National assessment of threatened species using sparse data: IUCN Red List classification of Anatidae in Iran

Classifying the status of threatened species using tools such as the IUCN Red List is a critical step for identifying at-risk species, and for conservation planning at global and sub-global levels. The requirement for data on population trends, geographic ranges and population sizes has proved challenging to carry out at the national level, especially in countries with unstructured and spatially limited monitoring schemes and limited conservation resources. In this study, we investigated the repeatability of risk assessments made under the IUCN Red List guidelines for assessment at the national level. Specifically, we assessed the national threat status of breeding and non-breeding populations of Anatidae in Iran using population and distribution data. The variable quality of these data led to uncertainties in decision-making. To evaluate the impact of these uncertainties on population trend estimates, we generated a range of alternative possible threat categories under three scenarios of population trend estimation. For the non-breeding populations, for which long-term population data were available, we were able to classify 93% of species, 72% of which were placed in threatened categories. For the breeding populations, 78% of the species were categorized as Data Deficient. Of those species in data-sufficient categories, 67% were classified as threatened. We conclude that effective use of the IUCN categories and criteria at the national level is hampered in situations where monitoring schemes have a short history. Therefore, available data need to be complemented with some level of standardized data collection. We further make suggestions about efficient means of data collection in such cases and the importance of the use of modeling techniques prior to Red Listing and discuss the most useful IUCN criteria for threat categorization in such circumstances

Factors Affecting Forage Quality of Native Species in Iranian Rangelands

Animal performance is closely correlated with the nutrient value of the forage available and this is affected by different factors (Arzani et al., 2001). Crude protein content (CP), digestible dry matter (DDM) and metabolisable energy (ME) were considered particularly appropriate for evaluation of range forage quality. This paper reports on factors affecting the forage quality of range species grown in Iran

Plankton composition and environmental parameters in the habitat of the Iranian cave barb (Iranocypris typhlops) in Iran

