The species Spongilla lacustris was identified for the first time in Iraq, it was found during winter 1998 in an irrigation canal within the campus of the University of Baghdad (Jadiriah), water is drawn from Tigris river. The specimens were found in water samples of sizes ranging between 5-50 cm with yellowish color . It was found in two habitats , one as attached on submerged aquatic plant Ceratophyllum sp., and the other on the canal bottom (concret material). Some physico- chemical characters were determined including conductivity ,salinity , pH, total alkalinity, total hardness, Ca ,Mg ,anddissolved oxygen. Water quality was fresh , alkaline, hard and well aerated.

Phytophagous stink bugs (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae) are economically important insect pests of fruit, vegetable, nut and field crops. This study was carried out during the season of 2013 in orchards within Erbil city, to follow the stink bug Mustha spinulosa (Lefebvre, 1831) seasonal fluctuation on some fruit trees: olive, plum, apricot, pear, apple and almond.
The stink bug reaches its maximum abundance throughout the second week of August (38.2/tree) coinciding with mean temperature and relative humidity of 33.40C and 28.14% respectively, and the highest total mean of the number of the insect was recorded on the olive trees (181.8/tree). The study reveals that the stink bug attacked 22 trees (fruit and forest) while it has not atta

    The examination of gills of the common carp Cyprinus carpio revealed the presence of two species of the family Trichodinidae belonging to the genus Dipartiella (Raabe, 1959) Stein, 1961 namely D. indiana Saha and Bandyopadhyay, 2017 and D. kazubski Mitra and Bandyopadhyay, 2009 for the first time in Iraq from Al-Graiat location on the Tigris River at Baghdad city. This also represents the first record of the genus Dipartiella from fishes of Iraq. The descriptions and measurements of these two parasite species as well as their illustrations were given.

       The present study was performed to spotlight the potential role of soil bacteria in the Al-Rumaila oil field as a bioindicator of heavy metals pollution. For this purpose, nine soil samples were collected from different sites, with 20cm depth, to assess the pollution status depending on the total and available concentrations of heavy metals.  The result indicates pollution of the studied soils with the following metals: Cd, Cu, Fe, Zn, and Pb. The mean of total concentration for all studied metals was higher than the allowed maximum limit based on the international limit:(3.394, 3.994, 39.993, 8844.979,150.372, and 103.347 µg/g), respectively. While measuring the total Metal concentration is important in determining the de

    Specimens of the sesarmid crab Nanonsesarma sarii  (Naderloo and Türkay 2009) were    collected from the intertidal zone of Khor Al-Zubair, Basrah, Iraq 2012 far from the Arabian Gulf coasts. Morphological features of this species are highlighted and a figure is provided. 

?Natural Occurrence of aflatoxin Bi and B2 was investigated monthly in paddy rice stored for duration of six months. Aflatoxin B| was detected at the beginning of storage. The concentration of aflatoxin Bi in paddy and polished rice was found to be (0.3 and ()) ppb respectively while aflatoxin B2 W'as not detected in both paddy and polished rice afler six months of storage, concentration of aflatoxin Bi ‘ ’ ' reached 3 ppb in paddy rice and 0.9 ppb in polished rice, while the study proved that the concentration of aflatoxin in paddy rice was higher than polished rice as a result of processing which reduce the toxin

Mammals are under threat worldwide due to deforestation, hunting, and other human activities. In Iraq, a total of 93 species of wild mammals have been recorded including species with global conservation concern. Bamo Mountain is situated within the Zagros Mountains in northern Iraq which is a suitable habitat for wild mammals. Due to scarcity of the field survey efforts and cryptic behavior, monitoring of the wild mammals fauna in Zagros Mountain seems challenging. Therefore, we used a camera trap which seems to be an ideal way to determine species diversity of wild mammals in Bamo Mountain. Moreover, interviews with local villagers were performed. The mammalian diversity of Bamo Mountain is not fully explored but seemed threatened by lo

Biodiesel can be prepared from various types of vegetable oils or animal fats with the aid of a catalyst.
Calcium oxide (CaO) is one of the prospective heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel synthesis. Modification
of CaO by impregnation on silica (SiO2) can improve the performance of CaO as catalyst. Egg shells and rice
husks as biomass waste can be used as raw materials for the preparation of the silica modified CaO catalyst.
The present study was directed to synthesize and characterize CaO impregnated SiO2 catalyst from biomass
waste and apply it as catalyst in biodiesel synthesis. The catalyst was synthesized by wet impregnation
method and characterized by x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, nitr