Nowadays, climate change and SEA level rise are serious threats to the social, economical and environmental vulnerability of the ocean coasts all around the world, and the CASPIAN SEA rapid fluctuations during the third millennium have set different conditions on the environmental structure of coastal areas. The main target of this study is to evaluate the coastline morphology behavior and the deformation of habitats and ecological condition of Boujagh National Park (BNP) due to CASPIAN SEA level changing during the progression and regression phases between 1978-2019. Initially, based on the available scientific documents, familiarity with the study area was carried out and the axes of measurements were defined. In field operations, sedimentation and erosion units of coastal zones and also different habitats were identified and geographically determined. In the next step, the rate of deformation of coastal habitats was calculated and classified using satellite images and GIS, and ultimately, validity of the results was verified with field evidence. The comparison of regression amount in BNP indicated that maximum negative shoreline displacement (892 m) has occurred in the east part of Sefid-rud River mouth during 1978-1995. So that, the shoreline negative changing has reached to 850 m in the north- western of central part of study area, while 738 m in north- eastern of central part in the period of 1995- 2019. The inundation zone extent has declined 104 ha between 1995 and 2019. Also the SEA regression amount of area was 111 ha in the period of 1978- 1995, while changed to 380 ha during 1995-2019. During the last 24 years, there have been widespread environmental alterations in the studied area and a large part of the coastal wetlands has been dried up. The most important habitats affected by the CASPIAN SEA fluctuations include coastal lagoons, dry and wet sandy beach, fluvial meadow and river estuary.

Science and technological developments provide new opportunities to exploit aquatic resource. Hence, it is important to understand biotic and abiotic conditions of aquatic ecosystems. Objective of this Paper is to report findings of the study of nitrate and phosphate contents of water and effects of other physical chemical parameters in the southwest regions of the CASPIAN SEA in the spring and summer of 2008. It focuses on the evaluation of nitrate and phosphate concentrations and compares the variations of these parameters with those of previous surveys. Fourty eight Water samples were collected from 18 stations along 6 transects: Astara, Lisar, Anzali, Kiashahr, Chamkhaleh and Chaboksar. Water samples were collected below 10 m depths in western parts of the southern coasts of the CASPIAN SEA. Temperature, pH and salinity of water were measured and recorded in situ. No significant differences were detected between concentrations of nitrate, phosphate and other parameters studied in the water column at different depths and stations in the six transects. Comparison of results obtained from the present study with those of previous surveys indicated that increasing trends in concentrations of nitrate and phosphate are probably caused by discharge of untreated domestic sewage and the discharge of pesticides from agricultural activities into rivers.

Occurrence and abundance of Microplastics (MPs) were studied in sediments of the Anzali wetland for the first time in spring 2018. Sediment samplings were carried out using Van Ween Grab. After density separation in saline solution, MPs were counted by a stereomicroscope. The number of MPs was at the range of 14-282 items/100g dry sediment (140-2820 items/kg dry sediment). Stations 10 and 9 with 282 ± 171. 14 and 14 ± 3 items/100g dry sediment exhibited the highest and lowest contaminations, respectively. The MPs gathered during the survey varied in size from 0. 3 to 5 mm, and those with 1– 2 mm in size had the highest frequency (37. 3%). The dominant shape of MPs was fiber; Followed by fragments and films. Red, black, and blue were the most abundant colors by 34. 1%, 30. 8% and 26. 4%, respectively. In total, 5 microplastic polymers including polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyester (PEST), polyethylene (PE) and poly acrylonitrile (PAN) were identified. This first work provides original data on the presence of MPs, determining their bioavailability to organisms as SEAfood, and then possible transfer to human. The results provide useful information for further studies.

Little is known about the biological characteristics of the CASPIAN shad, a commercial fish of Clupeidae family living in the CASPIAN SEA. Monthly random samples of the fish were collected at the Guilan province shores, southwest of the CASPIAN SEA from October 2001 to August 2003. Beach seine and gill nets were used in the sampling. Food items, condition factor and feeding changes with the change in the fish age, sex, station and SEAson after invasion of Ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi to the CASPIAN SEA were studied. Samples (n= 262) had fork length 88-235 (156.7±31.9) mm, weighed 8-196 (51.92±32.7) grams and aged 1-6 (2.81±0.9) years old. The Vacuity Index (CV), Intestinal Relative Length (RLG) and Index of Fullness (IF) of the specimens were determined as 10.3%, 0.52±0.03 and 102.9±114.5, respectively. Phytoplankton (specially Rhizosolenia and Spirogyra) comprised 1.8%, zooplanktons (Ostracoda, Rhizopoda, Cladocera, Rotatoria, Copepoda, Cirripedia, Mysidacea, Bivalvia larvae and bony fishes larvae and eggs) comprised 98.0% and benthic fauna (Foraminifera, Porifera, Cumacea, Amphipoda, insects larvae and Palaemonidae) comprised 0.2% of the food abundance in the fish stomach and intestine.Among the food items, orders Copepoda (Acartia spp.) and Cirripedia (cypris Balanus) were the mainfood, comprising 83.1 and 12.9% of abundance, respectively. Acartia comprised 97.3, 80.4, 48.0 and 68.3% of the food in autumn, winter, spring and summer, respectively. For cypris Balanus, these figures were 2.0, 2.6, 41.9 and 25.3% for the SEAsons. No significant difference was found in food diversity and its abundance between male and female fish and between different ages. Generally, Acartia spp. and Balanus were dominant food items in the male and female fish and in different sized specimens. Acartia comprised about 97.0% of the food abundance in Talesh and Kiashahr areas and 65.7%in Anzali shores. The zooplanktons, as the main food item of the fish have suffered a major decrease due to the invasion of Mnemiopsis leidyi to the southern CASPIAN SEA. Hence, the index of fullness (IF) and growth of the fish shows a great reduction recently.

