The wide ecological area consists of a rangeland with special vegetation and one of the key factors in rangeland management is to select Management Indicator Species (MIS). Management indicator species based on a new method such as Analytical Network Process-Decision Making Trial and Evaluation (ANP-DEMATEL) is one of the most important stages in the successful Range management as choosing a suitable species for the site can be the key to success. This paper provides research contribution on selecting management indicator species using ANP-DEMATEL for the Range management of Nahavand rangeland in Hamedan, Iran in 2016. This research as a guide to determine the best Management Indicator Species (MIS) was interested in how to use ANP-DEMATEL approach using Super Decisions software version 2.8. The criteria of species selection were grazing pressure, soil conservation, palatability, and beekeeping value and a set of species for criteria included Acanthophyllum microcephalum, Thymus kotschyanus, Hypericum perforatum, Bromus tomentellus, Tragopogon graminifolius, Malabaila secacul, Festuca ovina, Poa bulbosum, Hordeum bulbosum and Medicago sativa. Criteria were identified as the most preferable options. Results showed that grazing pressure and soil conservation with the values of 2.001 and 1.125 were the best criteria for the range management. Among species, Medicago sativa, Thymus kotschyanus, Hypericum perforatum and Acanthophyllum microcephalum (0.1454, 0.1387, 0.1247 and 0.1155) contributed to rangeland management objectives. The result of this study showed that the multi-criteria decision making and ANP-DEMATEL can provide accurate results and help rangeland managers to overcome knowledge gaps under complex ecological conditions. تفاصيل المقالة

To study the effects of chilling on dormancy breaking and the increased germination characteristics of Nepeta (germination percent and speed, seedling length, vigor index, wet and dry weight), a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with 4 replications was implemented in a laboratory in 2014. Factor A was the chilling treatment in three levels (control, one-month and two-month pre-chilling of wet seeds at 4°C) and factor B was related to the seeds of 10 different species of genus Nepeta. After chilling, seeds of control were placed in a germinator for 15 days at 20°C and light-to-dark cycle of 16 hours light (1000 lux) to 8 hours dark. The results showed that chilling treatments had significant effects (p<0.01) on germination percent, germination speed, vigor index and fresh weight, but they had no effects on the seedling length. The chilling effects on germination percent showed that one-month chilling had a positive effect on N. haussknechtii with 40% and N. menthoides with 36.5% and two-month chilling had a positive effect on N. haussknechtii with 43%. The two-month chilling effect on germination speed was positive for most species. Generally, one-month chilling had positive effects on the increased seed vigor index of N. betonicifolia, N. haussknechtii and N. menthoidesand by 20.48%, 25.33% and 17.99%, respectively as compared to that of control treatment and two-month chilling had positive effects on the increased fresh weight of N. cataria, N. haussknechtii , N. pungens, N. menthoides andN. crassifolia. تفاصيل المقالة