Hamid R. Rezaei

Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources | GAU · Department of Environmental Science

Background Goats were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years before present (YBP) and subsequently spread across Eurasia and Africa. This dispersal is expected to generate a gradient of declining genetic diversity with increasing distance from the areas of early livestock management. Previous studies have reported the existence of...

Golden jackal (Canis aureus) is one of the most common canid in Iran and can be found in habitats from Southeast Asia to Europe. Its rapid range expansion into Europe is indicated by the single haplotype (H1) of the mtDNA control region. H1 is the pioneer haplotype that expanded its range to Europe. Haplotypes from Turkey to Europe (western dispers...

The diverse climatic and environmental conditions across the globe have resulted in a rich avian diversity, with over 10,000 species inhabiting the Earth. Iran, situated at the convergence of three biogeographic realms – the Palearctic, Afrotropical, and Oriental – provides a diverse range of habitats for birds, currently hosting over 557 species w...

Mammals exhibit the most extensive distribution among all animal groups, inhabiting diverse ecosystems across all continents. Globally, there are 6,495 mammal species, with Iran housing over 199 species, representing over 3.7% of the world’s mammal fauna. These species are distributed across 38 families and nine orders. This research, a collaborat...

As human development expands, wildlife managers face increasing challenges related to human-wildlife conflicts and land-use changes. Understanding how wildlife selects optimal landscapes is crucial for resolving these conflicts. This study focuses on analyzing the Caspian red deer's habitat status in the Hyrcanian region's central zone to identify...

از بدو تعیین درس سه واحدی مدیریت گونه‌های مهاجم برای دانشجویان مقطع کارشناسی ارشد رشته علوم و مهندسی محیط‌زیست از سال ۱۳۹۶ توسط وزارت علوم، کمبود یک کتاب درسی که بتواند جوابگوی نیازهای دانشجویان این درس باشد، به‌وضوح احساس می‌شد. گرچه منبع اصلی تدریس توسط وزارت علوم کتاب Invasive Species Management تألیف Clout و Williams (۲۰۰۹) تعیین شد، اما خلأ یک...

The Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) is an endangered species widely distributed across Iran. Rough estimates indicate 550–850 Persian leopard individuals inhabit the country, which comprises more than two thirds of its global population. Population monitoring of this large carnivore in Iran is one of the main objectives of current conse...

Gammarus is the largest genus of aquatic crustaceans in the family Gammaridea, with more than 200 species worldwide. These crustaceans are very important components of the food chain in running waters. Therefore, their population changes can affect all communities, especially the health of fish stocks, and disturb the balance of the ecosystem. Due...

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages are recognized as important components of intra- and interspecific biodiversity, and allow to reveal colonization routes and phylogeographic structure of many taxa. Among these is the genus Cervus that is widely distributed across the Holarctic. We obtained sequences of complete mitochondrial genomes from 13 Cervu...

Wildcat, Felis lybica is one of the least-known cat species in Iran, in spite of the widespread distribution in the country. The molecular overview of the species using concatenated two mitochondrial markers (Cyt b, NADH5) with sampling throughout the range of the species in the country was examined. Mitochondrial DNA analysis and geographical dist...

By their paternal transmission, Y-chromosomal haplotypes are sensitive markers of population history and male-mediated introgression. Previous studies identified biallelic single-nucleotide variants in the SRY, ZFY and DDX3Y genes, which in domestic goats identified four major Y-chromosomal haplotypes, Y1A, Y1B, Y2A and Y2B, with a marked geographi...

We investigated the controversial origin of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) using large samples of contemporary and ancient domestic individuals and their closest wild relatives: the Asiatic mouflon (Ovis gmelini), the urial (Ovis vignei) and the argali (Ovis ammon). A phylogeny based on mitochondrial DNA, including 213 new cytochrome‐b sequences of wi...

The Eurasian coot (Fulica atra; Linnaeus, 1758) is a widely distributed waterbird consisting of four subspecies and found throughout northern Eurasia to the western Sahara, Australia, and New Zeeland that recently has experienced regional population declines. Population declines may impact genetic diversity and little information is available on ge...

Background Since their domestication 10,500 years ago, goat populations with distinctive genetic backgrounds have adapted to a broad variety of environments and breeding conditions. The VarGoats project is an international 1000-genome resequencing program designed to understand the consequences of domestication and breeding on the genetic diversity...

