Zoha Jafari; Alireza Ildromi; Seyed Mohsen Hosseini; Abdolrassoul Salmanmahiy; javad Rezaeain Zeidi
Volume 16, Issue 2 , July 2018, , Pages 185-202
Abstract
Introduction: In recent decades, mathematical planning methods have been widely applied for optimization of decision-making processes under resource constraint conditions (Filip, 2017). The application of these methods has been emphasized in studies such as the allocation of land to various types of ...
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Introduction: In recent decades, mathematical planning methods have been widely applied for optimization of decision-making processes under resource constraint conditions (Filip, 2017). The application of these methods has been emphasized in studies such as the allocation of land to various types of utilization in forest areas (Diaz & Romero, 2002), planning agricultural-forestry plans (de Sousa Xavier, 2015) and assessment of tourism development investment options (Carrillo et al., 2017). The present study applied a multi-objective programming method to optimize the level of investment and land allocation for the development of various types of tourism activities, considering three goals of increasing profit, decreasing erosion rate and increasing employment in Zara Park with an area of 73 hectares in Mazandaran Province. Materials and methods: The required information was collected from area maps, relevant organizations and completed questionnaires from 120 visitors. The scale of erosion for each activity in a special area was determined with the use of affecting criteria from the FAO erosion assessment method and expert opinions for each activity in a special site. Limitations related to the physiological features of the area were considered through the creation of six homogeneous areas for the allocation of sports site, children's park, picnic, forest seeing and conservation. Other information was entered into the model as input data of objective function and constraint. By solving the model in Lingo11 mathematical programming software, a pay-off matrix was first created from separate optimization of goals, in order to assess the degree of conflict between them (Romero et al., 1987). Then, with the use of the weighting method, a series of efficient solutions were obtained. Finally, using the compromise programming method and creating a balance between the goals, the best answer among them was chosen. Agreed solutions were determined based on the preference of the decision makers in the weight of the goals. Results and discussion: According to the results, on the condition of maximizing profits, annual revenue was estimated as 5.6 billion rails, the number of employees is 239 and the erosion rate was approximately 28. With a separate optimization minimizing erosion, the erosion was expected to decrease by 14 units, due to the modification in the area and the state of site assigned to each activity. In this case, a significant reduction of 3.1 billion rails in annual revenue and 19 people in employment can be envisaged. By maximizing the employment rate individually, the annual income was reduced to 3.4 billion. By simultaneously optimizing three goals in a multi-objective optimization approach, an efficient set of solutions was obtained in which the exchange between the goals could be observed. According to the results the change in the level of optimization of an objective affects the extent to which the other goals are achieved. From this set, optimal investment patterns were obtained with the use of a compromise programming method taking into consideration a different combination of objective weighting from the perspective of the three groups of park managers, tourism organizations and environmentalists. Based on these results, changing the weight of the goals significantly changed the amount of area and location allocated to each activity and the level of profitability. In the state of increasing the weight of the goal Profit, based on the preferences of park managers, the annual revenue will become nearer to the park estimation which is equal to 4.6 billion rails per year according to the comprehensive park studies and the sites allocated to each activity is approximately similar to the site expected by tourist’s point of view, as evaluated in the questionnaires. On an equal weighting, based on the preferences of the tourism authorities, although the level of income is lower than the estimated revenue, the other goals in this condition can come closer to their optimal level; ultimately, by considering environmentalist’s preferences, the percentage allocated to each land use changes in favour of the activities which are more compatible with the natural heritage, such as conservation and forest seeing. Conclusion: We face various and often conflicting goals in managing tourism resources, so multi-objective optimization methods integrated with compromise programming approaches which provide the possibility of exchange between the various preferences of managers and stakeholders can be used as an effective tool in facilitating the decision-making process.
Einollah RouhiMoghaddam,; Seyed Mohsen Hosseini,; Ezzatollah Ebrahimi; Ahmad Rahmani; Masoud Tabari
Volume 8, Issue 3 , April 2011
Abstract
The regeneration structure and biodiversity of trees and shrub species in the understory of pure and mixed oak plantations were investigated at Chamestan Forest and Rangeland research station. Planted species included oak (as the main species) and maple and nettle trees (as associated species ). These ...
