Maryam Shariatzadeh; Masoud Bijani; Saeid Morid
Abstract
Purpose: Any long-term changes on the weather conditions are called climate change. The most critical environmental threat against the earth planet is the climate changes on these days. In other hand, the climate changes which has increased so fast in these decade has caused the water managers, the water ...
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Purpose: Any long-term changes on the weather conditions are called climate change. The most critical environmental threat against the earth planet is the climate changes on these days. In other hand, the climate changes which has increased so fast in these decade has caused the water managers, the water consumers and the all authorities and planners face with serious challenges and there is no clue. It does not seem there is logical way to assume that the climate changes and hydrological conditions are going to remain in the same structure as they have been before. Therefore, the important issue is making a useful plan to avoid and control effects of climate changes while we are facing serious challenges by the impacts of climate. The climate changes has made a bad impact on the agricultural part in the different regions of world, so farmers need to be adapted more with these changes to save their livelihood. This research is done based on understanding how the farmers are adapting with the climate changes by using of the behavioral model in Khoy Township. Materials and methods: The present quantitative research as an applied inquiry which has been done in the descriptive-correlational method in Khoy Township. The statistical population was 25811 households which 380 of them was selected based on Krejcie and Morgan sample size table and stratified random sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire which its face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of expert in the field of agricultural extension and education and its reliability was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha (0.72 ≤α ≤0.90) in order. The descriptive and inferential statistics is used for data analyzing. Results and discussion: The results showed that the level of adapting for the all farmer households is not equal. At the end we will provide the model of the farmer household adapting to the climate change and also useful and effective methods to reduce of the negative effects of climate changes on rural households. Based on the findings the most important effective factors on adapting are keeping the agriculture structure, living standards, social solidarity, using of various strategies for adapting, learning new ways to fight with crisis and keeping the power of decision that have most relation with adapting. On the other, maintaining the mood has less relation with the dependent variable. The independent variables anticipate 87% of the dependent variable's changes.Conclusion: The results show that households increase their ability to adapt to climate change economically by using different strategies and new crisis response strategies. Evaluating farmers' actions on climate change also shows that most farmers are aware of the effects of the climate change and are able to maintain and improve their livelihood. So we can create a sustainable situation for adaptation to climate change by presenting new techniques to local farmers and updating climate information.
Elham Nasrabadi; Mohammad Farzam; Mansur Mesdaghi; Hamed Ali Labafian
Volume 14, Issue 4 , January 2017, , Pages 17-28
Abstract
Introduction: Due to the water shortage and location of Iran within an arid region, the total costs of maintaining urban green space is dramatically high. Most of the plant species cultivated in the urban green spaces of Iran are exotic and need a high amount of resources. Native species, in contrast, ...
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Introduction: Due to the water shortage and location of Iran within an arid region, the total costs of maintaining urban green space is dramatically high. Most of the plant species cultivated in the urban green spaces of Iran are exotic and need a high amount of resources. Native species, in contrast, are adapted to the soil conditions and temperature fluctuations, and also need much less water. Materials and methods: This research was aimed at the domestication of Melica persica Kunth, a perennial grass native to the mountains around Mashhad city. This species was considered because of being native and also for its attractive inflorescence and growth form. Seeds of M. persica were collected from Dehbar village (14 Km from Torghabe-Shandiz, 59 17' 23" N, 36 15' 04"E) in July 2014 and planted under three germination treatments within a germinator (in 23-27 ºC), in pots (green house) and by direct seedling transplanting.Results and discussion: The germination and growing percentages for these treatments were 96, 58/5, and 25/5 percent, respectively. All the plants were cultivated in Ghadir nursery in Mashhad. The survival rates of this species were recorded under two treatments of pot and direct plantings. The phenological stages were monitored during the growth season of 2014-2015, both in the natural habitat and within the Ghadir station at Mashhad. In the two years of 2014 and 2015, temperature, time and number of days were different. The different stages of phenology, such as early flowering, flowering and seeding received the same GDD. The energy required each phenological stage in the different years was almost the same and, if there was any between them it was because it was not possible to go daily to the growing areas and record the phenological stages. There were just differences in transplanting and direct methods and this could be due to the different conditions of the plant and environment. Researche studies by Azimi et al. (2012), Azarnivand et al. (2012)and Mirhaji and Sanadgol (2007) on the effect of growing degree-day (GDD) and soil moisture on Stipa hohenackeriana in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, on the effect of GDD on phenology and growth of Onobrychis melanotricha, and on the whole required temperature range for phenological stages of a number of important species in the grasslands research station Homand showed that environmental factors such as temperature, rainfall and humidity can influence these stages. The phenological stages were almost similar under the three treatments, in other words they were totally dependent on the seasonal changes in temperature. An important point in the phenology of Melica persica was seen both under natural conditions and in the test site (Ghadir station,59 36' 55"N, 36 14' 31" E), re-growth during autumn occurred for those plants growing at the Ghadir station, which was well irrigated, but not for plants growing within the natural field; these results showed the degree by which water is more available for plants, it effects the freshness of the plants and causes them to grow longer.Conclusions: Results of this research indicate the possibility of domesticating M. persica for sowing it in the urban green space. M. persica could be suitable for rock gardens and mountain views because of its form. The best method for planting this species is by transplanting. The percentage of germination, establishment and survival was good and attractive in spring and summer and autumn.