Background The islands in the Persian Gulf are home to several species of gazelles, i.e., Gazella bennettii , G. subgutturosa , and a new subspecies of Mountain gazelles which was discovered on Farur Island and described for the first time in 1993 as Gazella gazella dareshurii . Later, phylogenetic analyses showed that the Mountain gazelles consist...

One of the initial measures to planning conservation strategies is knowing the ecological needs of a species and its favorite habitat. Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) is an applicable tool to achieve this goal. Zarudny's spur-thighed tortoise or Iranian tortoise (Testudo graeca zarudnyi) is one of three subspecies of spur-thighed tortoises foun...

We examined the genetic diversity and phlogeographic characters of European Roe Deer populations across its distribution range in Iran. Mitochondrial DNA from 46 samples were sequenced for 1138 bp of cytochrome b and 1020 bp of ND2 genes and analysed alongside the retrieved sequences from GenBank in a concatenated form. The results demonstrated a r...

Wetlands employ extensive ranges of environmental consideration, pollution control, and financial services in the premise of sustainability. Hence, the study of the pollution of the wetlands is vital. The Anzali wetland-being scoped in this research is located in the Caspian Sea vicinity, the northern part of the Persian plate. Due to proximity to...

Predictive potential distribution modelling is crucial in outlining habitat usage and establishing conservation management priorities. Association among species occurrence and environmental and spatial characteristics has been calculated with species distribution models. Herein, we used maximum entropy distribution modelling (MaxEnt) for predicting...

Interspecific hybridization increasingly occurs in the course of anthropogenic actions, such as species translocations and introductions, and habitat modifications or occurs in sympatric species due to the shortage of conspecific mates. Compared with anthropogenically caused hybridization, natural hybridization is more difficult to prove, but both...

Ecological studies have been focused on large, rare or endangered species but species which are adapted to traditional agroecosystems or rural environments received less attention. For example, Little owl is a typical inhabitant of agricultural lands and its population had greatly reduced due to the mechanized agriculture. In this paper, we built t...

Goitered gazelles, Gazella subgutturosa, exist in arid and semiarid regions of Asia from the Middle to the Far East. Although large populations were present over a vast area until recently, a decline of the population as a result of hunting, poaching, and habitat loss led to the IUCN classification of G. subgutturosa as “vulnerable." We examined ge...

The Great Gerbil, Rhombomys opimus, is widely distributed in degraded and fragmented desert and semi-desert habitats of the Iranian Plateau. Recent habitat fragmentation from overgrazing by livestock and a government-sponsored rodent control programme threaten to isolate populations and increase their susceptibility to inbreeding and loss of geneti...

The wildcat (Felis lybica/Felis silvestris) is widely distributed in Africa and Eurasia. Iran is situated at the intersection of the distributions of the European Wildcat F. silvestris with the African Wildcat F. lybica. The genetic relationships of the Iranian wildcat population with either group remain unclear. We examined sequence variation of 1...

Whole genome sequences (WGS) greatly increase our ability to precisely infer population genetic parameters, demographic processes, and selection signatures. However WGS can still be not affordable for a representative number of individuals/populations. In this context, our goal was to assess the efficiency of several SNP genotyping strategies by te...

The Brandt`s hedgehog Paraechinus hypomelas (Brandt 1836), is a relatively widespread species which range from Arabian Peninsula and Iran, through southern areas of Central Asia to western South Asia.The phylogenetic position of the species tat is little known in Iran, although it has been studied in different parts of its distributional range. To...

Background and Objective: The restoration and maintenance of landscape connectivity and integration of its elements require reliable and efficient communication models and indicators. Habitat fragmentation is a dynamic process that leads to major changes in the pattern of habitat in a landscape. It describes, generally, the fragmentation and divisi...

Background and Objective: Forests are considered as important sources of biodiversity around the world. Nowadays, forest ecosystems have the most important protective role. The forest ecosystems are the main habitat for many wildlife species that among them we can refer to the diverse species of the birds, including woodpeckers. Woodpeckers are con...

Abstract Background and Objective: Forests are considered as important sources of biodiversity around the world. Nowadays, forest ecosystems have the most important protective role. The forest ecosystems are the main habitat for many wildlife species that among them we can refer to the diverse species of the birds, including woodpeckers. Woodpecker...

The breeding ecology of the Little Egret Egretta garzetta was studied during the breeding season of 2016 in two sub-colonies in Anzali wetland. Trees of second sub-colony were younger and the height and diameter of threes were less than half of the first one. Breeding in the second sub-colony done about one month later. The variables tree diameter,...

