Sosan Salajegheh; Leila Avazpour; Mehdi Ghorbani
Abstract
Since a significant portion of water resources and other essential resources required by communities are located in adjacent watersheds and suburban areas, the implementation of management programs often conflicts with the interests and demands of watershed residents. Resolving these disputes is only ...
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Since a significant portion of water resources and other essential resources required by communities are located in adjacent watersheds and suburban areas, the implementation of management programs often conflicts with the interests and demands of watershed residents. Resolving these disputes is only achievable through peaceful methods that safeguard the rights of all parties while ensuring environmental sustainability. Among effective approaches, the cooperation and participation of local communities along with strengthening the social capital of watershed inhabitants prove particularly valuable. Social capital, founded upon individual participation in collective activities and the establishment of mutual trust among community members, enhances the process of social engagement in comprehensive watershed management. This study measures and analyzes social capital in four villages of Bakharz County (Eshtivan, Chahar Tagh, Shahrak Shahid Beheshti, and Qaleh Now Shamloo) both before and after implementation of a rural development and improvement project. The research employs Social Network Analysis (SNA) methodology. Required data were collected through survey questionnaires and subsequently analyzed using UCINET software. Key network analysis indicators were calculated to assess social capital, including: network density (indicating connection levels among members), centrality (measuring influence and power within the network), reciprocity (evaluating mutual relationships), transitivity of relationships (showing cohesion and information flow), and average geodesic distance (assessing information dissemination speed). The findings reveal a substantial increase in social capital across all four villages following the local development project's implementation. This improvement appears particularly pronounced in Eshtivan village, where decreased power centralization coincided with increased trust and participation. The reduction in average geodesic distance and enhancement in relationship reciprocity further demonstrate the strengthening of social bonds and local institutions. These results underscore the critical importance of social capital in building social resilience and achieving sustainable rural development. Consequently, we recommend that policymakers and development planners prioritize strategies focused on reinforcing social capital, especially through establishing and supporting local institutions.
Nazanin Akbari Mohammadabad; Mojgan Sadat Azimi; Hassan Yegane; Mostafa Khoshalsarmast; Elham Malekzadeh
Abstract
The symbiosis of plants with soil microorganisms leads to the preservation and stability of soil and plant species. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can enhance the reproduction, growth, health, and resistance of plants to various environmental factors. Overturned tulip is a pasture plant and one of ...
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The symbiosis of plants with soil microorganisms leads to the preservation and stability of soil and plant species. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can enhance the reproduction, growth, health, and resistance of plants to various environmental factors. Overturned tulip is a pasture plant and one of the valuable genetic resources of the country. The aim of this research was to investigate the symbiotic relationship of yellow overturned tulip by AM fungi and the correlation of spore abundance and root mycorrhizal colonization with some physical and chemical properties of soil. For this purpose, 30 soil samples were collected along with plant roots from the habitat of F. raddeana, then some soil properties were measured. After staining the roots and spores extraction from the soil samples, root colonization rate and spore numbers of AM fungi were also measured. Also, the correlation of some soil properties with these fungal factors was investigated. The soil of the plant habitat was silty loam, non-salin, slightly alkalin with moderate content of organic matter and adequate level of N, P and K nutrients. By observing different fungal structures in the plant roots, there was a symbiotic relationship (average colonization of 50%) of AM fungi with the plant and it indicated the mycorrhizal dependency of the F. raddeana in the habitat conditions. The correlation between the frequency of fungal spores and the root colonization was statistically significant at the level of 0.01. Also, no significant relashioship was observed between root colonization and spore numbers with soil physical and chemical properties.
Zeinab Sheikhi; Aliakbar Nazari Samani; Haji Karimi; Reza Bayat
Abstract
Gully erosion is a typically threshold process which is important in land degradation and sediment contribution. Having knowledge on driving conditions and affected lands by gullies are crucial for land degradation management. In this research to prepare the gully erosion map over Iran land mass about ...
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Gully erosion is a typically threshold process which is important in land degradation and sediment contribution. Having knowledge on driving conditions and affected lands by gullies are crucial for land degradation management. In this research to prepare the gully erosion map over Iran land mass about scientific references (article, thesis and report) were investigated in order to scrutinizing of spatial data base and gullying map. Location of 2719 gully headcuts under different climate and land use were identified. Environmental attributes including: soil, climate, rainfall and temperature were collected through using of DEM (12.5 and 30 m), and landuse by using of maps, scientific reports, research studies were extracted. The frequency of gullies was investigated in relation to literature investigation. Topographic threshold conditions were determined and the relative frequency of gully area under mentioned environmental factors were analyzed. The results show that the total gully area in Iran is about 1,328,852 ha. The most occurrence of this erosion is in semi-arid climates, with annual rainfall is 250-350 mm, high silt content, low slope (<5%) and under dry farming landuse. The lowest threshold coefficient () in both arid and semi-arid climates is related to ranglands. The coefficient varies from 0.06 to 0.37 in arid climate and from 0.002 to 0.46 in semi-arid climate, which is indicating of mixing process (surface and subsurface) on gully developing. The resistance of sandy soils (due to permeability) and clay soils (due to cohesion) is higher than silty ones The degradation of canopy cover and runoff generating are two main driving forces, which will be more important under climate change in the near future.
Elahe Khosrogerdi; Naser Mashahadi; Abolghasem Dadresi
Abstract
Desert pavement and playa crusts serve as resistant layers that protect underlying soil and sediment materials. When these protective layers are disrupted by human activities, the exposed fine particles become highly susceptible to wind erosion. This research aimed to evaluate the erodibility potential ...