La composición planctónica y los parámetros ambientales en el hábitat del barbo cavernícola iraní Iranocypris typhlops El barbo cavernícola iraní, Iranocypris typhlops (Bruun & Kaiser, 1944) es una especie catalogada como “Vulnerable” en la Lista Roja de la IUCN. Endémica de una única localidad situada en las montañas Zagros, en Irán occidental. Se trata de una especie omnívora que depende del plancton para alimentarse. Se estudió la distribución espacial y estacional del plancton en el hábitat original del barbo cavernícola iraní entre mayo de 2012 y febrero de 2013. Se midieron varios parámetros ambientales y se relacionaron con la distribución del plancton. La comunidad planctónica comprendía 13 géneros y cinco especies. El filo Rotifera tenía el mayor número de géneros (4) y de especies (4), seguido por Arthropoda (3), Ochrophyta (3), Myzozoa (2), Charophyta (2), Chlorophyta (2), Ciliophora (1) y Cryptophyta (1). Por lo que respecta a la cantidad, las especies dominantes de fitoplancton y zooplancton fueron Achnanthidium sp. y Lecane sp. Los coeficientes de correlación de Pearson pusieron de manifiesto que la relación entre las comunidades de plancton y los parámetros ambientales era baja pero significativa. Entre los parámetros ambientales, el total de sólidos en suspensión y la turbidez parecieron ser los más influyentes en la distribución temporal de las especies de plancton. Asimismo, se observó que el oxígeno disuelto desempeñaba una función importante para la mayoría de las especies de plancton, al igual que la temperatura para la mayoría de las especies de zooplancton. La diversidad y la abundancia de fitoplancton y zooplancton eran bajas durante todo el año en la cueva con una media anual de 96,4 ind./l y no mostraron ningún máximo durante el año.La composición planctónica y los parámetros ambientales en el hábitat del barbo cavernícola iraní Iranocypris typhlops El barbo cavernícola iraní, Iranocypris typhlops (Bruun & Kaiser, 1944) es una especie catalogada como “Vulnerable” en la Lista Roja de la IUCN. Endémica de una única localidad situada en las montañas Zagros, en Irán occidental. Se trata de una especie omnívora que depende del plancton para alimentarse. Se estudió la distribución espacial y estacional del plancton en el hábitat original del barbo cavernícola iraní entre mayo de 2012 y febrero de 2013. Se midieron varios parámetros ambientales y se relacionaron con la distribución del plancton. La comunidad planctónica comprendía 13 géneros y cinco especies. El filo Rotifera tenía el mayor número de géneros (4) y de especies (4), seguido por Arthropoda (3), Ochrophyta (3), Myzozoa (2), Charophyta (2), Chlorophyta (2), Ciliophora (1) y Cryptophyta (1). Por lo que respecta a la cantidad, las especies dominantes de fitoplancton y zooplancton fueron Achnanthidium sp. y Lecane sp. Los coeficientes de correlación de Pearson pusieron de manifiesto que la relación entre las comunidades de plancton y los parámetros ambientales era baja pero significativa. Entre los parámetros ambientales, el total de sólidos en suspensión y la turbidez parecieron ser los más influyentes en la distribución temporal de las especies de plancton. Asimismo, se observó que el oxígeno disuelto desempeñaba una función importante para la mayoría de las especies de plancton, al igual que la temperatura para la mayoría de las especies de zooplancton. La diversidad y la abundancia de fitoplancton y zooplancton eran bajas durante todo el año en la cueva con una media anual de 96,4 ind./l y no mostraron ningún máximo durante el año.The Iranian cave barb (Iranocypris typhlops Bruun & Kaiser, 1944) is ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List. It is an endemic species of ray–finned fish of the family Cyprinidae from a single locality in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran. This species is an omnivore that depends on plankton for food. We studied the spatial and seasonal distribution of plankton in the native habitat of the Iranian cave barb between May 2012 and February 2013. We measured various environmental parameters and related these to plankton distribution. The plankton assemblage included 13 genera and five species. Rotifera had the highest number of genera (4) and species (4), followed by Arthropoda (3), Ochrophyta (3), Myzozoa (2), Charophyta (2), Chlorophyta (2), Ciliophora (1) and Cryptophyta (1). In terms of numbers, the dominant species of phytoplankton and zooplankton were Achnanthidium sp. and Lecane sp. Pearson correlation coefficients showed a low but significant relationship between plankton communities and environmental parameters. Among the environmental parameters, total suspended solids and turbidity seemed to have the most important influence on the temporal distribution of plankton species. We also observed that dissolved oxygen played an important role for most plankton species, as did temperature for most zooplankton species. The diversity and abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton were low throughout the year in the cave with an annual mean of 96.4 ind./l and they did not show any peaks during the year

An assessment of threats to Anatidae in Iran

The network of wetland systems in Iran provides valuable staging and wintering areas for waterbirds in the African-Western Eurasian flyways. The West Siberian/Caspian/Nile populations of Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans) regularly overwinter and stop over in Iran, and are considered an economically and culturally important group of birds in the country. Conservation of such migratory birds requires the identification of key threat factors impacting them throughout the flyway. Since documented data on the status and threats facing Anatidae in Iran are very scarce, in this paper, we attempted to determine the general population trends for the 26 Anatidae species in Iran, using annual waterbird census data, and to identify and score the most important threat factors affecting each species, by consulting the top ornithologists and professional birdwatchers in the country by means of a survey. Our results indicate that the most prevalent threats affecting all 26 species are dam construction, water management practices, and hunting. Our results provide the necessary material for Red List assessment of these species at the national level, an important tool for conservation priority setting within Iran and in the flyway

Breeding ecology of the Iranian ground jay (Podoces pleskei)

