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Soil salinity phenomena are one of the main problems of arid and semi-arid lands. Saline soils constitute a huge part of Iran, and also threaten its neighboring lands. Therefore, in order to optimum exploitation of such soils, qualitative monitoring is necessary. Recently, remote sensing techniques have been increasingly applied in monitoring soil characteristics. The present study was carried out between 2014 and 2015, with the purpose of using remote sensing for mapping soil salinity in the saline rangelands of Chezan plain (Markazi province). In the first step, 50 soil samples were taken from the topsoil (30 cm depth) and their Electrical Conductivity (EC) was measured by EC- meter. To use the soil salinity map using remote sensing, we first used Indian Remote sensing Satellites (IRS) satellite imagery and the satellite's LISS sensor (LISS III, 2008). After geometric and radiometric correction, this image was been classified using the Maximum Likelihood method. Then in the next step, Comparison of Spectrum indices were done by extracting maps of soil salinity. For this purpose, Four indices including: Brightness Index (BI), Salinity Index (SI1), SI2, and Normalized Difference Salinity Index (NDSI) were used. Among these indices, SI2 had the most correlation with ground control points (0.63 in 1% level) and is introduced as a more suitable index than others for zoning soil salinity. Regarding to the salinity map, the results showed that a sizeable portion of the study area was classified class 2 with a salinity of between 4-8 dS/m (55% of whole land). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the autecology and determine the relationship between the nutritional elements in the soil and the Sage plant (Salvia eremophila Boiss.) in the south of Yazd province. The main habitats were determined, which contained various ecological characteristics. Total potassium (K), total nitrogen (N), total phosphorus (P), total sugar content (TSC), and proline content of the plants were determined. In addition, macro and microelement contents such as total N, extractable K, extractable magnesium (Mg), available P, available iron (Fe), and available manganese (Mn) of the study areas were determined. The highest concentrations of TSC (72.90 mg kg -1  ± 3.87) and TN (0.265 g kg -1  ± 0.021) of the plant, and also the highest extractable Mg (26.60 mg kg -1  ± 1.70) and available Fe (0.44 mg kg -1  ± 0.19), of soil were related to the Qavam Abad habitat. The highest concentrations of total K (17.495 g kg -1  ± 4.91) and total P (1.206 g kg -1  ± 0.257) of plants, and the highest extractable K (356.68 g kg -1  ± 63.53) of soil belonged to the Tang Chenar Station. The highest TN content (6.3 g kg -1  ± 1.21) of soil and the highest proline content (0.015 g kg -1  ± 0.003) of plants was related to the Damgahan habitat. Also, the concentrations of soil available Mn and available P had the highest levels in the Damgahan (0.60 g kg -1  ± 0.34) and Qavam Abad habitats (0.075 g kg -1  ± 30.74), respectively. There was no significant difference between the amount of nutrients and soil elements in the studied stations (p < 0.05). There was a positive and significant correlation between the amount of soil TN and plant TN (P values  = 0.001, R 2  = 0.87). An inverse and significant correlation was also observed between the amount of soil available P and plant total P (P values  = 0.014, R 2  = - 0.72). This study highlights the various environmental controls over soil's physicochemical properties, which have significant implications for the management of soil nutrients., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: All authors have read, understood, and have complied as applicable with the statement on “Ethical responsibilities of Authors” as found in the Instructions for Authors. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

This research quantitatively evaluated the diversity of plants to protect vulnerable species. To measure vegetation information, the appropriate sampling plot size was determined based on the canopy cover of the dominant species of the study area (1 m 2 ). Then, in each unit, sampling was done along 3 transects of 100 m. Along each transect, 10 plots with dimensions of one square meter were placed at a distance of 10 m from each other. In each plot, the type, life forms, frequency of plant species, and species density were recorded. Species diversity indices were calculated using Ecological Methodology software. The values obtained from these indicators were analyzed in SPSS 24 statistical software and using the F test. The results of the Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the highest values of the species diversity indices are in the middle altitudes (ecotone) class. ANOVA of the richness, evenness, and heterogeneity indices in different altitude classes showed that the values of the richness indices were not significant, but among the indices related to the heterogeneity, the Hill index and all the evenness indices were significant. Comparing the numerical indices of our communities enables us to determine the impact of environmental stress in a single community to choose the best habitat among a similar group for conservation. A community that has high diversity and richness is important for conservation. Therefore, the authorities must prevent the destruction of the vegetation of the study area in connection with the implementation of principled and correct management by the potential of the region, but also to reduce the pressure of livestock grazing and carry out corrective and restoration operations, to turn these rangelands towards rich diversity., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Meighan wetland is located at 8 km far away from Arak city with a population of about 600,000 citizens in the center of Iran. Several agricultural activities and industries such as metal, chemical, and mineral, as well as industrial towns, exist around the desired wetland. This research was conducted to measure the sources of chemical contaminants entering the wetland through natural and artificial waterways, to explore the trend of changes in the contaminants, and to prepare the wetland contamination zone map followed by source detection of these contaminants. Sediment samples were taken during 2019-2020 from a depth of 0-30 cm from 87 points in the input waterways. The results indicated that the mean total concentrations of cadmium, nickel, lead, zinc, copper, and aluminum in sediments were estimated as 6.7, 93.4, 14.1, 276.4, 34.3, and 22,742.7 ppm, respectively. The concentrations of nitrate and phosphate in the sediments were given as 18.6 and 1.8 ppm, respectively. The mean comparison indicated that the most significant level of nickel and lead belonged to the input waterways of industrial and urban regions; the maximum cadmium content was seen in the input waterways from the agricultural lands; and the highest level of zinc and aluminum was recorded in the waterways of agricultural-industrial urban regions. There was a significant relationship between the results of classic statistics and zoning found in GIS. Overall, chemical pollutants with the origin of input wastewater from the treatment plant of wastewater and the input waterways from the industrial and urban regions have had the largest share of contamination for Meighan wetland., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)