents about its outputs. For this purpose, in the year 2021, this research was conducted to evaluate the environmental effectiveness of the actions of rehabilitation headquarters from the point of view of local communities. Materials & Methods an applied and fundamental research was done to reach the study golds. . In terms of method, regarding to the nature of the subject and research objectives, the descriptive-analytical and survey method (survey of local communities) has been used. The tool for collecting information and data was a researcher-made questionnaire that was randomly filled through interviews with residents. Findings The results showed that different actions have significant differences in terms of respondents' satisfaction, so the highest level of satisfaction, with a value of 2.89, is related to the non-living windbreak, and the lowest level is related to the Poly -Shrub Planting with the value of 1.67. Conclusion In general, despite the relative success of the actions of the rehabilitation headquarters, these actions have not been full effective in the proper management of surface and subsurface water resources, the modification of the cultivation pattern, and the prevention of the spread of soil salinity in agricultural lands. Therefore, to prevent the environmental disaster and its destructive consequences, it is suggested to take urgent action to save Urmia Lake by using all local and international capacities.

Common yew (Taxus baccata L.) is one of the endangered species in Iran. Considering the prospect of climate change and global warming in the coming years, research on the tolerance of its seedlings to drought stress can be useful.

This research was conducted on four-year-old common yew potted seedlings. For this purpose, the effect of drought stress (100% and 30% of field capacity (FC)) on growth and physiological traits of common yew seedlings was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications for 6 months.

The results showed that survival, shoot growth and root diameter growth of seedlings did not change under water deficit, but a significant negative effect in most of the physiological variables (except for stomatal conductance) was found under the stress (30% of FC); so, the activities of photosynthesis, transpiration, mesophyll conductance and water use efficiency decreased by 68.3%, 23.9%, 69.6% and 57.9%, respectively; On the contrary, intercellular CO2 increased by 4%.

It can be concluded that the growth traits of yew seedlings were not affected by water scarcity in the first year of growing season, due to the slow-growth nature. Since, common yew seedlings need several years of care in the nursery to prepare for the transfer to the natural field, it is recommended to manage the seedlings in well-watered conditions for a better response of physiological traits and more favorable growth in the coming growing years.

This study modeled sensitive areas to dust storms in Isfahan province, which is sensitive to successive droughts, and dust storms because of its climatic condition, and proximity to the desert, using meteorological codes related to dust, AOD values, and Maximum Entropy model (MaxEnt).

200 occurrence points of dust were determined using dust meteorological codes and AOD values of MODIS sensor, Terra satellite, (2011-2022). Ten parameters including temperature, rainfall, albedo, altitude, slope, land use, enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), normalized difference salinity index (NDSI), and frequency percentage of erosive wind seed were considered dust-predictive factors. Finally, the MaxEnt model was utilized for modeling dust susceptibility. The performance of the model was specified using the AUC value and the importance of each influential factor was identified utilizing the Jackknife test.

  The findings indicated that areas susceptible to dust are mainly bare lands, salt lands, and poor rangeland located mostly in the north, northeast to parts of the east and southeast of the Province, and also the central parts towards the southwest of Isfahan Province. According to the results, the MaxEnt model, with AUC=0.72, had a good efficiency in modeling susceptible areas to dust storms in Isfahan Province.

The major conclusion of this study is that the MaxEnt model had good performance in mapping susceptible areas to dust in Isfahan Province. The results of this research can be useful for decision-makers in identifying the areas prone to dust storms.

Regression analysis is one of the most widely used statistical tests in vegetation evaluation. Indirect methods of estimating forage yield always require regression analysis. The basic question in such research is that at least a few pairs of samples are required to achieve a valid regression equation. Therefore, this study determines the sample size required to estimate the yield of Haloxylon persicum Bunge, Artemisia sieberi Besser and Stipagrostis pennata (Trin.) De Winter using plant dimensions including cover percentage, plant area, height and volume. After correlation and regression analyzes, power analysis and effect size were calculated. The results showed that for regression analysis and the statistical importance of the equation and regression coefficients between the cover and yield for these species, about 26, 14 and 18 pairs (respectively) were proposed. By comparing the method used in this study with other rules of thumb, it can be deduced that the use of Green's rule (N≥ 50 + 8M and N ≥104 + M) is not recommended, because with at least one independent variable (M) About 58 to 105 pairs of samples are required. In the studies within Iran, double sampling methods are generally used, in which between 7 and 30 pairs (an average of 15 pairs) are recommended, which is closer to the number of pairs of the present study (14 to 26) than the rules of thumb.

