Afforestation is a main tool for preventing desertification and soil erosion in arid and semiarid regions of Iran. Large-scale afforestation, however, has poorly understood consequences for the future ecosystems in the term of ecosystems protection. The objective of the present study is to identify changes in soil properties following different intervals of planting of Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) in semiarid afforestation of Iran (Chitgar Forest Park, Tehran). For this purpose, sand, silt and clay ratios, bulk density, soil moisture, pH, electrical conductivity, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, total soil N, and total carbon was measured. Our study highlighted the potential of the invasive trees by A. altissima, to alter soil properties along chronosequence. Almost all soil quality attributes showed a declining trend with stand age. A continuous decline in soil quality indicated that the present land management may not be sustainable. Therefore, an improved management practice is imperative to sustain soil quality and maintain long-term productivity of plantation forests. Thinning activity will be required to reduce the number of trees competing for the same nutrients especially in a older stand to protect forest soils.

Fire is one of the most serious hazards, which causes many economic, social, ecological, and human damages every year in the world. Fire in forests and natural ecosystems destroys wood, regeneration, forest vegetation, as well as soil erosion and forest regeneration problems (due to the dryness of the weather and the weakness of the soil). Awareness of the extent of the zones that have been fired is important for forest management. On the other hand, the difficulty of fieldwork due to the high cost and inaccessible roads, etc. reveals the need for using remote sensing science to solve this problem. In this research, MODIS satellite images were used to detect and determine the fire extent of Golestan province forests in northern Iran. MID13q1 and MOD13q1 images were used to detect the normal conditions of the environment. The 15-year time series data were provided for the NDVI and NDMI indicators in 2000-2015. Then, the behavior of indicators in the fire zone was studied on the day after the fire. The burned zones by the fire were specified by determining the appropriate threshold and then, they were compared to long-term normals. In the NDMI and NDVI indicators, the mean of the numeric value threshold limit for determining the burnt pixels was respectively 1.865 and 0.743 of the reduction in their normal long-term period, which are selected as fire pixels. The results showed that the NDMI index could determine the extent of the burned zone with the accuracy of 95.15%.

Identify and diagnosis of homogenous units and separating them and eventually planning separately for each unit are considered the most principled way to manage units of forests and creating these trustable maps of forest’s types, plays important role in making optimum decisions for managing forest ecosystems in wide areas. Field method of circulation forest and Parcel explore to determine type of forest require to spend cost and much time. In recent years, providing these maps by using digital classification of remote sensing’s data has been noticed. The important tip to create these units is scale of map. To manage more accurate, it needs larger scale and more accurate maps. Purpose of this research is comparing observed classification of methods to recognize and determine type of forest by using data of Land Cover of Modis satellite with 1 kilometer resolution and on images of OLI sensor of LANDSAT satellite with 30 kilometers resolution by using vegetation indicators and also timely PCA and to create larger scale, better and more accurate resolution maps of homogenous units of forest. Eventually by using of verification, the best method was obtained to classify forest in Golestan province’s forest located on north-east of country.

Antioxidants are derivatives of vitamin C or beta-carotene that prevent reactions stimulated by oxygen, peroxides, or free radicals, thus reducing the oxidative stress. They have found their way into many uses in treating several human diseases and reducing the risk of developing diseases like cancer. In view of this property, the present study was focussed in identifying several plants possessing antioxidative properties and which were also conserved in the ex-situ park of CSIR – Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India. Fifteen medicinal plants including herbs, shrubs and grasses are reported in this paper, and a collective insight has been presented about their antioxidant properties and the present state of their pharmacological applications. The specific chemical constituents abundant in the leaves, roots, stems, seeds and fruits of each of these plants have also been dealt with. To report a few antioxidant pharmacological preparations from Ayurvedic literature are Vimang, Maharishi Amrit Kalash (MAK4, MAK5), Maharishi Ayurved (MA631, MA47), MA Raja’s Cup, MA Student Rasayana and MA Ladies Rasayana. This review has been attempted to enhance the importance of the plants which are generally being neglected, so that it can used by the local people in rural areas for their cultivation and it will also pave the pathway for their subsequent future use in medicinal and research industry for drug formulation.

Simple mathematical expressions are given for the betweenness centrality of nodes in trees, forests and cycles. As application, a centrality test is given for when a network might be a forest.

The Nevado de Toluca Flora and Fauna Protection Area presents a constant fragmentation of its forests. The objective of the research was to identify the processes of forest deterioration and the role of local stakeholders in its conservation. Geographic information systems were used as a basis for the generation of thematic maps, in addition to the application of a flow diagram that defines the problems of the forest and another that describes and analyzes them for the search of solutions. The results show that the main factors affecting deterioration are forest fires, immoderate logging, pests and diseases. Finally, strategies and scenarios for forest management are proposed based on the articulation of local stakeholders.