Response to: Comment on “Zoonotic and Non-zoonotic Parasites of Wild Rodents in Turkman Sahra, Northeastern Iran”

Protecting a representative array of habitats is currently the most effective tool for biodiversity conservation. Hence, identifying the most important areas for conservation is a critical task and a priority. We selected reserves in the Golestan Province based on their importance for avifauna. To achieve this, the distributions of 129 bird species...

Sitta europaea, with 18 subspecies, has a wide distribution in deciduous forests of Eurasia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of this subspecies to European, Asian as well as Caucasian clades. 10 individuals of two populations from Zagros forests in Kermanshah and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province...

Prey-predator relationships can affect habitat selection of the animals greatly. In the recent investigation we tried to test how rodents can affect nocturnal sand cat habitat usage pattern. Microhabitat affinities of sand cat and its den site selection were investigated in Sistan and Baluchistan Province from early 2013 to late 2015 in Semsor area...

We investigated the fine-scale habitat use by black woodpeckers all year round. We aimed to describe what environmental factors mostly affect species occurrence at a fine-grained scale in the Caspian Hyrcanian forest, Northern Iran, in a poorly studied portion of the species range. Presence and absence of birds and habitat variables (forest cover t...

Iran with its highly structured landscape, such as the Zagros Mountain Range that stretches across the country from East to West, is home to at least three different gazelle species. For some of them, intraspecific genetic patterning is to be expected, as different populations show different pelage coloration or body sizes, e.g., in the Persian gaz...

The populations of goitered gazelle suffered significant decline due to natural and anthropogenic factors over the last century. Investigating the effects of barriers on gene flow among the remaining populations is vital for conservation planning. Here we adopted a landscape genetics approach to evaluate the genetic structure of the goitered gazell...

Genetic relationships between wild boar populations in the southern regions of Iran still remain unclear. Therefore in the present study our aim was filling this gap and providing preliminary knowledge about the phylogenetic status of Iranian wild boar based on two datasets of the mtDNA control region (the 402-bp and 605-bp segments as the first an...

The evolutionary basis of domestication has been a longstanding question and its genetic architecture is becoming more tractable as more domestic species become genome-enabled. Before becoming established worldwide, sheep and goats were domesticated in the fertile crescent 10,500 years before present (YBP) where their wild relatives remain. Here we...

The Zagros and Alborz mountainous ridges can be regarded as one of the most interesting and known physical barriers responsible for the vicariance event. Based on the probable effect of Zagros Mountains on the rodent population vicariance, a research on Caucasian mole vole phylogeography, population genetic structure and diversity was designed alon...

Domestication fundamentally reshaped animal morphology, physiology and behaviour, offering the opportunity to investigate the molecular processes driving evolutionary change. Here we assess sheep domestication and artificial selection by comparing genome sequence from 43 modern breeds (Ovis aries) and their Asian mouflon ancestor (O. orientalis) to...

The nestling diets of four heron species breeding on a small forestry islet in Anzali, Iran, were investigated to determine the dietary segregation among sympatric breeders. Regurgitated samples from Black-crowned Night-Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta), Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) and Squacco Herons (Ardeola ralloi...

Phylogenetic relationships between Afghan Pika (O. rufescens) and others in the world are still unclear. Morphological phylogeny study of the genus Ochotona by different experts showed the different taxonomic position of the Afghan Pika, but could not determine the taxonomic position of this species. Previous phylogenetic studies based on mtDNA mar...

Breeding ecology of the Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) was studied in a mono-specific colony in the Anzali wetland, Northern Iran during the breeding season of 2016. The breeding period lasted from mid-May to late July. The average clutch size was 3.1±0.6 eggs and the breeding success 77.6%. No significant differences were found...

The Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax is a Near Threatened grassland bird that is fully migratory within its eastern population, wintering in large numbers across the south Caucasus and northern parts of Iran. The species’ habitat selection has been comprehensively studied in its western European range, but very limited information is available for its...

The lack of detailed and precise reports about the presence of corsac fox has caused ambiguities about the presence or absence or even extinction status of this species in its distribution range in Iran. Therefore, this is one of the complicated issues in Iran’s wildlife fauna and there has been no clear scientific answer to this question to date....

Understanding distributions of wildlife species is a key step towards identifying biodiversity hotspots and designing effective conservation strategies. In this paper, the spatial pattern of diversity of birds in Golestan Province, Iran, was estimated. Ecological niche modeling was used to determine distributions of 144 bird species across the prov...