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The regeneration structure and biodiversity of trees and shrub species in the understory of pure and mixed oak plantations were investigated at Chamestan Forest and Rangeland research station. Planted species included oak (as the main species) and maple and nettle trees (as associated species ). These species were planted in 1995 on the basis of a split plot design with two mixtures (oak-maple and oak-nettle tree) and four mixing rates (including oak rate: 40 %, 50 %, 60 % and 70 %). All the seedlings and saplings of woody plants were divided into two height classes including 15-200 cm and more than 200 cm. In the biodiversity study, the Berger-Parker dominance index, Fisher alpha diversity index, Margalef richness index and Equitability J evenness index were used. The results showed that the abundance and diversity of regenerated species in the understory of mixed plantations of oak-nettle tree was greater than in a pure stand of oak and a mixed oak-maple stand. Crown cover and litter layer depth showed a negative significant effect on their abundance and richness. The presence of primary forest species in the understories of mixed plantationa showed the usage of these plantations in the development of succession in natural forests.
Yahya Kooch; Seyed Mohsen Hosseini; Hamid Jalilvand; Asghar Fallah
Volume 8, Issue 1 , October 2010
Abstract
Nowadays, the need for sustainable resource management has led to introducing new methods for classification of managed resources. The importance of biodiversity and its management and considering to new methods for determining management units introduced the initial idea for this research. For this ...
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Nowadays, the need for sustainable resource management has led to introducing new methods for classification of managed resources. The importance of biodiversity and its management and considering to new methods for determining management units introduced the initial idea for this research. For this study of biodiversity in lowland forests of Khanikan located in Chalous, environmental units were initially determined by Two-way Indicator Species Analysis. The study area was classified into five different environmental units. For analyses of the diversity, richness and evenness of the environmental units, the Simpson, Margalef and Hill indices were used. For investigation of soil characteristics, four soil profiles were taken at different depths of the profiles (0-10, 10- 20, and 20 -30cm) for each environmental unit and conveyed to the laboratory. Some soil characteristics were analyzed in the laboratory. Factor analysis is a statistical technique for producing a foundation algorithm or specific model for determination of the complex relationship among variables. To identify the relationships within biodiversity, different indices with soil physic-chemical and biological characteristics were studied by principal component analysis (PCA). The location of soil variables on the axes indicates that nitrogen at the third depth, cation exchangeable capacity of the first and third depths, available phosphorous at all depths are settled on axis 1. The settling location all the biodiversity indices was also in the direction of axis 1. The left orientation of axis 1 was devoted to Simpson diversity, Margalef richness, and Hill evenness indices. Thus, each of the biodiversity indices had a direct relationship with soil characteristics in the left orientation of axis 1. Available phosphorous was introduced as the most effective factor on biodiversity indices.
Mohammad Javad Amiri; Abdolrasoul Salman Mahini; Seyed Gholamali Jalali; Seyyed Mohsen Hosseini; Froad Azari Dehkordi
Volume 7, Issue 2 , January 2010
Abstract
In this research, two methods were utilized for assessing the ecological capability of forestry: the overlay maps systemic and Boolean-Fuzzy Logic (BFL) methods. To assess the ecological capability of forest land, it is essential to deploy precise ecological factors of a forest ecosystem such as its ...
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In this research, two methods were utilized for assessing the ecological capability of forestry: the overlay maps systemic and Boolean-Fuzzy Logic (BFL) methods. To assess the ecological capability of forest land, it is essential to deploy precise ecological factors of a forest ecosystem such as its physiography, topography, altitude, slope, soil, bedrock, precipitation, temperature, and natural factors like vegetation density, annual increment, and the special value of plant species. Therefore, overlay methodology and Boolean logic were used to evaluate the ecological capability of sub watersheds Nos. 33 and 34 that cover an area of 32,526 ha near Tonekabon in Mazandaran Province of Iran. Our findings after using the conventional Boolean Model revealed that there are categories 3, 5, 6, and 7 of forest capability in the area, although the category 3 area was dominant. On the other hand, when the same methodology was used but, instead of the Boolean-Logic (BL) the ‘Boolean-Fuzzy-Logic’ (BFL) was deployed and after weighting of parameters by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the seven complete categories for forest layers have been detected in the Geographic Information System (GIS) layers. These findings can emphasize the improvement of BFL methodology against the conventional BL for assessment of the ecological capability of forests in the northern part of Iran.
