Marsh Bulletin

Water samples were collected from six stations located at the end of Eastern Hammar marsh
(stations 1&2), Qarmmat Ali canal (station 3), and the beginning of Shatt Al-Arab river (stations 4-
6) as weekly from period 5
th April to 14th of May, 2017 to determine 13 physical and chemical
characteristics (Water temperature, turbidity, potential of hydrogen ions (pH), salinity, Total
Dissolved Solid(TDS), Chloride ions (Cl-
), Potassium ions( K+
), Sodium ions(Na+
), Calcium ions(
Ca+2) ) , Total hardness (TH ), Magnesium ions( Mg+2) and Sulphate ions(SO4
-2
). Results showed that
the lowest values of the studied characteristics were (19°C, 7.85 NTU ,6.6 , 0.878PSU , 1291mg/l
,387.37 mg/l , 8.35 mg/l , 379.31 mg/l , 62.52 mg/l ,400 mg as CaCO3/l , 70.32 mg/l and 1154,24
mg/l) respectively , while the highest values of these characteristics were (28°C , 34.5 NTU , 8.1 ,
5.09 ms/cm, 2.14 PSU, 3344 mg/l,1312.09 mg/l , 33.38 mg/l ,612.07 mg/l, 165.13mg/l , 1100 mg/l ,
246.65 mg/l and 1931.04 mg/l ) respectively . Also, results showed that station 1 had the highest
concentrations of (Na, K, TDS, and salinity) compared with the other stations, so Hammar marsh
affects the water quality at the Shatt Al-Arab river through the Qarmmat Ali channel.

A wide range of microorganisms can produce biosurfactants with attractive properties. Fifteen bacterial isolates have been collected (9 isolates from soil and 6 from water). The isolates characterized morphological 10 were gram-negative, and 5 were positive. All isolates were screened to perform their ability to produce biosurfactants (hemolysis and drop collapsing, emulsification, oil spreading, and foam production tests). The screening results for isolates' ability to produce biosurfactants showed that the highest value of the drop-collapsing test was recorded for the isolates F4, F5, F9, and F10. In contrast, isolate F13 recorded the highest value for the emulsification test. F11 had the highest value for the oil-spreading test, and the isolate F7 recorded the highest value for the foam test, while none of the isolates recorded hemolysis activity. The biosurfactant production of F9 and F6 show the highest yield 0.955 g/L and 0.68 g/L for the two isolates, respectively, is the highest compared with other isolates. The present study included five samples from each soil and water contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons.

Thirteen fungal species were isolated from eight soil samples contaminated with plastic waste collected from several places in Basra governorate and tested for their enzymatic activity to three enzymes (manganese peroxidase, lignase and cellulase). This study has showed good enzymatic activity for the isolated fungi; 11 fungi were able to produce manganese peroxidase enzyme, nine fungi were able to produce lignase enzyme, 8 fungi produced cellulase enzyme, the fungus Aspergillus niger was selected to study its ability to biodegrade LDPE in liquid medium for 90 days. The result showed that this fungus was able to degrade 26.128% of the LDPE sheets after 90 days of incubation

In the present study, the free cell supernatant (decellularized) biosurfactants of two selected isolate Bacillus cereus ASWISA8 strain and Enterobacter aerogenens B19 strain were used for enhanced oil recovery by sand packed column, which was designed for enhanced oil recovery test by calculating the sand volume (SV), porosity, initial oil saturation(Soi), percentage rate of oil recovery (Swi), residual oil saturation (Sor), where the volume of oil recovered (Sor FW) was recorded and additional oil recovered (AOR) due to crude biosurfactant was calculated. The results showed that additional crude oil was recovered at about (32.39%) when treated with free cell supernatant biosurfactant produced by Bacillus cereus ASWISA8 and (25.33%) with free cell supernatant bioemulsifier produced by Enterobacter aerogenes B19.

Iraq has a vast aquatic landscape of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers basin; Shatt al-Arab river is formed at the confluence of these rivers, which flows into the Arabian Gulf. Several aquatic habitats, including vast salt marshes, mudflats, and seasonal shallow lakes, are also found on the banks of the two rivers. The variety of these habitats would tempt many species of shorebirds to visit their diverse habitats during migration. This study aims to provide sufficient information to enable a complete understanding of the status and habitats of shorebirds in Iraq. . The current study included 46 species recorded in Iraq that visit different water bodies. These birds belong to six families that have: Haematopodidae (one species), Charadriidae (15 species), Recurvirostridae (Two species), Scolopacidae (25 species), Dromadidae (one species), and Glareolidae (Two species). On the other hand, among these species, there were nine species breeding, seven species resident, and 39 species distributed between a winter visitor, summer visitor, and passage migrant. The study concluded that ten species of shorebirds are important conservation priorities in Iraq. They are red-listed by the IUCN Red List, of which two species are Critically Endangered (CR), and eight species are Near Threatened (NT).

Water samples were collected from four East Al Hammar Marsh stations from July 2019 to May 2020. The measured variables included water temperature, light penetration, dissolved oxygen, reactive nitrate, reactive nitrite, total phosphorous, ammonium ion, and chlorophyll-a. This study applied the Trophic State Index (TSI) and Trophic Index (TRIX). The results showed that the range of variables for the water of the East Hammar Marsh was: water temperature (15.4 to 28.3) ◦C, light penetration (24 to 60) cm, dissolved oxygen (3.60 to 9.33) mg/L, nitrate (3.6 to 7.1) mg/L., nitrite (0.2 to 1.2) µg nitrogen atom /L, ammonium (0.7 to 7.6) mg/l, total phosphorus (2.75 to 24.23) µg phosphorous atom/l, chlorophyll-a (10.24 to 59.19) mg/m3. Seasonal changes in the values of the TSI index were 25.07 to 44.04, which classified the level of nutritional status ranged (low-medium). The general average (34.66) was classified within the first category of poor nutritional status (Oligotrophic), and based on the nutrition index (TRIX), results showed that the values ranged from (2.47 to 3.58) described as having a very low nutritional level. Results revealed that (TRIX) was more effective than (TSI) in determining the nutrient levels of the waters of the East Al-Hammar Marsh.

The marshes of Iraq were known as the Qasab region due to the large presence of reeds in them, which constitutes the basis of the economic life of the inhabitants of this region. The oldest human civilizations were established in the marshes, some of whose effects are still common. After entering the Marshes of Iraq to the World Heritage List in 2017, the relentless pursuit of the development of tourism activity started by relying on all available capabilities in which the reed and cattail plants play a fundamental role in it in a manner that preserves the existing environmental diversity and creates an economical, tourist and cultural renaissance. This research is an attempt to identify the most important tourist patterns that can be active in the marshes of Iraq and how to take advantage of the presence of reed and cattail plants in supporting these tourist patterns by proposing a scheme for a tourist village inspired by the traditional environment of the Iraqi marshes.