Although Podoces pleskei is the only endemic bird of Iran, little information exists on its ecological features, population dynamics and threats that concern it. This species occurs in desert and semi desert areas, mostly on the Iranian plateau, though its range spreads southeast ward to the Iran- Pakistan border. In this research, a total of 52 nests were studied in three locations, the “Ghare Tappe”, “Marvast” and “Mehrano” region, from 2005 to 2008. Breeding habits, nest characteristics, hatching features, clutch size, length of incubation time, nesting period and features of the chicks were observed in the three locations and were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To compare breeding success among the three study areas, Z test was applied. This bird builds its nest at the top of and within the denser parts of plants, particularly Atraphaxis spinosa, Ephedra intermedia and Zygophyllum eurypterum. At times of danger, they hide beneath shrubs. Z-tests showed that the breeding success of this bird varied between Marvast and Mehrano. The greatest cause of nest failure and chick mortality was the transcaspian desert monitor (Varanus griseus caspius), which feeds on the eggs and chicks.Key words: Breeding ecology, Pleske’s ground jay, nest characteristics, clutch size, nest success, threat

Profiling of major fatty acids in different raw and roasted sesame seeds cultivars

The aim of this study was to investigate the fatty acids profile of five sesame cultivars including Branching Naz, Darab, Karaj, Dezful and Black sesame and the effect of time and temperature roasting procedure. The seeds oil content varied from 43±0.28 to 47±0.41% with the average content of 44.4±1.87%. Darab and Black sesame cultivar had the highest and lowest oil content respectively. Oleic and linoleic acids were the two-dominant fatty acids in the sesame seed oil about 80 to 85% of the total amount, whereas palmitic and stearic acids were present at 12 to 15%. Moreover, Dazful and Black sesame had the maximum and minimum content of oxidizability value respectively. The results of the present study showed that the fatty acid contents in studied cultivars were steady during different roasting conditions and fatty acid behavior of samples was good fitted with the high temperatures.Key words: Gas chromatography (GC), fatty acid, roasting procedure, sesame seed, stability

Molecular identification of birds: performance of distance-based DNA barcoding in three genes to delimit parapatric species

Background: DNA barcoding based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (cox1 or COI) has been successful in species identification across a wide array of taxa but in some cases failed to delimit the species boundaries of closely allied allopatric species or of hybridising sister species. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study we extend the sample size of prior studies in birds for cox1 (2776 sequences, 756 species) and target especially species that are known to occur parapatrically, and/or are known to hybridise, on a Holarctic scale. In order to obtain a larger set of taxa (altogether 2719 species), we include also DNA sequences of two other mitochondrial genes: cytochrome b (cob) (4614 sequences, 2087 species) and 16S (708 sequences, 498 species). Our results confirm the existence of a wide gap between intra- and interspecies divergences for both cox1 and cob, and indicate that distance-based DNA barcoding provides sufficient information to identify and delineate bird species in 98% of all possible pairwise comparisons. This DNA barcoding gap was not statistically influenced by the number of individuals sequenced per species. However, most of the hybridising parapatric species pairs have average divergences intermediate between intraspecific and interspecific distances for both cox1 and cob. Conclusions/Significance: DNA barcoding, if used as a tool for species discovery, would thus fail to identify hybridising parapatric species pairs. However, most of them can probably still assigned to known species by character-based approaches, although development of complementary nuclear markers will be necessary to account for mitochondrial introgression in hybridising species

On the stability of J∗−^*-derivations

In this paper, we establish the stability and superstability of $J^*-$derivations in $J^*-$algebras for the generalized Jensen--type functional equation $$rf(\frac{x+y}{r})+rf(\frac{x-y}{r})= 2f(x).$$ Finally, we investigate the stability of $J^*-$derivations by using the fixed point alternative

Nearly Jordan -Homomorphisms between Unital -Algebras

Let , be two unital ∗-algebras. We prove that every almost unital almost linear mapping ℎ : → which satisfies ℎ(3+3)=ℎ(3)ℎ()+ℎ()ℎ(3) for all ∈(), all ∈, and all =0,1,2,…, is a Jordan homomorphism. Also, for a unital ∗-algebra of real rank zero, every almost unital almost linear continuous mapping ℎ∶→ is a Jordan homomorphism when ℎ(3+3)=ℎ(3)ℎ()+ℎ()ℎ(3) holds for all ∈1 (sa), all ∈, and all =0,1,2,…. Furthermore, we investigate the Hyers- Ulam-Aoki-Rassias stability of Jordan ∗-homomorphisms between unital ∗-algebras by using the fixed points methods