Sajjad Rahimi Moghaddam; Jafar Kambouzia; Reza Deihimfard
Volume 14, Issue 3 , October 2016, , Pages 27-40
Abstract
Introduction: Iran is located in an arid and semiarid region that is vulnerable to environmental changes. So, it would appear that the occurrence of climate change in this region would have a significant impact on agricultural production systems (Eyshi Rezaie and Bannayan, 2012). Climate change might ...
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Introduction: Iran is located in an arid and semiarid region that is vulnerable to environmental changes. So, it would appear that the occurrence of climate change in this region would have a significant impact on agricultural production systems (Eyshi Rezaie and Bannayan, 2012). Climate change might affect the water available for agriculture and, consequently, lead to drought occurring in semiarid areas (Koocheki et al., 2006). Evaluating adaptation strategies, such as changing the planting of dates, can help to increase maize water use efficiency under climate change conditions (Ramprasad et al., 2016). One of the cheapest ways to measure the effects of climate change on agricultural production is through a modelling approach and application of simulation models (Manschadi et al., 2010). Materials and methods: This study aims at investigating the sowing date as a strategy for maize adaptation and improving its water use efficiency under climate change conditions in Khuzestan Province. For this purpose, six locations in Khuzestan Province were selected (Ahwaz, Behbahan, Dezful, Izeh, Ramhormoz and Shushtar). Daily long-term climatic data including minimum and maximum temperatures, rainfall and global radiation in a baseline period (1980-2010) were collected for these locations from their meteorological stations. Then, daily long-term climatic data were generated for the future period of 2040-2069 in these locations by using a method proposed by AgMIP under two climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). In this study, the SC704 cultivar was used. Taking into account three sowing dates (4 February, 19 February [a common sowing date] and 5h March), six locations, and two climate scenarios over 30 years, a total of 1620 simulation experiments were carried out in this study. In order to simulate the growth and yield of maize under different sowing dates, the APSIM model was applied.Results and discussion: Results indicated that early sowing date (4 February) with 10117.1 kg ha-1 had a higher economical grain yield compared to 19 February (10061.3 kg ha-1 ) and 5 March (7194.6 kg ha-1 ). Also, in the future period, the reduction percentage in economical grain yield at the different sowing dates compared to the baseline common planting date (19 February) showed that the early sowing date of 4 February recorded less reduction (-3.3 and -4.5 percent under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) than 19 February (-6.5 and -6.7 percent under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) and 5st March (-31.1 and -23.2 percent under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively). On average in Khuzestan Province, an early sowing date indicated higher water use efficiency (WUE) )11.8 kg ha-1 mm-1 ) compared to 19 February (10.7 kg ha-1 mm-1 ) and 5 March (7.6 kg ha-1 mm-1 ) in the baseline period. However, under climate change conditions, reduction of WUE in different planting dates compared to the baseline common sowing date (19 February) revealed that 4 February (2.8 and 3.3 percent under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) was superior compared with 19 February (-12 and -11 percent under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) and 5 March (- 40.1 and -32.5 percent under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) in term of WUE in Khuzestan Province. Conclusion: In general, according to the results found the common sowing date of maize in Khuzestan is not optimal for maize in terms of water use efficiency and economical grain yield. Accordingly, to increase economical grain yield and water use efficiency in both the future and baseline periods at Khuzestan Province, farmers should choose the early sowing date (4 February) compared to the common and late ones.
Elham Rajabbeigi; Ramin Erfanian; Seyed Mohammad Jafari
Volume 12, Issue 4 , January 2015
Abstract
Climate change is usually attributed to natural phenomena or in response to anthropogenic activities. Fossil fuel combustion and emission of greenhouse gases accelerate climate change and global warming. There are two main strategies to face climate fluctuations: adaptation and mitigation. Among living ...
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Climate change is usually attributed to natural phenomena or in response to anthropogenic activities. Fossil fuel combustion and emission of greenhouse gases accelerate climate change and global warming. There are two main strategies to face climate fluctuations: adaptation and mitigation. Among living organisms, plants exert numerous mitigating effects especially in urban areas. Important climate-related functions of plants; and hence urban green space, include cooling effect, pollution reduction, increasing energy use efficiency, absorption of UV and high energy radiations, reducing surface runoffs, soil maintenance, reducing wind speed, chemical air pollution and fine particles. The efficiency of plant taxa is a function of their morphological and physiological functional traits. This research comprehensively reviews relationships between plant mitigating functions in urban environments, functional traits and climate related management perspective of cities. Plant functional traits such as leaf surface morphology, plant size and height, density and distributional pattern, canopy shape and branching pattern along with life form and physiological properties are of utmost importance in mitigation and adaptability of plants to climate perturbations. We strongly recommend considering future perspective under climate change scenario and substitution of urban plant species based on functional traits as one of the management priorities for urban areas especially Tehran metropolis environment
