Coral reef area in northwest of the Arabian Gulf was investigated for mineralogy and geochemistry to throw lights on such unique Iraqi Marine Environment; six specimens of two main species of coral reefs, Platygyra pini Chevalier, 1975 and Octocoral Menella were collected at two sites. While eight samples of the surrounding sediments are chosen from other two sites. The mineralogy is determined by XRD, and reveals that calcite, low magnesium-calcite, and aragonite are the main minerals that comprise the Octocoral Menella in site 1, whilst aragonite and calcite are dominate in the P. pini coral reef at site 4.

    The non–carbonate fractions indicate that thes

    A total of 54 abu mullet Planiliza abu (Heckel, 1843) were collected from two stations (north and south stations) along the Euphrates River near Samawa City, Al-Muthanna province and were examined during the period from October 2016 till September 2017 for parasites. Six out of 35 examined fishes from the north station (17.1%) and one out of 19 examined fishes (5.3%) from south station were infected with the microcotylid Solostamenides paucitesticulatus Kritsky & Öktener, 2015. The parasite was illustrated and described, and it is considered as a new record for the parasitic fauna of fishes of Iraq.

When the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs s

The main aim of this research is to define the mineralogical composition of recent sediments deposited around the Al-Teeb river basin in eastern Missan, trying to determine the provenance or the source of these sediments.

       The study area represents the southeastern edge of the Mesopotamian Plain and is part of it. Quaternary deposits cover most of the area. It is clayey with old sea and river deposits and part of aeolian deposits.

       These sediments cover 95% of the study area, while the older rocks, which date back to the Tertiary (Late Miocene – Pliocene), exposed in the area east and northeast of the Al-Teeb area, made up hills which back to the undifferentiated Pliocene Mukdadiya and Bai-Hassan f

Alien fish species have negative effects on the abundance, diversity and richness of native fish species in southern Iraq. The numbers of alien fish species are constantly increasing due to the entry of invasive species. This has resulted in shifts in the historical composition of fish community structure and scarcity of some native species which represent the keystone in the building of fish populations.

    Fish samples were monthly collected from three sites in southern Iraq (Al-Chibyaish marsh, the lower parts of Euphrates River, and the northern part of Shatt Al-Arab River) from April 2017 to June 2018. A total of 14,853 individuals of fish were sampled, which represented 26 species, 24 genera and 13 families

Fifteen samples were collected from recent sediments grouping at 80 km east Samawa City, southern Iraq. Three selected samples for grain size analysis and twelve samples for chemical and biofacies analysis. Grain size analysis indicated that the sediment is mainly composed of the silt and clay with a small amount of sand. Most of the samples considered to be as clayey silt. The dominated non clay minerals are Quartz, Calcite, and Dolomite, while the clay minerals are composed of mixed Montmorillonite- Chlorite, Palygorskite, Illite and Kaolinite. Chemical analysis showed that all samples have high concentrations of SiO2 and CaO in comparison with Al2O3, MgO, Fe2O3, K2O and N2O. The identified fauna

The climate is one of the natural factors affecting agriculture, and the success of the cultivation of any agricultural crop depends on the nature of the prevailing climate in the area of its ​​cultivation. If the main elements of climate: temperature, rain and humidity, affect the various agricultural activities that can be practiced, and the stages of growth of agricultural crops and also determine the areas of spread. When the climatic requirements of any crop are well available, its cultivation is successful and comfortable. The research starts from the problem of spatial variation of date production spatially in the study area and the reason for choosing dates because of its economic importance, so the research will be based on