Ramsar international wetlands of Alagol, Almagol and Ajigol with a surface of 3027 ha are located in the vast Turkmen-Sahra plains (Golestan prov.) in east of Caspian Sea and in the vicinity of the Iran-Turkmenistan political border. Flora, vegetation and habitat diversity of the wetlands were surveyed during growing seasons of 2014 and 2015. A total of 159 plant taxa belonging to 123 genera an...

1. Habitat loss and fragmentation are major factors affecting vertebrate populations. A major effect of these habitat alterations is that they reduce movement of organisms. Despite the accepted importance of movement in driving the dynamics of many natural populations, movement of vertebrates in fragmented landscapes have seldom been estimated with robust statistical methods. 2. We estimated mo...

To determine the prevalence of animal fascioliasis in coastal regions of the Caspian Sea, during 2006-2007, a total of 2368 faecal samples were collected from sheep (n=1250), cattle (n=975) and horse (n=143). The samples were obtained directly from the rectum of animals. Floatation method was performed for determination of egg per gram of faeces (EPG). Our findings revealed the presence of Fasc...

Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease endemic in some areas of Gilan province. Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of the personnel employed in Health System Network (Including Behvarzes, Kardans and physicians) on leprosy. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires consisting of 14 multiple choice questions for Behvarzes and 20 multiple choice questions for Kardans and physicians wee...

1. Land use (e.g. urbanization, agriculture, natural lands management) may directly affect populations by habitat loss and fragmentation, and indirectly by altering conditions needed for reproductive success. The effects of urbanization are especially pronounced for populations that remain among urbanized areas, but they are difficult to detect in long-lived species. 2. We evaluated the effects...

Supplying freshwater is one of the important methods to help restore degraded wetlands. Changes in soil properties and plant community biomass were evaluated by comparing sites with freshwater treatment versus reference sites following freshwater addition to wetlands of the Yellow River Delta for 7 years. The results indicated that soil organic carbon (SOC) was significantly increased in all we...

Over the last century, North Carolina has seen a severe reduction in the percentage of wetlands and a rise in negative environmental impacts related to this loss. To counter these effects, efforts have been enacted to mitigate wetland loss and create new wetland areas. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of hydrological restoration at several sites in the North Carolina coastal...

Prior studies have shown that macrogeographic gradients in temperature associated with latitude and altitude can lead to countergradient patterns of variation in a number of taxa: individuals from colder environments are known to grow or develop faster than their conspecifics from warmer environments when placed in a common setting. In this study, I hypothesized that countergradient variation a...