Ashraf Aghabarati; Seyed Mohsen Hosseini; Abas Esmaili; Habib Maralian
Volume 6, Issue 3 , April 2009
Abstract
Land application of municipal effluent is potentially beneficial as an inexpensive nutrient source. To investigate the effect of seven years of irrigation with Southern Tehran municipal effluent treatment plant effluent on the physical and chemical properties of soil and accumulation of nutrient in olive ...
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Land application of municipal effluent is potentially beneficial as an inexpensive nutrient source. To investigate the effect of seven years of irrigation with Southern Tehran municipal effluent treatment plant effluent on the physical and chemical properties of soil and accumulation of nutrient in olive trees, a study was carried out using a random-systematic pattern with three replications. Treatments included: 1) municipal effluent and 2) well water (control). To investigate soil physical and chemical properties, accumulation of nutrient and Cd in leaves and fruits, samples of soil (0-15, 15-30 and 30-60 cm), leaves and fruits were taken from each plot in three replications. Samples were analyzed with standard methods. In order to normalize the data, an independent sample t-test was used. Results of this study indicate that application of municipal effluents increase the concentration of Mg, N, P, K, Ca and Cd in different layers of soil (0-15, 15-30 and 30-60 cm depths) and Olea europaea, s leaves and fruits. Irrigation with municipal effluent increased olive fruit yield and leave weight.
Morteza Saeedifard; Mohsen Hosseini; Reza Moradi; Mohammad Naghi Padasht Dehkaei
Volume 5, Issue 4 , July 2008
Abstract
Lilium ledebourii (Baker) Boiss.(Liliaceae), locally named “Susan -e Chelcheragh” is an endemic and rare species that grows on the high lands of Damash in Gilan Province, and It is under surveillance of DOE (Department of Environment). Habitat of Chelcheragh lily in Damash is one of the protected ...
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Lilium ledebourii (Baker) Boiss.(Liliaceae), locally named “Susan -e Chelcheragh” is an endemic and rare species that grows on the high lands of Damash in Gilan Province, and It is under surveillance of DOE (Department of Environment). Habitat of Chelcheragh lily in Damash is one of the protected areas of Iran's DOE and is placed in Category III (Natural Monument) of IUCN. Lack of information about the biology and specially ecology of this rare plant species is because of severe conservation and limited spatial distribution. In order to determine the ecological needs of Chelcheragh lily or white lily, the habitat of this species in Damash was studied and different ecological resources including: elevation, geographical aspect, slope, soil, vegetation cover, etc. Study of the other habitat in Dorfak (Gilan) was performed based on field investigation and literature review which was in order to determine ecological needs of Chelcheragh lily. Topographic data in geographic information system (GIS) was analyzed and land form characteristics were provided. Results were analyzed (logical) and effective factors on spatial distribution of Chelcheragh lily were introduced.
Javad Mirzaei; Moslem Akbarinia; Seyed Mohsen Hosseni; Mehrdad Kohzadi
Volume 5, Issue 3 , April 2008
Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between biodiversity and the richness of woody and ground vegetation species, soil physicochemical and physiographic characteristics of the Zagros forests. This study was conducted at Arghavan reservoir in the North of Ilam Province in Iran. For this ...
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The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between biodiversity and the richness of woody and ground vegetation species, soil physicochemical and physiographic characteristics of the Zagros forests. This study was conducted at Arghavan reservoir in the North of Ilam Province in Iran. For this study, plots with a systematic distribution across the northern (n =24), southern (n =20) and western (n =13) aspects were selected and vegetation, soil and physiographic data were measured. Results showed that, in the southern aspect, ground vegetation diversity had a negative relationship with clay and sand while it had positive correlation with silt. In the northern aspect, ground vegetation diversity had a negative correlation with elevation above sea level. In the western aspect, ground vegetation diversity had a positive correlation with CaCo3 while it had negative correlation with salinity and elevation above sea level. Results also showed that, in all the aspects, woody species only had a relationship with physical factors. These results suggest that in ecological studies for assessing the relationship between vegetation and environment, soil factors should be measured for the assessment of ground vegetation and, for woody species, physical and physiographic factors.
