Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.
The occurrence of two species of the genus Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882 (Myxozoa: Myxosporea) for the first time in Iraq from freshwater fishes.
A total of 803 specimens of the mugilid fish Liza abu was collected from different fishing grounds in Al-Najaf province during the period from Octber 1990 till September 1991. Of these fishes, 9.3% were infected with the acanthocephalan Neoechinorhynchus iraqensis with an intensity of 1.8.Changes in percentage incidence coincided with those of mean intensity. Generally, percentage incidence and intensity increased with the increase of fish length (age). Slight monthly changes in the infection were noticed. Changes in infection were attributed to fish length, sex, food, water temperature and antagonism of N. iraqensis with the third larval stage of nematode Contracaecum in the studied fish.
A total of 72 specimens of the wild jungle cat Felis chaus furax De Winton, 1898 were
examined for the purpose of this study. The results show that 55.6% of the sample harbored
either single or mixed infections with ecto- and/ or endoparasites. The mode of infection
shows that only four specimens( 5.6% of the total sample) acquire single infections, the
double infections comprise 15.3%, the triple infections comprised 33.3%, while the
quadruplicate infections comprised 1.4%.
The systematic list of the parasites included six ectoparasites: Ctenocephalides felis (insect),
Sarcoptes scabiei (mite), Haemaphysalis adleri, Rhipicephalus leporis, Rhipicephalus
turanicus and Hyalomma anatolicum excavatum (ticks) and seven
The current study was conducted to find out the effect of the sediment source (sedimentary of Iraqi-Iranian borderline and Tigris River) on the content and distribution of feldspar minerals and their effect on the optical properties of these minerals in some soils of Wasit and Maysan province. Eight pedons were chosen to represent the study area, five of them represented sediments coming from the borderline, which included pedons of (Badra, Taj Al-Din, Al-Shihabi, Jassan, and Galat), while two of them represent the sediments of the Tigris River (Essaouira, Al-Dabouni). Finally, the pedon of Ali Al-Gharbi represented the mixing area of sediments of all the torrents coming from borderline and the sediments of the Tigris River. The diagnostic
... Show MoreIndicators of government debt is of extreme importanse in economic activity through knowledge of the economic impact of government debt, if the phenomenon is accepted or prepared to dangerous stage by stage, and there fore it can Through these indicators to measure the degree of indebtedness in relation to the economic activity of the Government on the one hand, the governments ability to repay the other hand.
Due to this it inferred that the degree of indebtedness in Iraq specificratio has exceed 60% during the period 1990 – 2002 ntejh lack of political and economic stability of the government, which led to the governments inability to repay the ma
... Show MoreIn this study is the phenomenon of desertification risk assessment in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad/Iraq, which has an area of about (384.168 km 2), that the annual mean temperature is more than (22 C). Rainfall was low, ranging from the (200 mm) per year for Iraq and (2.82) mm per year of the study area* temperature is high and evaporation is also high (mm 7.73) per year*, so the climate in general of the dry type and the system of soil moisture is the kind of Aridic (Torric). To this study was to identify three indicators to monitor for the period from 2001-2005 using GIS and these indicators are (soil, groundwater and the nature of land use), using ArcGIS 9.1. The results showed that the risk of desertification was part of the leve
... Show MoreCorruption is a phenomenon that exists in all times and places, they appear in the developing countries and in developed countries, and in all political systems. And its repercussions and economic repercussions on the society in which it is rampant, and lead to the undermining of economic development and obstruction, is also working on increasing poverty and unemployment, as well as its role in the worsening of social problems, and political instability. And corruption is deviant behavior is illegal and contrary to the teachings of the religious and moral values. The emergence of this phenomenon is due to several reasons, including political, economic, social and cultura
... Show MoreThe external shocks are one of the phenomena that the Iraqi economy is exposed to over a period of time. It is referred to as changes and events that come from outside the economic system and extends to many economic variables. However, foreign direct investment may be severely affected due to the extreme sensitivity to changes and local and international developments. This type of trauma and its characteristics to help manage and cope with external shocks, and in order to avoid the standard problems experienced by some models of simple linear regression, multi-linear regression models were used with variables Scientific and other dummy variables .
The study foun
... Show MoreLaboratory studies were carried out to investigate the differences between uninfested and infested bitter orange