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Kasf forest, with an area of over 12 ha, running in the east-west direction and located at a distance of 20 kilometers in the north of the city of Bardaskan in a mountainous arid region. The minimum and maximum temperature of the area ranges between -10° C and +45° C. The average annual precipitation of the region is 155 mm.  The altitude of the forest is about 1600 m above sea level with a 15% slope. The vegetation of this forest was studied using floristic methods 2 years after a devastative fire and life forms and geographical distributions of plant species were determined. Sixty nine plant species belonged to 29 families (25 Dicots, 3 monocots and one gymnosperm). The largest families were the Lamiaceae with 11, Asteraceae with 9 and Caryophyllaceae with 5 species. The percentages of life forms were determined as follows: Therophytes with 36% (25 species), Hemicryptophytes with 29% (20 species), Chamaephytes with 16% (11 species), Phanerophytes with 13% (9 species) and Cryptophytes with 6% (4 species) of total investigated species. The high percentage of Hemicryptophytes indicated the dominance of cold mountainous climate and the presence of Asteraceae species such as harmala (Peganum harmala) showed that a severe disturbance had taken place in the region, which indicated a poor ecological administration in the studied region.

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Nowadays, nanoparticles (NPs) have the great potential application in different industries. Among all NPs, titanium dioxide NPs is the biggest ecotoxicological and ecophysiology concerns due to the increase of anthropogenic input into the aquatic ecosystems. In this study, the effects of titanium dioxide NPs enriched yeast on the growth, survival; digestive enzymes activity and lipid metabolism in Artemia urmiana (AU) and Artemia franciscana (AF) were investigated. The experiment was designed in two treatments (control and enriched yeast with titanium dioxide NPs) and each with four replicates for both Artemia species. At the end of experiment, the results indicated that titanium dioxide nanoparticles did not affect on the Artemia species growth but significantly increased AF survival. No significant difference was observed in AU survival. Also the results showed, NPs significantly decrease AU digestive enzymes activity and reverse pattern was observed for AF. The effect of NPs on the body lipid content was investigated in Artemia species and the results revealed that all the NPs decrease this parameter in AU but did not affect on AF lipid body content. The results obtained in this experiment, suggest that the eco-physiological effects of titanium dioxide NPs different in Artemia urmiana and Artemia franciscana.

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Heavy metals reduce the plant growth and adversely affect plant performance potential. Heavy metals also induce the formation of reactive oxygen species leading to cell damage. Plants deal with heavy metal stress by activating enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems such as Superoxide Dismutase which converts superoxide anion to hydrogen peroxide. Then Peroxidase and Catalase convert hydrogen peroxide to water. Another method employed by pl-ants to deal with heavy metals is mycorrhizal symbiosis. In this study, mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal barley seedlings (Hordeum vulgar), var. Rayhan, grown in a greenhouse were treated with four concentrations of nickel (0,100,200 and 400 µg/g). Results showed greater antioxidant activity in mycorrhizal plants compared with non-mycorrhizal plants.  Also, it was determined that the accumulation of nickel in roots of mycorrhizal plants was greater compared with non-mycorrhizal plants.

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The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders in women at childbearing age. Metabolic syndrome is present from 28% to 46% of patients with PCOS. Non-alcoholic fatty liver di-sease (NAFLD) is considered the hepatic expression of metabolic syndrome. In this study Urtica dioica moderator ef-fect on liver function in PCOS rats was examined. 120 adult female Wistar rats were divided into control, PCOS and nettle-treated groups. The PCOS group was injected subcutaneously 2 mg/kg estradiol valerate. After confirmed poly-cystic in ovaries, the experimental group was injected of the nettle extract doses (150,250, 450 mg/kg BW). Then rats were killed and blood samples were evaluated. Data were analyzed using ANOVA one-way and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. ELISA test showed a decrease in IL-6 level and CRP levels reduced in PCOS rats were treated with various concentrations of nettle. Our results show that nettle due to its antioxidant properties reduce the levels of IL-6 and CRP in nettle extract treated-PCOS compared to the PCOS.

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Astragalus semnanensis Bornm. & Rech. belongs to sect. Semnanensis, of thorny astragali and A. fridae, of non-thorny astragali, belongs to sect. Incani are the only endemic gypsophyllic species in western Semnan. The morphological and systematical studies available on these two species are scarce. Nor have the anatomical, distribution and adaptive capabilities in relation to soil and elevation of these species been investigated yet. Therefore, this study is aimed to comparatively investigate these features. The effect of soil and elevation on the anatomy, morphology and micro-morphology of the leaves of both species, as well as associated plant species, were analyzed using RDA and CCA analytical methods, Canoco 4.5 software. Comparison of RDA analysis of both species indicated that gypsum had the highest effect on the abundance of both species, while elevation had a strongly positive correlation with A. fridae and a negative correlation with A. semnanensis. Both species adsorb gypsum on their epidermis and part of the gypsum absorbed is accumulated in leaf parenchyma cells as calcium sulfate crystals. Adaptability of leaf surface is in the form of long and dense hairs which, in A. semnanensis, are longer and basifixed and, in A. fridae, thicker and medifixed. Increase in soil Ec and Na, K and Mg content and content of CaCO₃ reduce both species abundances. Species such as Acantholimon cymosum and Prunus lycioides were found to be associated with A. semnanensis and species such as Moltkia gypsaceae and Euphorbia gypsicola with A. fridae.
 

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The aim of this study was to determine the variations among cephalic plates of individuals in two populations of Clinopodes flavidus in Alborz Mountains, by means of landmark-based techniques of geometric morphometrics. Therefore, 17 landmarks and semi-landmarks on the coxosternite of poison claw and seven landmarks and semi-landmarks on the tarsangulum of poison claw were selected using TpsDig2 software. Data of landmarks, after procrust analysis, were subjected to various multivariate analyses, such as Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) by means of PAST and MorphoJ softwares. The results obtained demonstrated that shape variations in coxosternite were significantly different among various populations (p<0.001). This study revealed the usefulness of landmark-based geometric morphometrics in the differentiation of various populations of Clinopodes flavidus in Alborz Mountains.

 
 

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Legumes are common crops in arid and semi-arid regions. This study was conducted to investigate three levels of salinity stress on 18 lentil cultivars in the greenhouse and laboratories of Mohaghegh Ardabili University in 2016-2016 in a factorial manner in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results of comparing average lentil genotypes were done with Duncan's method at the five percent probability level. Correlation was done in separate stress levels. The dendrogram of cluster analysis divided the genotypes into three groups in control and 60 mM conditions and two in 120 mM conditions. Genotypes 7 and 5 were in the top group in all groupings. The relationship between ISSR molecular markers and physiological traits was calculated among genotypes. All traits in three levels of salinity stress had a significant correlation with some ISSR markers. A total of 22 positive markers for physiological traits were identified at the control level, 9 positive markers at the moderate stress level, and 23 positive markers at the severe stress level. Among the 21 studied ISSR primers, the P8A11 marker had the largest number of gene loci related to the studied physiological traits.