Ali Turk Qashqaei

Illegal hunting of ungulates can reduce the prey base of carnivores, which can increase human–carnivore conflict (HCC) through livestock depredation. However, the relationship between ungulate poaching, wild prey abundance and livestock depredation has rarely been empirically studied. We surveyed 18 sites across the Hyrcanian forest in northern Ira...

The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment area...

Many large mammalian carnivores are facing population declines due to illegal killing (e.g. shooting) and habitat modification (e.g. livestock farming). Illegal killing occurs cryptically and hence is difficult to detect. However, reducing illegal killing requires a solid understanding of its magnitude and underlying drivers, while accounting for t...

Interactions between law enforcement agents in conservation (e.g., rangers) and illegal resource users (e.g., illegal hunters) can be violent and sometimes fatal, which negatively affects conservation efforts and people's well‐being. Models from social psychology, such as integrated threat theory (ITT) (intergroup interactions shape intergroup emot...

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Riverine caves are special habitats that are home to many aquatic and terrestrial species. Some Odonata species and their emerging are recorded at the entrance and in the twilight zones of subterranean habitats around the world. However, the emergence of any Odonata species has not been recorded in the dark zones of caves or other subterranean habi...

Cave biodiversity and ecosystems are underexplored. Danial cave (2158 m) in Northern Iran was surveyed for vertebrate fauna (33 surveys) to guide conservation needs for visitor management. Four mammalian and two amphibian species were identified in the cave, including the Greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Blasius's horseshoe bat R. b...

The endemic Caspian seal Pusa caspica is a land-fast ice or stable drift-ice breeding species in the northern Caspian Sea. Breeding has been reported rarely in the ice-free south-eastern Caspian Sea. Five carcases of white-coat Caspian seal pups were recovered from the southern Caspian Sea, Iran, during 2019–2022. From survey interviews, two white-...

The Mesopotamian spiny‐tailed lizard, Saara loricata, is one of the largest lizard species in the Middle East. Here, we report on the diet of the lizard and their potential role in seed dispersal in Southwestern Iran. We analyzed lizard fecal pellet groups (n = 124) for their food item composition and seed content. We calculated the relative freque...

The improvement of guidelines concerning national birds and power lines was identified as the most important duty of Iran's Birds and Power Lines Committee (IBPLC). The IBPLC experts, including members of power transmission and distribution companies as well as ornithologists, reviewed this document and modified it based on the latest research and...

Seed dispersal by animals such as bears is important in the restoration of ecosystems. From this perspective, we studied dispersal of seed of date palm Phoenix dactylifera by the critically endangered Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus in Marz Protected Area, Kerman Province, Iran. We documented feeding signs (n=6) and scats (n=55) of...

Poaching is a global driver of wildlife population decline, including inside protected areas (PAs). Reducing poaching requires an understanding of its cryptic drivers and accurately quantifying poaching scales and intensity. There is little quantification of how poaching is affected by law enforcement intensity (e.g., ranger stations) versus econom...

Free-ranging domestic dogs Canis familiaris threaten wildlife species through predation, hybridization, competition for resources, and by contributing to the transmission of pathogens. The impacts of predation may be problematic, but in many regions the interactions of free-ranging dogs and wildlife are poorly studied. To determine the extent of th...

Large ungulate populations around the world are declining, experience range loss or even go extinct. Ecological theory predicts that a species’ vulnerability is greater at the edges of its geographic range compared to its core. However, edge populations may still be successfully managed inside reserves when the drivers of declines are addressed wit...

We started our study in late September with monthly visits to the area and we have collected 90 scats; 55 of them have been analyzed to date. To find the scats we asked the rangers where the bears or their scats have been seen and we went to the location either by foot or by horse. We identified 15 items in the scats that were mostly plant-based.

This report documents the fifth and sixth confirmed breeding records of Black Stork in Iran and the second and third breeding records of the species for Khuzestan province.

Power lines pose many serious risks for wildlife especially bird species. In 2017, we established a conservation committee entitled ‘Iran’s Birds and Power Lines Committee’ to lead efforts for mitigating the negative impacts of power lines on birds, particularly eagles, falcons, vultures, owls, storks, and corvids; as well as increasing the reliabi...

Climatic conditions changing over time and space shape the evolution of organisms at multiple levels, including temperate lizards in the family Lacertidae. Here we reconstruct a dated phylogenetic tree of 262 lacertid species based on a supermatrix relying on novel phylogenomic datasets and fossil calibrations. Diversification of lacertids was acco...

Wildlife–vehicle collisions are an important cause of mortality for many animal species. They also prove extremely detrimental to the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus venaticus). One to two Asiatic cheetahs are killed by vehicles on Iran’s roads annually. As such, the Asiatic cheetah could be the next charismatic felid subsp...

foraging analysis of Brown Bear, using scat analyzing

Pallas’s cat is a rare felid that has a wide but patchy distribution across Eurasia’s cold steppes. The species is known to prefer rocky, mountain and shrub steppe habitats, and strongly selects habitats with good cover from sympatric predators, particularly when raising young. This is the first report of the species using Juniperus excelsa woodlan...

