A vast area of Iran is covered by sand dunes and shifting sands in which threat the living of habitants in these regions. Biological control is an appropriate method for sand dune fixation. So, it is essential to recognize CHARACTERISTICS of psamophyte plant species and introducing suitable speciecs for sand dunes. For this purpose, the ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS of Ammodendron persicum including phenology, adaptability, soil condition of habitates, response to cutting and.grazing, regeneration strategy and seed germination were studied. Ammodendron persicum is a shrub and psamophyte plant with the age of 10 to 50 years. Phenoligically, the growth started in March, flower in about 7 May and reach to seed maturity by 20 June. The seed shaded after maturity but the duration of plant growth depend to amount of annual rainfall. Ammodendron is a drought resistant plant, because it is grow well in an area with an average of 150 mm rainfall per year. Ammodendron regenerates by seed and vegetative propagules. Grazer animals use this plant by end of growing season. In general this plant has appropriate ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS in terms of establishment over sand dune and has perspective for using in other sand dune areas. The later case is under investigation.

Dracocephalum kotschyi is one of the medicinal and aromatic plant that find in natural site of mountainous and high lands. This plant in case has a lot essence is attend. In traditional medicine, this plant use for fever reduction, joints pain, rheumatism, inflammation against and sore recovery. Present study was carried out to know of ECOLOGICAL characteristic of this species for introduce and dense cultivation of this plant on farm land and then use in medical industries. Such as this plant natural sites were controlled of destroying. This study was carried out in range land of Bojnourd in 2008. In the site, the studies were climatically characteristic, geology, stand type, codominant plant and vegetable variation, physical and chemical analyses of the soil. Results showed that Dracocephalum kotschyi could be adapted for regions with semiarid- cold climate, annual rainfall average of 320 mm and annual temperature average of 10.22 c.Dracocephalum kotschyi have dispersed in northern and north- west slope and altitude 1600- 1800 m of sea level in rocky area. The soils physical and chemical analyses showed that the soil is very shallow with loomy texture, pH=7.57- 7.6, Ec=.555 ds/m, CEC=11.14- 11.9 Cmol/kg. The stand type was Stachys inflata- Festuca ovina and the codominant plants were over 58 species. Average of canopy covers and density were 0.122%, 361 shrubs in hectare respectively.

It is necessary to recognize the ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS of dominant species in desert and arid ecosystems for plant conservation and sustainable utilization. In this study botanical and ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS such as root extension, phonological stages, distribution sites, habitate conditions, vegetation composition, plant regeneration and grazing of Hammada salicornica were considered H. salicornica is a perennial plant belonging to chenopodiaceae family in which distributed in vast areas in the south of Iran.Hammada is a dwarf shrub with multiple stems and succulent leaves.Generally the only main root extends vertically in fine soils. It grows in soil containing large amount of gypsum or lime with fine texture. Hammada is observed in many plant communities as dominant or accompanian species: It is distributed from about sea level up to 1800 meter of altitude in areas with annual rainfall between 60 to 300 mm. Phonologically, the growth starts in late winter and reaches to flowering and maturity in early and late autumn, respectively. The regeneration of plant is from seed in natural habitats. It is grazed by animals mainly in the end of growing season. In general this plant has a good perspective for using in desert reclamation.

Improving participation in voluntary activities in Iran is important because increasing productivity among young people, given the country's young population, contributes to community sustainability. Therefore, a better understanding of volunteer motivation in Iranian youth is needed. The Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) for assessing volunteer motivations has good psychometric properties and is adapted to several languages, but no validated Iranian translation yet exists. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric CHARACTERISTICS of voluntary functions inventory in members of Iranian Red Crescent Society. Sample size was 595 members of Youth Organization of Iranian Red Crescent Society from 31 provinces and 175 cities of Iran that were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method and responded to voluntary functions inventory. Data were collected using a demographic sample and voluntary functions inventory (VFI). Confirmatory factor analysis using principal components method was used for data analysis. The results of the present study showed that the voluntary functions inventory had validity and reliability. Also, the factor structure showed that 29 items and 6 factors well assess people's attitudes to volunteering, and the structure of this inventory was well-fitted and confirmed all goodness of fit models. The present study provides the use of the Iranian translation of the Voluntary Functions Inventory (6 scales and 29 items) to assess volunteer motivation among young Iranian volunteers.

Background and Objective: Leishmaniasis is one of the main Zoonotic Vector-Born disease which is transmitted by sand flies to human and animals. This study was carried out to determine the ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS of sand flies in Golestan province, North of Iran.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 3 villages in Aliabad Katul district in north of Iran were selected according to rural geography distribution and positive detected samples of human infection during 2010-02. Sand flies were collected by sticky traps. Three places were sampled in each village and in indoor and outdoor places 10 traps were installed. Sand flies were collected and their species was determined.Results: Totally 299 sand flies (160 from indoors and 139 from outdoors) were collected and consequently, 7 species of sandflies were identified including 4 species of phlebotomus genus and 3 species of Sergentomiya genus Ph. papatasi (55%) and S. sintoni (51%) were predominant species in indoor resting places and outdoor places, respectively. Sand flies seasonal activity extended from mid May through early October. Sand flies had one peak of activity in early August. Among the detected species, S. hodgsoni reported for first time from Golestan province.Conclusion: Ph. papatasi was recognized as predominant species in Aliabad Katul district, Golestan provincein northern Iran.

