The assessment of management practices on rangelands exploitation using state and transition model in central arid regions of Iran

The assessment of management practices on rangelands exploitation using state and transition model in central arid regions of Iran Abstract : Rangeland management in arid and semi-arid regions requires comprehensive attention to ecological processes and consider the interrelationship of those processes. Considering discard the theory of climax and rangeland succession model in recent years especially in arid regions and shrub lands, the new theory known as the state and transition model is taken into consideration by natural sciences and environmental specialistsb in the world. In present study, state and transition model and its application in rangeland management will be discussed and wil be peresented a case study of Iran for more description. As a case study, Nir rangelands of Yazd province will be introduced. In this rangeland, both status of enclose and grazing livestock evaluated and grazing livestock has been introduced as threshold of these two conditions. Rangelands of arid regions are biologically fragile and in the case of little degradation, a long time will be needed for compensation. The definition of different situations, thresholds, transitions and indicators will help managers to follow change trend among different plant communities and establish an ideal community. But due to very slow and very small changes in arid regions rangelands, use of models in these areas is not possible. Keywords:  Model, state and transition, Nir of Yazd, threshold, arid region. Iran'in orta kurak bolgelerinde eyalet ve gecis modelini kullanarak mera yonetim uygulamalarinin degerlendirilmesi Ozet:  Kurak ve yari kurak bolgelerde mera yonetimi ekolojik sureclere kapsamli bir dikkat ve bu sureclerin birbirleriyle olan iliskisini goz onunde tutmayi gerektirir. Ozellikle kurak bolgelerde, klimaks ve mera suksesyon modelinin terkedilmeye baslanmasi ile beraber, devlet ve gecis modeli olarak bilinen yeni bir teori son yillarda doga bilimleri ile ugrasan uzmanlar tarafindan uygulanmaya baslamistir. Bu calismada, devlet ve gecis modelini konu alan mera yonetimi uygulamasi ele alinacak ve daha fazla aciklama icin Iran'in Yazd eyaletinde bulunan Nir meralarinda yapilan bir ornek calisma sunulacaktir. Kurak bolgelerde yer alan meralar biyolojik olarak hassas ve kirilgandirlar, dolayisiyla bozulmalari durumunda, toparlanmalari icin uzun bir sure gerekli olacaktir. Meralarda olusacak gecisler ve degisimler yardimiyla yoneticiler farkli bitki topluluklari arasinda degisim trendini takip ederek ideal bir bitki toplumu kurabilmektedirler. Ancak kurak mintikalardaki degisimin yavasligi buralarda model kullanmayi oldukca sekteye ugratmaktadir. Anahtar Kelimeler:  Model, devlet ve gecis modeli, Yezd-Nir, esik, kurak bolge. Received (Gelis):  25.02.2016 -  Revised (Duzeltme):  08.04.2016 - Accepted (Kabul):  13.04.2016 Cite (Atif):  Arami, S.A., Heshmati, G., 2017. The assessment of management practices on rangelands exploitation using state and transition model in central arid regions of Iran.  Journal of the Faculty of Forestry Istanbul University  67(1): 85-92. DOI: 10.17099/jffiu.37625