Achieve sustainable agricultural production, keeping soil fertility, and reducing environmental hazards, are the main challenges to providing food security in countries with growing populations. In the direction of sustainable crop production, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of municipal solid waste (MSW) compost with nitrogen fertilizer (N-fertilizer) on wheat yield.

 The nine treatments were organized by a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The following were the treatments: N-fertilizer at 0, 100, and 200 kg.ha-1; and composting waste at 0, 10, and 20 t.ha-1. At maturity, the components of wheat yield were measured.

The experiment's results showed that the effect of MSW compost with N-fertilizer and their interaction on grain yield and biological function were significant. The highest 1000-grain weight (40.00 gr) and biomass yield (13833 kg.ha-1) were obtained using 20 t.ha-1 of compost with 200 kg.ha-1 N (C20N200 treatment) while the highest harvest index (HI)(52.7) and grainyield (7000 kg.ha-1) were in treated soil with 20 t.ha-1 of compost and 100 kg.ha-1 N (C20N100 treatment). Also, the highest grain protein (11.93 %) was in treated soil with 10 t.ha-1 of compost and 200 kg.ha-1 N (C10N200 treatment).

The results showed that applying these treatments leads to increased wheat yield, indicating that MSW compost and N-fertilizer can increase plant growth. The main issues with using MSW compost in agricultural soils are the presence of soluble salts and the buildup of macro-micronutrients.

Check-dams are one of the common structures to controlling soil erosion in Iran. Most of the studies related to check-dams are in the field of their main function, i.e. soil and water conservation, but in this study, we evaluated their capability in carbon sequestration, which has received very little attention.

 This study, which was conducted in the Nehzatabad watershed in Kohgiluyeh County, using the sediments deposited in 11 check-dams, the performance of these structures in Carbon Sequestration during the years 2017 to 2018 has also been investigated. The volume of sediments deposited behind the check-dams was measured, and then the resulting sediment yield was measured and then estimated for three different sediment trapping coefficients.

Results show that mean amount of measured sediment yield in the study check-dams is 0.13 t ha-1 y-1 which compared to mean annual soil erosion in Iran (16 t ha-1 y-1), soil erosion in the studied watershed is not very complicated. The estimated mean values for sediment yield in different check-dams are 0.26, 1.69 and 3.59 t ha-1 y-1 for different TE coefficient.The mean of SOC deposited in check-dams is 20637.79 g, which is equivalent to 12.9 and 2.16 m2 of oak forest in carbon sequestration and carbon dioxide absorption, respectively.

By building a large number of these dams in watersheds while controlling erosion and sedimentation, it is possible to deposit considerable carbon in these sediments and prevent the release of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

This research aims to determine the mercury (Hg) in the muscle and liver tissues of Otolithes ruber species and its human health risk assessment due to its consumption.

In this study thirty fish samples were taken from the Imam Khomeini port in northwest of the Persian Gulf, in July. Then, the total mercury was measured by the Mercury Advanced Analyzer (254 AMA manufactured by Leco).

The mean concentrations of Hg in the muscle of O. ruber species were 0.112± 0.015 µg.g-1 d.w that were below the limits for fish proposed by WHO, FAO, USEPA, FDA and MAFF and the mean concentrations of Hg in the liver tissues were 0.714± 0.113. µg.g-1 d.w. Value of muscle/liver ratio was about 0.16 that revealed high contamination of the region with the mercury element. EDI and EWI lower than PTDI and PTWI and THQ<1.00 showed that the consumption of the mentioned fish will not pose an acute risk to the health of the consumers. Based on CRlim and CRmm in the studied fish for different human groups, a potential human health risk was identified for children.

In general, the main conclusion of this work showed that there is no serious warning or prohibition against consuming this fish by adults, however it should be mentioned that the risk assessment caused by the presence of other heavy elements as well as organic pollutants in O. ruber fish can have an impact in determining the permissible limit of consumption of this species.