Habitat Suitability Modeling for Wildlife Management Objectives by Using Maximum Entropy Method

Habitat suitability models are useful tools for a variety of wildlife management objectives. Distributions of wildlife species can be predicted for geographical areas that have not been extensively surveyed. The basis of these models' work is to minimize the relationship between species distribution and biotic and abiotic environments. For some species, there is information about presence and absence that allows the use of a variety of standard statistical methods. However, absence data is not available for most species. Nowadays, the methods that need presence-only data have been expanded. One of these methods is the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. The purpose of this study is to model the habitat of Urial (Ovis orientalis arkal) in the Samelghan plain in the North East of Iran with the MaxEnt method. This algorithm uses the Jackknife plot and percent contribution values to determine the significance of the variables. The results showed that variables such as southern aspects, Juniperus-Acer, Artemisia-Perennial plants, slope 0-5%, and asphalt road were the most important factors affecting the species' habitat selection. The area under the curve (AUC) Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) showed excellent model performance. Suitable habitat was classified based on the threshold value (0.0513) and the ROC, which, based on the results, 28% of the area was a suitable habitat for Urial. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2021-02-04-05 Full Text: PD

Habitat suitability modeling for wild goat (Capra aegagrus) in a mountainous arid area, central Iran

Wild goat (Capra aegagrus) is one of the most prominent mountain mammals dispersed in many habitats in Iran. However, few studies on the relationship between this species and its habitat have been conducted. This species is recognized as one of the main food source for highly endangered species such as cheetah and leopard. In this study which lasted from fall 2009 through summer 2011, seasonal habitat suitability models of wild goat in the protected area of Kouh-e-Bafgh were created. The binary logistic regression analysis comparing ecological characteristics of presence and absence points with ecological characteristics of the region have been applied. Wild goat habitat use was influenced by steep slopes, rocky substrates, and distance to water sources, vegetation, aspects and human resources (roads). Applied models could predict at least 94.7% of the model evaluation points, indicating high accuracy of the models. Suitable habitats for wild goat in protected area of Kouh-e-Bafgh were classified in different seasons based on the estimated optimal cut-off value for each model. It comprised 29.5% to 41.3% of the protected area. There was a substantial overlap between seasonal suitable habitats in different seasons, with the highest overlap between spring and summer. The overlap between suitable habitats was at least 71.6% in all seasons. The most suitable habitats of wild goat and its predator were in the core zones of the study area

A novel control scheme of the statcom for power quality improvement in electrified railways

DC electrified railways play an important role for metropolitan public transportation because of high efficiency, heavy ridership and fast transportation. However, the electrified railways cause great problems for the power quality issues of the power distribution system feeding the traction system such as injecting harmonics, reactive power compensation and low power factor issue. The problem can be solved by adding a Statcom to the traction substations. In this paper, a novel control system has been applied for the control of Statcom, comparing its efficiency and characteristics with the mostly used PQ method. The simulation is done with PSCAD/EMTDC proving the efficiency of the control system for reducing the current harmonics, voltage and current balancing, reactive power compensation and power factor improvement

Power quality concerns of unit commitment of main transformers for DC electrified urban railway systems

The power quality problems of DC electrified urban railway systems are discussed for the unit commitment situations on the main transformers of the traction substations. Utilizing unit commitment and the transformer planning procedure for an electrified traction system which is applied to derive the optimal transformer capacity to meet the annual peak demand and provide reserve for service reliability, minimizes the overall cost of main transformers over the life cycle. On the other hand, some power quality problems are caused or even emphasized due to the natural characteristics of the traction system. The dynamic programming method of unit commitment is done in MATLAB where its results are the input data for the rest of our power quality investigation procedure. The power quality characteristics of the traction system are then studied and verified through the simulation results done with PSCAD/EMTDC software

Application Zonitation Based on Ecological Capacity for Area Management in Makidi

Nowadays because of various factors, including inappropriate land use, and indiscriminate exploitation of water resources, soil and vegetation, wide areas of the country were exposed to destruction of lands and desertification. Therefore land use planning based on its ecological capability has a significant role in environmental management and in preventing environmental degradation in the direction of sustainable development. In this study, land use planning for Makidi village (2415 ha) in south of Arasbaran protected area has been conducted. The main objectives of the plan were to promote sustainable use, to increase living conditions, and enhance environmental conservation in the region. First, ecological and socio-economic resources were surveyed and mapped (scale 1:10000). Then data analysis and integration with system analysis approach were performed. As a result, 1571 micro-ecosystems were mapped. Ecological capability of mapping unit was evaluated for aquatic cultivation, dry farming, range management, forestry, ecotourism and conservation with the aid of specified ecological models. Finally with coordination of socioeconomic data and ecological capability of mapping unit, priority of land uses was established. At the end, map of land use planning for Makidi area was depicted for management purposes. The results show that %0.67 of allocated land use is suitable for irrigation farming, %8.49 for dry farming, %26.89 for range management, %13.64 for protected forestry, %0.34 for intensive ecotourism and finally .%49.15 for conservation

Induction motor characteristics and applications for DC electrified railway systems

Induction motor structures in DC electrified railways with their dynamic performance are studied. Characteristics of the current, voltage, electrical and mechanical torque and active and reactive power in accelerating, normal and regenerative braking are investigated. The characteristics of the induction motors used for Tabriz urban railway are simulated with PSCAD/EMTDC software proving the investigated characteristics