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Desert pavement and playa crusts serve as resistant layers that protect underlying soil and sediment materials. When these protective layers are disrupted by human activities, the exposed fine particles become highly susceptible to wind erosion. This research aimed to evaluate the erodibility potential of three layers: sub-pavement soil in the pediment, sub-crust deposits, and playa crust. We assessed erodibility using soil texture characteristics, grain granulometry, and chemical properties including Electrical Conductivity (EC), Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP), and Electrochemical Stability Index (ESI). Results indicate that the dominant granular category ranges between 250-500 microns in pediment samples, while playa samples exceed 500 microns. Particle size analysis reveals medium-to-fine sand in all pediment samples versus medium-to-coarse sand in playa samples, demonstrating finer particles in the pediment. Approximately 60% of all samples exhibited Sandy Clay Loam texture. Chemical analysis showed significantly higher mean values of EC, SAR, and ESP in playa crust compared to subsurface soil and deposits. The mean ESI values were 0.81 (playa crust), 0.67 (sub-crust deposits), and 0.10 (sub-pavement soil). Data analysis established the following wind erodibility sequence: sub-pavement soil > sub-crust deposits > playa crust.
Alireza Sepahvand; Nasrin Beiranvand; Negar Arjmand
Abstract
Water quality (WQ) is influenced by various variables, including natural ones like rainfall and erosion and human ones like urban, agricultural, and industry operations, that plays a very important role in assessment and determining factors such as environmental conditions, public health, economic and ...
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Water quality (WQ) is influenced by various variables, including natural ones like rainfall and erosion and human ones like urban, agricultural, and industry operations, that plays a very important role in assessment and determining factors such as environmental conditions, public health, economic and social progress and development. Therefore, temporal and spatial trending of water quality is necessary for planning water resource management. In this research, the performance of the six soft computing techniques, including, Random Forest, Reduced Error Pruning Tree (REPt), M5P model, bagging RF, bagging REPt and bagging M5P were compared to estimate the water quality index (WQI) in Khorramabad, Biranshahr and Alashtar sub-watersheds, Lorestan province, Iran. At first, based on water quality data, water quality index (WQI) was calculated and ten distinct water quality parameters (2014 to 2023) were used as input variables and WQI as output. Total data set consists of water quality parameters of three sub-watersheds out of which 70% data used to training and 30% data were used to testing phase. Finally, the models were compared with Correlation Coefficient (C.C.), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Maximum Absolute Error (MAE), Taylor diagram and Violin plot box. The obtained results suggest that the BM5P is more accurate to estimate the water quality index (WQI) compared to the M5P, ReepTree and Random Forest (RF) models for the given study area. According to the results of the test part of the BM5P model, it has given us the best result, which are the correlation coefficient, the Root Mean Square Error and the Mean Absolute Error 0.99, 0.2, and 0.15, respectively. Also, the Taylor diagram and violin box plot were concluded that BM5P was the most reliable soft computing technique for the prediction of WQI. Finally, the structure of Artificial Intelligence Techniques (AIT) for modeling is very simple and very less time consumable. Thus, the BM5P model can be useful in the water quality index (WQI) modeling not only for accuracy but also for its time-saving and simple structure compared with other models.
Sajjad Khalafi Asl; Behzad Moteshaffeh
Abstract
The main problem in sustainable utilization of natural resources is understanding the complex situation and relationships of the various stakeholders involved in the implementation of projects. In this regard, social network analysis is one of the sociological approaches to investigate organizational ...
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The main problem in sustainable utilization of natural resources is understanding the complex situation and relationships of the various stakeholders involved in the implementation of projects. In this regard, social network analysis is one of the sociological approaches to investigate organizational relationship. In this study, the social network of information exchange and participation of eleven organizations involved in the management of natural resources of Behbahan county was examined. First questionnaires were distributed among the organizations and rated on a Likert scale based on the presence or absence of connection. Then, using the Ucinet 6.528 software, the indicators at the macro, intermediate and micro levels of the networks were calculated. The results showed that the density of information exchange and participation networks was medium and low, respectively, while in both links, the reciprocity and transitivity indices were evaluated as very high and high. The average geodesic distance index for both links was in the optimal range, indicating the desired speed of information circulation and participation in the network. Also, in both networks, the Agriculture Jihad, Natural Resources, Water, Rural Cooperatives, Governorate and Tribal Affairs organization were identified as the main and central actors, and the Environment, Meteorology, Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare organizations and Khatam Alanbia University of Technology, Behbahan, and Behbahan Agricultural research Station were identified as and peripheral actors. At the level of stakeholders ‘network, the governorate generally has high authority and influence with the highest amount of centrality and also has the highest role of control and mediation in the network.
masoud salari; Fereydoon Sarmadian; Ali Salajegheh
Abstract
Wild sheep (Ovis orientalis) are a critical component of wildlife biodiversity in Iran and are categorized as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List. This species plays a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of rangeland ecosystems and contributes to ecological balance within their habitats. ...
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Wild sheep (Ovis orientalis) are a critical component of wildlife biodiversity in Iran and are categorized as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List. This species plays a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of rangeland ecosystems and contributes to ecological balance within their habitats. Variations in land characteristics (including climate, topography, soil, vegetation, hydrological factors, and land use) result in distinct habitat suitability classifications for this species. This study involved long-term observational research on wild sheep behavior over a decade, aiming to identify the most influential factors affecting habitat suitability and to generate a habitat suitability map using machine learning algorithms alongside the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Khabr National Park. The findings indicate that the region has relatively high suitability for this species, with elevation, slope, vegetation cover, and proximity to water resources emerging as the most significant factors. Validation of the results using the kappa coefficient and the overall accuracy index confirms the high precision of the findings. This underscores the value of integrating machine learning models with AHP in habitat suitability assessments, aiding management in understanding the species’ ecological requirements and identifying priority conservation areas.
