The genus Cyrtopodion is the most widely distributed of the four gekkonid genera of the angular-toed geckos that inhabit Pakistan and the contiguous Palearctic Region (Szczerbak & Golubev 1996), from the Indus Valley to the eastern borders of the Caspian Sea. Longitudinal rows of trihedral tubercles characteristically line the dorsum of these angular-toed geckos. They primarily inhabit arid bad...

introduction the dynamic state index (dsi) is being introduced on the basis of a newly developed theory termed the energy-vorticity theory (evt). as a weather index, the dsi can describe the temporal sequence and intensity of areas of high and low pressure; but as a climate index, it can also diagnose climate change based on the variation in solar radiation or the influences of friction. in phy...

Seasonal variations of zooplankton communities were studied in the southern Caspian Sea for 4 successive seasons and 8 transects with 5 stations from 5 to 100 m depths which sampled during 2009. The zooplankton population constituted of 73.33% copepods, 24.21% rotifers, 2.23% cladocerans and 0.23% protozoans. Copepods were dominant at all stations with a density between 1456±531 ind. m-3 (Trans...

* The author is employed at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for Europe. The paper is presented by the author in her personal capacity, however, and opinions expressed in this paper should be attributed to the author. They are not meant to represent the positions or opinions of UNEP or the State Parties to the Framework Convention on the Protection of the Marine Enviro...

Kutum is considered as one of the anadramous species of the Caspian Sea. Due to continuous population decline of the fish since 1975, Iranian fisheries organization started to restock this species. Nowadays, there is growing concern over the effects of restocking on natural populations. For this purpose, population structure and genetic variation of this species in the Iranian coastline of Casp...

This study evaluated the feasibility of a drowning intervention package in northern Islamic Republic of Iran. A quasi-experimental design used pre- and post-observations among residents and tourists in water-recreation beach areas of intervention and control regions by the Caspian Sea and in residents near the Caspian Sea coastline. The fatal drowning rate in the studied resident population in ...

Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on the earth. Since the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 and discovering large oil and gas fields, some issues such as political, economic and environmental events, made the Caspian Sea important. The ecology of the Sea are being endangered due to several issues such as petroleum extraction, river and sea pollutions, water level rise, biological...

The Ponto-Caspian amphipod Obesogammarus obesus (Sars, 1894) was first recorded in the Rhine River near Koblenz, Germany in October 2004. Additional records of small numbers of O. obesus from the same location in 2005 and 2006 indicate that this alien species may have become established in the central section of the Rhine River. Ship transport via the Main-Danube Canal, connecting the Danube ba...

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) are widely distributed throughout the Old World. Most studies have focused on Europe and East Asia with the genetic diversity of West Asia being less well studied. In particular, the genetic variability and genetic structure of the Iranian populations are not yet known; gaps which prevent scientists from resolving the genetic relationships of the Eurasian wild boar. This ...