Power lines are one of the mortality factors of mammals. There are some records of electrocuted large mammals such as elephants and leopards in India, deer and cougars in the USA. In this paper, we report some records of electrocuted mammals in Iran. In March 2015, two striped hyenas, Hyaena hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758) and three red foxes Vulpes vulpes...

The meadow lizard Darevskia praticola (Eversmann, 1834) displays a wide distribution range from the Western Balkans and Caucasus to the Hyrcanian forest in Iran. Based on previous studies, four subspecies have been described (D. p. praticola, D. p. pontica, D. p. hyrcanica and D. p. loriensis), but molecular evidence suggests two main phylogenetic...

Predator-prey interaction is one of the hottest subjects to study in ecology and many researchers have become interested in this subject. There is little information on feeding habits of birds of prey in the Middle East. In early January 2017, we recorded a Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus on a dead Great Bustard Otis tarda in NW Iran. The Great Bu...

Food consumed by brown bears in Golestan National Park in Iran was analyzed during autumn 2011. We identified 22 food items in 61 scats, with the most important food items being hawthorn fruit, cherry plum fruit, and chestnut-leaved oak hard mast, based on importance value (IV) estimates of 26.4%, 18.1%, and 12.9% respectively. The overall bear die...

The brown bear Ursus arctos is the largest carnivore species in Iran. In recent years, habitat destruction by anthropogenic activities and lack of natural foods are the main factors of high limitation for bears and makes levels human-bear conflict high. The data was collected to clarify the species’ status and its conflict with humans, by news medi...

We opportunistically collected and analyzed 80 scats of the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) from den entrances and other areas at 2 sites within Hormozgan Province, Iran, from March 2010 to February 2011. We identified 27 food items dominated by cultivated date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) fruit, oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis), and Christ's...

We documented a number of brown bear Ursus arctos kills in rail and road accidents, for property protection and for control of bear-inflicted damage. The data were collected by interviewing local people and from the field surveys conducted in the Savadkuh county, located in the north of Iran, during spring 2015. Three bears were killed, i.e. were s...

The Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus is one of the least well-known species of mammals, and there have been few studies conducted to investigate its status and feeding behaviour, particularly in the north-western parts of Pakistan. We investigated the food habits and altitudinal distribution of the Asiatic black bear in the Kaghan Valley region...

We collected 25 fecal pellets of yellow-headed agama, Laudakia nupta fusca (Blanford, 1876) for analysis in laboratory from Keshar Protected Area and Homag Protected Area in South Iran. We estimated frequency of occurrence (FO%), dry volume (V%) and importance value (IV%) of each food item. Finally, we identified 9 food items (6 animal items and 3...

The occurrence of the Corsac Fox, Vulpes corsac, is replete with ambiguity and uncertainty in the literature. We present the first confirmed record of the species from Iran. In the course of a survey, we found two Corsac Fox furs in Tehran Market in 2013 and separately recorded one adult and a group of three young in semi-arid steppes in central Tu...

This chapter presents 29 orders, 169 families and many selected avian species in Farsi language.

The chapter presents biology and morphology of 29 orders, 153 families and many selected mammalian species.

We collected information on human-bear conflicts in the Central Zagros Mountains through questionnaires and field surveys during which we recorded scats, tracks and broken branches in orchards. Persecution, poaching, and trading of bear body parts to cure some diseases are the most important threats to the Brown Bear, Ursus arctos. Financial losses...

Iran is the westernmost distribution extent of the critically endangered subspecies of Asiatic black bear (ABB); the Baluchistan black bear (Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus), which occurs in hot and arid mountainous regions of three provinces: Hormozgan, Kerman and Sistan-Baluchistan. Bear killing due to human-bear conflict and capturing cubs for ille...

Homag Protected Area is a mountainous area (the highest peak = 3267 m) and has over 100000 ha area and located in north of Bandar Abbas, 75 km away Persian Gulf coasts, Hormozgan Province. The study was a rapid survey by a team of zoologist, botanist and ecologists in different seasons from September 2011 to September 2012. We recorded 117 plant sp...

Throughout history, the Zagros Mountains have served as a refuge as well as a corridor between the eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia, resulting in the creation of patches of local endemism in the region. The topographic and climatic diversity of the area has led to a mosaic of habitats and ecosystems and consequently, a high diversity of mamma...

Some feeding and breeding activities of Purple Sunbird Nectarinia asiatica brevirostris have been studied in five localities in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran from June 2002 to June 2004 on monthly bases. According to 507 timed feeding observations, Purple Sunbirds feed on flowers' nectar (97%) and on fruits' nectar (3%). The nectar of the Chinese hib...