Air pollution from gas refinery through contamination with various elements disrupts semiarid Zagros oak (Quercus brantii Lindl.) forests, Iran

Soils and oak trees (Quercus brantii Lindl.) in Zagros forests are suffering from the air pollution caused by the Ilam Gas Refinery. Thus, for the first time, we investigated the contamination level of sulfur and trace elements in these ecosystems. Sampling of soil and tree leaves was carried out in different seasons of 2019 and at different distances from the gas refinery. The results showed that soils and leaves at the various distances compared with control distance (10,000 m) were more affected by the gas refinery. Distance from the pollution source and physicochemical properties of soils were the main factors affecting contamination of soil elements contents. The soils with pollution load indices (PLI) of 4.54 were in the highly polluted category. Sulfur was at highly polluted category in soils and were highly enriched in trees. The trees mainly absorbed studied elements via their aerial organs. Our findings indicated that oak trees with the highest value of metal accumulation index are influence tools for monitoring various elements in the polluted air produced by the gas refinery. It is recommended that the ecosystem components near the refinery be studied to accurately evaluate disorders in the food chain.

Ethnobotanical and Chemical Studies on Gezo Molasses from Quercus brantii Lindl. Acorns in Turkey

Oak molasses, called “Gezo,” have been produced by the local people of Southeastern Anatolia. In this study, the ethnobotanical characteristics, production stages, health effects, and chemical composition of Gezo were determined. Traditional Gezo molasses is produced from the acorn of Quercus brantii Lindl. The survey was carried out in seven provinces with large populations. Molasses samples were collected from local producers in the region alongside the local names, usage, sorting, and grading methods used by the local people. The total contents of phenolics and flavanoids were found to vary between the range of 1.60–2.56 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) and 0.62–0.72 mg rutin (RE) per g of Gezo molasses, respectively. Gezo displayed scavenging activity against DPPH radicals ranging from 7.57 to 9.44 µM Trolox/g. The CUPRAC assay results showed that molasses also possessed reducing power activity with a value of 8.57–10.20 µM Trolox/g. Gezo is typically consumed by local people as a breakfast food. However, it is also used for medical purposes to treat bronchitis, cough, asthma, and diabetes. The region’s oak species are used by locals for fuel, feed, handicrafts, and games.

A Consumer Grade UAV-Based Framework to Estimate Structural Attributes of Coppice and High Oak Forest Stands in Semi-Arid Regions

Semi-arid tree covers, in both high and coppice growth forms, play an essential role in protecting water and soil resources and provides multiple ecosystem services across fragile ecosystems. Thus, they require continuous inventories. Quantification of forest structure in these tree covers provides important measures for their management and biodiversity conservation. We present a framework, based on consumer-grade UAV photogrammetry, to separately estimate primary variables of tree height (H) and crown area (A) across diverse coppice and high stands dominated by Quercus brantii Lindl. along the latitudinal gradient of Zagros mountains of western Iran. Then, multivariate linear regressions were parametrized with H and A to estimate the diameter at breast height (DBH) of high trees because of its importance to accelerate the existing practical DBH inventories across Zagros Forests. The estimated variables were finally applied to a model tree aboveground biomass (AGB) for both vegetative growth forms by local allometric equations and Random Forest models. In each step, the estimated variables were evaluated against the field reference values, indicating practically high accuracies reaching root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.68 m and 4.74 cm for H and DBH, as well as relative RMSE < 10% for AGB estimates. The results generally suggest an effective framework for single tree-based attribute estimation over mountainous, semi-arid coppice, and high stands.