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Ranger stations are essential to combat poaching in protected areas and the distance from ranger stations is sometimes used as a proxy for poaching levels and law enforcement intensity. However, the influence of the spatial distribution of ranger stations on wildlife abundance and population structure has rarely been investigated. We evaluated the abundance and distribution of urial sheep O vis vignei and Persian leopard P anthera pardus saxicolor in the steppe of Golestan National Park in northeastern Iran. The spatial distribution of these species in regard to anthropogenic (distances to ranger stations, villages and park border) and environmental variables (distance to water resources, average slope and normalized difference vegetation index) was assessed using systematic line transect sampling (186 km) and camera trapping (1150 trap nights). The studied steppe area is divided into three management zones differing in the number of ranger stations and their position with respect to park boundaries. The results of multivariate analyses highlighted that the distance to ranger stations was negatively related to the size and density of urial clusters and the most important variable in explaining urial distribution. Moreover, the distance to park borders influenced urial cluster density. Leopard abundance was positively associated with urial density but was less affected by the other variables tested. We found urial densities in the three management zones to range from 0.15 ± se 0.09 individuals km−2 (zone with just one station outside the park) to 21.77 ± se 7.92 individuals km−2 (zone with three stations). Taking into account these results and historical data on ungulate abundance and distribution in these management zones, we conclude that law enforcement from ranger stations has shaped current patterns of ungulate distribution. These results confirm that a good coverage (both numbers and locations) of ranger stations is of central importance for the management of protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted in Dez and Karkheh regions in southwestern Iran to model habitat suitability of the Persian fallow deer Dama dama mesopotamicus and assessing trend of habitat changes since 1989. A total of 22 confirmed presence records of the species were collected from 1988 to 2003. MaxEnt approach was used to develop habitat suitability model with regards to nine environmental variables, including density of farmlands, forests, and disturbed forests, density of livestock, vegetation, residential areas and distance to the forest edge, residential areas, protected areas and frequency of surface water bodies. After validation of the model for all parameters used for 1989, relative developed map was extrapolated to the habitat conditions in 2007. Comparing the habitat suitability maps developed for 1989 and 2007 reveals that area of suitable habitats for the Persian fallow deer has declined by 30% within 18 years. A total of 1000 ha of forests (within suitable habitats for the species) has been degraded. About 100 ha of these habitats were converted to farmlands and less than 0.5 ha was altered to the residential areas. In addition, area of about 1000 ha has lost the suitability without any land use changes. Currently, reintroduction of the Persian fallow deer to the area is under consideration by Department of Environment of Iran. Therefore, results of this study are recommended for choosing reintroduction sites based on the predicted suitable maps to enhance the probability of survival for reintroduced individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the biological characteristics of the introduced sawbelly, Hemiculter leucisculus (Basilewski, 1855), in three wetlands of northern Iran which includes Alma-Gol, Adji-Gol and Ala-Gol. It states that a variety of non-indigenous fish species have become established in fresh waters in Iran. The data used in this study were gathered from September 2000 to August 2002. Relative to this, gillnets with varying mesh sizes were used to capture the species that were used in this research.

The article presents information on a study that was aimed at providing basic information on length-weight relationships of seven gobiid species. These gobiid species were from the Gomishan and Miankaleh wetlands in the southeastern Caspian Sea. Length-weight relationships were significantly different between sexes.