Dr.  Mojgansadat  Azimi
Department of Rangeland Management, Faculty of Rangeland and Watershed Management, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources,  Iran

Title: The assessment of rangeland ecosystem services in water conservation and biodiversity in arid and semi-arid regions

Abstract:

The diverse services that we derive directly and indirectly from the natural environment are presented as ecosystem services. For the purpose of this service, communicating with human well-being in four categories is the provision of services, supportive, regulatory and cultural. This research assesses two of the important ecosystem services (water and biodiversity) using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST). The aim of this study was to evaluate the supply of biodiversity and water conservation at the level of plant types, as well as comparing their amount in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of Iran. For estimation of water conservation; climatic, soil and vegetation data was used to enter the model and through it the mapping of water conservation in rangeland uses was considered. In the biodiversity section, this also focuses on habitat quality modeling, and it is assumed that in areas where the quality of the habitat is higher, different levels of biodiversity are better supported. The results indicated that among different vegetation types, Festuca ovina- Stipa hohenakeriena types have the lowest amount of water conservation and the highest amount is Andropogon ischaemum-Hordeum bulbosum. As illustrated, Andropogon ischaemum-Hordeum bulbosum was the most and Puccinellia distans-Halostachys belangeriana had the least quality habitat among plant types. Also The results showed that in addition to vegetation which plays a significant role in water conservation, physical factors such as altitude and the amount of precipitation have a significant role in water production in this area, On the other hand, urban development, road construction, as well as alteration of use, destroy natural vegetation and destroy natural ecosystems and reduce the quality of habitats.

Key words: Plant types, Habitat quality, InVEST, Mapping

Biography:

Work Experience:
2012- Present, Faculty member, Associate Professor for Rangeland and Ecological modelling 2012- Present, Faculty member; Department of Rangeland Management, Faculty of Rangeland and Watershed Management, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.
2011-2012, Scientific Staff (as sabbatical leave) in Department Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modeling at EWAG- Zurich-Switzerland 
2003-2011, Research scientist, Rangeland group, Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran. 
1999-2001, Watershed group, Natural Resources Organization, Esfahan, Iran.

Academic Degrees:             
PhD: Univ. Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Iran. 2012, Rangeland and Ecological Modelling.
MSc.Univ. Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Iran. 2002, Rangeland management.
B.Sc. Yazd University, Iran. 1999, Range and watershed management

Other Activities:
Associate Educator of Society of Rangeland Management, Iran.
Associate Educator of Agriculture and Natural Resources Engineering Organization. Tehran. Iran 
Reviewer of the Journal Rangeland ecology and management (SRM).
Reviewer of the Journal of Ecological Modeling.
Technical member in ABS conference in China(2015 and 2016)