Background: Mushroom poisoning as a medical emergency can be a challenging problem for physicians. Despite the vast resources of poisonous mushrooms in Iran, few studies have been done in this regard, especially in the southwest region of the CASPIAN SEA that is very suitable for mushroom growth. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate our experience with mushroom poisoning in this region.Methods: This retrospective study reviewed the records of 102 patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department of Razi Hospital of Rasht, the only referral department in this region, from May 2006 to May 2011. Data were analyzed by Chi-square test, ANOVA, and student’s t-test.Results: The patients’ age ranged from 13 to 75 years and 47 of them were male and the rest 55 were female. Overall, 57.8% of mushroom poisoning cases occurred in patients from urban areas. Most incidences were reported between September and October, the rainy SEAson in Guilan. Except for four patients with tachycardia, others had stable vital signs. The most frequent symptoms (86.4%) were nauSEA and vomiting. Complete blood cell count revealed that 28.4% of the patients had leukocytosis but all of them had platelet counts of less than 100000.Conclusions: This study showed that all cases had mild to moderate symptoms that were treated by simple supportive therapies. This suggested that mushroom species in our region are less dangerous but further studies need to establish what toxins and species are responsible for mushroom toxicity.

Introduction: biofouling is the term applied to the colonization, accumulation and growth of living organisms on different substrata exposed to an aquatic environment. These structures include natural and artificial substrates. biofouling communities are both economically and ecologically important and play a basic role in transferring of energy in food chains and ecosystems functioning. Also, by creating multi-dimensional substrates these communities provide different habitats for other organisms. From an economic viewpoint, the colonization by these organisms on ship hulls, boats, aquaculture cages and marine structures such as pipelines can cause economic losses (Yebra et al., 2004; Schultz et al., 2011). In spite of all this, there is little information about these communities in the CASPIAN SEA and there is almost none concerning the Iranian coastline of the CASPIAN SEA.Materials and methods: This study was conducted in May 2015 till May 2016 in Astara Port in order to investigate the effect of substrate surface on temporal variations in biofouling assemblages. Five replicates of PVC panels (12×12×0.3 cm) were deployed horizontally at a depth of 1m. The panels were retrieved and replaced with new series every two months for a period of one year. At each sampling event, the upper and under sides of the panels were photographed separately and then analyzed using CPCe software (Kohler and Gill, 2006) for estimating the percentage of cover on each surface. The biomass and inorganic to organic ratio were calculated using dry and ash weight.Results and discussion: In total, six major groups including barnacles, bryozoan, algae, polychaete, mussels and hydroids were identified. Amphibalanus improvisus was the most dominant species in this study and was observed all year round. Cheilostome and Ctenostome bryozoans were the second most dominant groups. These two groups mostly provided the temporal variations in studied communities. Two-way ANOVA analysisshowed that the period of submersion and the surface have a significant effect on percentage of cover, total biomass and inorganic to organic ratio of fouling communities (p<0.05). Generally, the percentage of cover, total biomass and inorganic to organic ratio were higher for the under sides of the panels than the upper sides. The greatest total biomass and inorganic to organic ratio were observed during summer, whereas, the highest percentage of cover was observed in autumn. The results showed that the upper side of the panels had more autotrophic species such as algae, while, the under sides mostly consisted of heterotrophic species with calcium carbonate structures.Conclusion: Since the shipping industry and human-made marine structures are continuously increasing and predictions indicate that fouling pressure and its economic costs will also increase as a result of global warming, the results of this study have implications for management strategies dealing with biofouling issues. Therefore, more studies in the long-term must be performed to monitor the biofouling communities in this area.

CASPIAN kutum, Rutilus frisii Kamensky 1901, is a commercially important fish species in the southern part of the CASPIAN SEA. All of the metal entered in the CASPIAN SEA. The pollution of this metal cause To create environmental problem. To address the issue, some 51 R. frisii specimens were caught at five different fishing regions (including Astara, Anzali, Kiashahr, ) of the southern shoreline of the CASPIAN SEA from September 2017 through January 2018. An inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used to measure heavy metals concentrations in fish tissues. The highest concentrations of calcium, manganese in muscle tissue, aluminum, barium, cadmium, cobalt, iron, potassium, sodium, sulfur, tin, tungsten and zinc in kidney tissues, arsenic, nickel, lead and rubidium in gonads, chromium, lithium, Magnesium, phosphorus, antimony, silicon, strontium, thorium and titanium in skin tissue, copper and uranium in liver tissue. The lowest correlation between Ni and Sr with the other elements reported in liver tissue and the lowest correlation between Sb, Ni and Mn with another elements reported in liver tissue.

The presence of water resources, particularly rivers, significantly influences site selection. Throughout history, settling near rivers has brought numerous advantages, but it has also posed certain risks. This study focuses on the sub-basins southeast of the CASPIAN SEA. Initially, we explore the connection between the layout of ancient settlements and the drainage networks. Additionally, we analyze the relationship between flood risk and the settlement patterns of these ancient sites by estimating the flooding risk based on linear, areal, and relief aspects. This reSEArch marks the first time such an analysis has been conducted. The findings underscore the importance of proximity to rivers in site selection, with areas close to rivers with lower stream orders being the most favorable for settlements. The study reveals a decrease in the frequency of sites near higher stream orders in relation to flooding risk. Conversely, there is an increase in the frequency and density of ancient sites near the first stream orders and at greater distances from the rivers, coinciding with an elevated flooding risk in the sub-basins. These results indicate that the inhabitants of the southeastern areas of the CASPIAN SEA sub-basins were cognizant of the flooding danger and factored it into their decision-making when selecting settlement sites