Maral Bashirzadeh

University of Mazandaran | UMZ · Department of Biology

Abstract Aim Plant–plant interactions are an important factor in structuring plant biodiversity. However, most studies on the impacts of plant–plant interactions on biodiversity focus on species richness and to a lesser extent on other facets of diversity. When other facets of biodiversity are considered, studies often include a limited set of envi...

Citation: Bashirzadeh, M.; Abedi, M.; Shefferson, R.P.; Farzam, M. Post-Fire Recovery of Plant Biodiversity Changes Depending on Time Intervals since Last Fire in Semiarid Shrublands. Fire 2023, 6, 103. Abstract: Fire is a key disturbance affecting plant biodiversity patterns and evolution. Although a wide range of studies have shown important impa...

Abstract Question: Rocky outcrops generally restrict recruitment and survival of plant species due to their environmental conditions including low soil moisture, nutrient shortages and microclimate harshness. Under such severe conditions, nurse plants may play critical roles to preserve plant biodiversity. Although, the nurses’ effects on plant bio...

Nurse plants play a crucial role on plant biodiversity in drylands. While the nurse's impacts in biodiversity are documented, we know little about such impacts of different nurse's life forms; and how these impacts associate to climatic gradients. In this regard, we re-analyzed a dataset of 72 dryland sites, established across climatic gradients in...

Abstract Backgrounds Plant-plant interactions are among the most important factors affecting the natural recovery of vegetation. While the impacts of nurse plants on species composition and biodiversity are well documented, the effects of different nurse’s growth forms on all biodiversity components including taxonomic, functional, and phylogeneti...

The new species Onosma nuristanica is described and illustrated here on the basis of specimens collected from Parun in Nuristan and Chapa Dareh in Kunar, one of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. An extensive review of the literature and a comparative study with specimens from several herbaria led to the determine of this new species. Our res...

The mycorrhizal fungus, Astraeus hygrometricus, which was found thriving beneath Quercus baloot and Cedrus deodara trees is being documented in Afghanistan for the first time. Despite previous reports confirming the presence of this fungus in other parts of Asia, Europe and America, there is no prior documentation of its presence in Afghanistan. Th...

Climate and soil factors induce substantial controls over plant biodiversity in stressful ecosystems. Despite of some studies on plant biodiversity in extreme ecosystems including rocky outcrops, simultaneous effects of climate and soil factors have rarely been studied on different facets of biodiversity including taxonomic and functional diversity...

Restoration of degraded environments is essential to mitigate adverse impacts of human activities on ecosystems. Plant-plant interactions may provide effective means for restoring degraded arid lands, but little is understood about these impacts. In this regard, we analyzed the effects of two dominant nurse plants (i.e., Artemisia sieberi and Stipa...

The study of local and regional mechanisms driving spatial patterns in beta diversity is essential to the understanding of biodiversity. We aimed to predict the roles of multiple mechanisms operating at regional to fine spatial scales in structuring the beta diversity in a mountainous semi-arid rangeland of the Khorassan-Kopet Dagh floristic provin...

Molecular phylogenies are increasingly used to understand how biotic interactions and environment shape phylogenetic community structure (PCS). However, we do not understand the effects of plant–plant interactions and environment on PCS and phylogenetic diversity across spatial scales, particularly in rangelands. Here, we ask: (1) do plant–plant in...

The mechanisms determining community phylogenetic structure range from local ecological mechanisms to broad biogeographical processes. How these community assembly processes determine phylogenetic structure and patterns in rangeland communities across multiple spatial scales is still poorly understood. We sought to determine whether the structure o...

A new catalyst-free, one-pot synthesis of polysubstituted furans is reported. A series of [4-(4-aryl)-5-(cyclohexylamino)-2-(pyridin-2-yl)furan-3-yl](pyridin-2-yl)-methanones was synthesized via multicomponent reaction of 1,3-di(pyridin-2-yl)pro-pane-1,3-dione, aryl aldehydes, and cyclohexyl isocyanide.