Accumulation of heavy metal in Platanus orientalis, Robinia pseudoacacia and Fraxinus rotundifolia

Plants are capable of reducing environmental pollutions through uptaking contaminants in their tissues. In the study site, twenty one-year-old leaves and shoots as well as twenty soil samples were sampled and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma （ICP）. We investigated the uptaking ability of lead （Pb） and cadmium （Cd） by the leaves and shoots of Platanus orientalis, Robinia pseudoacacia and Fraxinus rotundifolia in Karaj city, the western Tehran, Iran. We also evaluated the total metal accumulation capacity by using metal accumulation index （MAI）. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in uptaking contents of Cd and Pb in the leaves among the trees. However accumulation of Cd in shoots of F. rotundifolia and R. pseudoacacia was significantly higher than that of P. orientalis. The accumulation of Pb in shoots of R. pseudoacacia was significantly higher than the other species. The amount of Pb in the soil of the study area was significantly higher than Cd. Concentrations of Cd and Pb in leaves of the three species are in the ranges of 2.4 2.7 mg Kg-1 and 7.1 14.4 mg Kg-1 , respectively. R. pseudoacacia had the highest MAI value for leaves （2.21） and F. rotundifolia had the highest MAI value for shoots （2.4）.

Herbaceous species diversity in relation to fire severity in Zagros oak forests,Iran

Zagros forests are mainly covered byQuercus brantii L. coppices and oak sprout clumps occupy the forest area like patches. We investigated post-fire herbaceous diversity in the first growing season after fire. For this purpose neighboring burned and unburned areas were selected with the same plant species and ecological conditions. The data were collected from areas subjected to different fire severities. Overall 6 treatments were considered with respect to fire severity and the mi-crosites of inside and outside of oak sprout clumps including： unburned inside and outside of sprout clumps （Ni and No）, inside of sprout clumps that burned with high fire severity （H）, inside of sprout clumps that burned with moderate fire severity （M）, outside of sprout clumps that burned with low fire severity （OH and OM）. Different herbaceous com-position was observed in the unburned inside and outside of oak sprout clumps. The species diversity and richness were increased in treatments burned with low and moderate fire severity. However, in treatment burned with high fire severity （H）, herbaceous cover was reduced, even-ness was increased, and richness and diversity were not significantly changed. We concluded that besides the microsites conditions in forest, fire severity is an inseparable part of the ecological effect of fire on her-baceous composition.

The effects of fire and seasonal variations on soil properties in Juniperus excelsa M.Bieb.stands in the Alborz Mountains,Iran

This study was conducted in Juniperus excels a stands on the southern slopes of Iran’s Alborz Mountains,to determine the effects of fire and seasonal variations on soil physicochemical properties and enzyme activities.A total of 64 composite soil s amples were randomly collected in the spring and fall from two burned and unburned sites at depths of 0-10 and 10-20 cm.The results of a two-way ANOVA analysis indicate that fire increased the organic carbon(OC),total nitrogen(TN),and available phosphorus(P_(ava)) contents of the soil by 16%,59%,and 53%,respectively.Similarly,when burned sites were compared to unburned sites,the activities of acid phosphatase(ACP) and urease enzymes increased by 73% and 12%,respectively.Nevertheless,fire did not affect soil texture,bulk density(BD),pH,electric conductivity(EC),exchangeable potassium(Kexc),or the activities of alkaline phosphatase(ALP) and dehydrogenase.According to two-way ANOVA results,OC,TN,P_(ava),K_(exc),and EC values were significantly higher in the fall,whereas pH and ALP values were significantly higher in the spring.Additionally,phosphorous and dehydrogenase activity were significantly different in selected soil factors at 0-10 and10-20 cm depths.The interaction of fire,season,and soil depth were significant for phosphorous and urease.Moreover,the activity of ALP correlated well with pH(r=0.68),P(r=-0.74),OC(r=-0.53),and TN(r=-0.37),whereas the activity of ACP correlated significantly with OC(r=0.64) and TN(r=0.71).Two years after the fire,soil properties in J.excels a stands had either improved or remained unaffected,returning to pre-fire levels.Additionally,soil chemical properties varied significantly across sampling seasons,which should be considered when comparing and interpreting soil data in future research.