The climate parameters annual rainfall and average mean temperature are investigated from 2000 to 2019 for Kut, Hilla and Iskandaryia. Evidence of climate change is noticed by decreasing the mean annual rainfall and relative humidity with an increase in the annual mean temperature. The climate water balance has been calculated. Due to high temperature, increased evaporation, and low precipitation rates, there was a large water deficit. The total water surplus in the Kut area is 32.86 mm from November to February, and in  Hilla and Iskandaryia is 20.4 and 27.8 mm from December to February, respectively. The climate classification for the three stations was semi-dry to dry climates. The region has a significant water deficit of u

The present study is focused upon the sedimentology and basin development of the Jeribe and Fatha Formations by using the field observations and microfacies analysis. The area of study situated in the Zurbatiyah area to the south of the Shur sharin valley about 21 km northeast of Badrah city to the southeast of Baghdad. This area lies within the Zagros foreland basin, and located between the Zagros mountains at the northeastern and the Arabian shield at the southeastern.

     The studied succession which including the Jeribe and Fatha Formations were deposited within four associated facies for the Jeribe Formation and three for the Fatha Formation, as shown below: -

Jeribe Formation

This study aims to use claystone beds exposed in the Injana Formation (Late Miocene) at Karbala-Najaf plateau, middle of Iraq for the manufacturing of perforated and ordinary bricks. The claystone samples were assessed as an alternative material of the recent sediments, which are preferred to remain as agricultural land. The claystones are sandy mud composing of 29.1 - 39.1% clay, 37.2 - 54.8% silt and 14.1-26.8% sand. They consist of kaolinite, illite, chlorite, palygorskite, and montmorillonite with a lot of quartz, calcite, dolomite, gypsum and feldspar. Claystone samples were characterized by linear shrinkage 0.01 - 0.1%, volume shrinkage 0.1 - 0.9%, bulk density 1.2 - 2.11gm/cm3 (1.68 g / cm3 average), and the efflorescence is

    The study area comprises Injana Formation (Late Miocene), exposed on the hills nearby of Tharthar Lake and about 120 km north of Baghdad city. This study depends on sedimentologic and facies analysis to recognize paleoenvironment and recognize the kinds of vertebrate bone fossils during Late Miocene. Sedimentologic and facies analysis showed many sedimentary facies: facies (Se) of scoured erosional surface, facies of (Sp) cross- bedded sandstones, facies (Fs) of fine sandstone facies, facies of (Fc) claystone, and facies of (C) calcareous clay. Facies analysis referred to the sub environments which are: point bar, over bank and floodplain in addition to fining upward cycles of deposition, which refers to meandering flu

     A total of 77 (35 female and 42 male) hard ticks samples were isolated from 22 long-eared hedgehog during January 2021 to May 2022. All animals were infested with one or two species of hard ticks with 100% infestation rate With the density of infestation mean of 3.5. The areas of collection were Baghdad, Wasit, Karbala and Al-Anbar provinces. Morphological study revealed that both species belonged to one genus of hard ticks: Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Neumann, 1904) 50.64% and Rhipicephalus turanicus (Morel, 1969) 49.35%. The molecular investigation of current study revealed that the sensitive and specific PCR assay allowing rapid and reliable identification of Rhipicephalus sp. by the fragment size amp

A total of 47 species belonging to 46 genera, 34 subfamilies, 23 families and 7 orders of predator and parasitoid insects were collected and identified. The survey was conducted throughout the program held by the General Directorate of Agriculture-Duhok, in cooperating with the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences in Duhok Province, Kurdistan Region, Iraq from May 2013 to April 2014.
The species hosts, collecting date, locality and distributions are given. The current checklist also included some species previously collected by other researchers in Duhok Province.

The effects of temperature on an exotic aquatic snail Pomacea canaliculata  (Lamarck, 1819) collected from the Shatt Al-Arab intertidal zone were investigated. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted during the summer period of 2017. Individuals of new born snails hatched in the laboratory from adult snails were collected from Shatt Al-Arab intertidal zone, and subjected to five fixed temperatures: 15, 25, 35, 40 and 45 Cº, after short term thermal acclimation. The heartbeats (HB) were counted at each temperature level. The results showed significant  direct increase of HB from 15 Cº (19.8 HB/min) up to 25 Cº (76 HB/min) (P<0.05)  as well as from 25 Cº to 35 Cº (93 HB/min). At 40 Cº the snail HB

The objective of study was determining the most prevalent Salmonella spp. and their antimicrobial susceptibility in broilers and laying chickens and their feed and drinking water in five chicken farms in Karbala, Iraq over the period from August to October 2020. A total of 289 samples, including 217 cloaca swabs, 46 water and 26 feed samples were collected. Salmonella spp. was identified firstly by routine diagnostic methods, followed by applying the API 20E kit, the Vitek2 system, and serology. There was significant differences in Salmonella prevalence among different types of samples, mainly cloaca swabs reported a high isolation rate (21.7%). In contrast, feed samples were completely free of contamination. The highest rate of isolation w