Understanding ECOLOGICAL needs of range species is of utmost importance for range managers in conservation and utilization of rangeland ecosystems. The current research was conducted to find out ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS of Astragalus squarrosus in Kashan. In each study area, soil sampling was performed at depths of 0-30 and 30-60 cm along four transects. Vegetation sampling was done in three phonological stages of vegetative growth, flowering and seed ripening. Soil studies of the mentioned species showed that it mainly grew in soils with sandy loam to loamy sand textures, EC of 0.4 -4.2 ds/m and pH of 7.49 -8.17. According to the results of the vegetation studies, average of the current yield was 78.3 kg/ha and 1322.9 species per hectare was estimated as average of the density of A. squarrosus. Forage quality analysis at three phonological stages of vegetative growth, flowering and seed ripening showed that the amount of CP and OC were reduced up to 3.6% and 0.82 respectively. Decrease of DMD and ME and increase of ADF values at seed ripening stage was associated with a considerable decrease in palatability and subsequently forage quality.

The ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS of Festuca sulcata Beck were studied in this research to examine its potential application in rangeland improvement. Five sites were selected for sampling using vegetation map, field visit based on the species distribution. In each sampling site, three 100-m transects and 10 plots (1m×1m) along the transects were selected using systematic-randomized method. The factors related to canopy cover, bush height, species frequency forage, and seed production were measured on the transects in the plots. Also some qualitative CHARACTERISTICS such as root system, phenology, seed quality, regeneration, preference value, and chemical composition of the plant were studied. The results showed that Festuca sulcata is distributed from 2200 to 3800 m from the sea level on acidic and alkaline clay-loam textured soils in the study area. The growth time was begun from May to the end of June and the time of ripened and seed dissemination was started from July to mid-August. In early flowering stage, the palatability was in grade I and the best grazing time was in seed ripened stage. In the post-seeding stage, the plant became woody and livestock grazing preference was reduced. Forage production yield was 528. 58 kg dry matter ha-1, while seed production was 95. 33 kg ha-1. Due to the resistance to cold and frost conditions, this species is suitable for restoration and improvement of rangelands with more than 350 mm rainfall.

The aim of this research is to assess the ECOLOGICAL needs of Ephedra major as a medicinal and forage species and important for soil and water conservation in Rangelands of Bojnourd. In the site, the studies were climatically characteristic, geology, stand type, co-dominant plant and vegetable variation, Estimating biomass, physical and chemical analyses of the soil. The results indicated that Ephedra major could be adapted for regions with semiarid-cold climate to altitude climate, annual rainfall average of 332. 9 mm and annual temperature average of 9. 82 c . Ephedra major have dispersed in north, south, east and west slope and altitude 1400-2520 m of sea level in mountainous areas. The Soils physical and chemical analyses showed that the soil is very shallow with sandy-loom texture, Ph= 7. 75, Ec= 55. 88 μ s/cm and lime. The stand type was Artemisia aucheri-Festuca ovina and the co-dominant plants were over 86 species. Average of canopy covers and density were 2. 16 and 346 shrubs in hectare respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the variables of precipitation, saturation moisture percentage, pH, potassium, calcium and sand had significant correlations with the first axis and explained the 49. 84% variation. For the second component, the percentage of organic matter and nitrogen were more important traits and explained the 27. 94% variation. Because of the high ability of the species to adapt itself with hard environmental condition such as high percentage of Caco3, and also its medical and conservation values in arid and semi-arid regions, it can be used for proper management strategies, reclamation and preservation of its habitats.

This research was aimed to investigate some ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS of Frankenia hirsutain saline rangelands of Golestan Province. This region has saline soil with high underground water table, and halophytes usually grow naturally in this area. For this purpose, some factors such as soil CHARACTERISTICS, vegetative cover, phenology, forage quality, preference value and so forth were determined. According to the results, this species is usually distributed on silt-loam soils with an acidity of 7.7 to 7.8 and EC (Electrical Conductivity) ranged between 28.2 to 30.2 dS/m. The autumn regrowth of this species starts in October but, active vegetative growth begins at the middle of February, flowering occurs in June and seed ripening occurs in August. At vegetative growth stage, this species consists of 10.3% crude protein, which is decreased to 8.7% at flowering stage and 7.1% at seed ripening stage. In addition to the main root, this species has also lateral roots. The main root length is usually short around 5 cm but the lateral root length is about 50 cm, moving horizontally at first and then penetrates deeply. Overall, in saline rangelands of Golestan Province, this species has been distributed as patches in low lands and the places with suitable moisture and relatively less salinity. In order to protection and sustainable utilization of this species, it is suggested that the seeds of this plant be sown every few years in the prone areas. In addition, the time of enter and exit of livestock have to be chosen carefully.