This investigation was carried out to evaluate Indole acetic acid (IAA) production by isolated bacteria from drought and salinity affected soils. Four hundred bacteria were isolated from soils with different levels of electrical conductivity (EC) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). Then the ability of these bacteria to produce IAA and the effects of different amounts of tryptophan and drought-salinity tensions on IAA production were analyzed. Results indicated that the effects of drought and salinity tensions on variability of IAA production were statistically significant. One of the bacterial species isolated from saline-sodic soils, Arthrobacter siccitolerans, was IAA producer and data comparison indicated that under drought stress conditions it produced IAA 84.3% higher than isolate RS11. While isolated RS11 produced highest rate of IAA (10.42 µg.ml^-1) under normal conditions. Also, A.siccitolerans continued to produce IAA until the EC was 40 dS.m^-1 and OP (Osmosis pressure) was -20 bar. The amount of IAA production per unit of applied tryptophan in this bacterium was 0.1 and in others it was lesser. According to experiments, the relative preference of this bacterium was verified and proposed for field experiments in drought, salinity and salinity-sodicity affected soils.

Abstract. Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), with 18 subspecies, has a wide distribution in deciduous forests of Eurasia. The subspecies S.e.persica is a resident bird in the Zagros Mountains, from north-west to south-west of Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of this subspecies to European, Asian, as well as Caucasian clades. For this purpose, 10 individuals of two populations from Zagros forests in Kermansha and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces were captured and blood samples were collected. Furthermore, we used ND2 sequence data (1041 bp) for 136 sequnces from GenBank. were used from Then genetic variations and Genealogical analysis was calculated using complete ND2 gene sequence (1041bp) and TRN+G model, Bayesian trees and maximum likelihood, respectively. Also, median joining algorithm showed the relationships among haplotypes. We found four new haplotypes for the Zagros populations. Our phylogenetic analysis revealed that the genetic distance between Zagros population and Caucasian clade was significantly small, demonstrating Zagros populations are part of the Caucasian clade. F_ST statistical values, resulted from Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA), represented significant variations in genetic structure among Eurasian Nuthatch populations. Moreover, F_CT revealed significant variation among European, Asian, and Caucasian clades. Overall our result suggests that Eurasian Nuthatch populations in Eurasia comprise three phylogenetic species, and likely biological species. Hoewever, the previous nomenclatured subspecies, S.e.caucasian and S.e.persica, can be considered as a common phylogenetic species.