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Abstract

The Maastrichtian sediments of northern Iraq are rich in larger benthic foraminifera. Among them, the genus

Loftusia is well-known one because of its significant palaeogeographic distribution across the Mediterranean

and Middle East. In this study, observations of abnormal test shapes, species recognition criteria and endoskeleton

characteristics of Loftusia are discussed, based on the new material from north-eastern Iraq. The following

species of Loftusia are described: Loftusia elongata Cox, L. persica Brady, Loftusia morgani Douvillé, L. anatolica

Meriç, L. matsumarui Meriç and Görmüs, L. minor B Cox, L. ketini B Meriç and L. kahtaensis Meriç,

Loftusia minor A Cox, L. oktayi Meriç and L. baykali Meriç. The predominant species are Loftusia elongata,

L. morgani and L. baykali. Skewed abnormal individuals and epidermal parts of the endoskeleton structure are

also interesting aspects to note. Quantitative data obtained for Loftusia allow us to better understand and interpret

species identification criteria, abnormal occurrences and the endoskeleton structure.

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Authors and Affiliations

Muhittin Görmüş
Qahtan A.M. Al Nuaimy
Fadhil A. Ameen (Lawa)
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Abstract

The current study is the first phylogenetic and secondary RNA structure analysis of Dactylogyrus species parasitising gill filaments of Iraqi cyprinid fishes. Most previous phylogenetic studies have targeted on primary DNA sequence data. Nevertheless, RNA secondary configuration is principally helpful in systematics since they comprise features that do not appear in the primary sequence and provide morphological information. The primary objective was molecular-based identification of Dactylogyrids species using evolutionary tree and secondary RNA structure prediction. A total of 681 fish were collected from the Lesser Zab River in the northeast of Iraq in the sub-district of Altun-Kopru from August 2016 to September 2017 and brought to the Zoology Research Laboratory, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq. All fish were classified as 18 cyprinid species. The species of Dactylogyrus were identified by the 28S rDNA subunit using PCR and sequencing methods, and the obtained nucleotide sequences were then compared with the available GenBank sequences. Phylogenetic relationships were concluded using Neighbour-Joining (NJ), Maximum Likelihood (ML), and Minimum Evolution (ME) methods. The results justify the validation of 11 Dactylogyrus species (three of them were newly recorded in Iraq). Additionally, out of nine infected fish species, seven of them were regarded as a new host for Dactylogyrus species. Secondary RNA configuration prediction using minimum free energy was considered as a hopeful tool for species identification. This was considered the first comprehensive phylogenetic study in the area. It was concluded that PCR sequencing, phylogenetic and secondary RNA analysis were proper molecular methods for identifying Dactylogyrids species on the gills of fishes.

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Authors and Affiliations

Q.M.K. Koyee
S.M.A. Abdullah
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Abstract

The present study aimed to assess groundwater quality according to the water quality index (WQI) in Ali Al- Gharbi district of the Maysan Governorate in eastern Iraq. For this purpose, 10 physical parameters such as pH, total hardness ( TH), magnesium (Mg2+), calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+), sodium (Na+), sulphate (SO42–), chloride (Cl–), nitrate (NO3–), and total dissolved solids ( TDSs) were examined since 2019 from 16 different locations (viz. wells). The analysis results indicated that 18.75% of the water samples were of good quality, 56.25% of them had low quality, and 25% of such samples were very poor. The WQI also varied from 69.67 and 297.6. Therefore, prior to water use, there is a dire need for some treatments, as protecting this district from pollution is significant.
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Authors and Affiliations

Sarteel Hamid Enad Al-Shammary
1
ORCID: ORCID
Sattar Obaid Maiws Al-Mayyahi
1

  1. Wasit University, College of Science, Department of Geology, Al-Kut city, Wasit Province, Iraq
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Abstract

This article analyzes an unusual document in the Arabic dialect of the marshlands of southern Iraq. Written by a Jewish Iraqi poet, who arrived in Israel from the city of ʿAmāra in the late 1940s, this document consists of two monologues, each repeated twice: first in Hebrew letters and then again in Arabic script. While the writer evidently spoke a qǝltu dialect as his mother tongue, the monologues demonstrate the gilit dialect of the southern Iraqi marshes, and include several idiosyncrasies of that region. The document thus provides linguistic evidence from a dialect area so far documented only partially and insufficiently. We have been able to identify significant differences between the Arabic and Hebrew versions, which led us to view the former as a more reliable attestation of the linguistic reality of the Iraqi marshlands, and the latter as a version produced at a later stage. The writer’s intention was apparently to demonstrate the close inter-communal relations between the Jews of southern Iraq and the Marsh Arabs, yet his attempt to reproduce a text in the marshland’s dialect reveals a more complex picture: While the marshland gilit dialect was known to the qǝltu speakers of the area, the shift between the varieties remained challenging, as is often the case in co-territorial communal dialects.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ori Shachmon
1
ORCID: ORCID
Peleg Gottdiner
1

  1. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
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Abstract

The marshes are the most abundant water sources and ecological rich communities. They have a significant impact on the ecological and economic well-being of the communities surrounding them. However, climatic changes directly impact these bodies of water, especially those marshes which depend on rainwater and flooding for their survival. The Al-Sannya marsh is used as the example of marshes in Southern Iraq for this study between 1987–2017. The research takes place throughout the winter season due to the revival of marshes in southern Iraq at this time of year. The years 1987, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2017 are the focus of this study. Satellite imagery from the Landsat 5 (TM) and Landsat 8 (OLI) and the meteorological parameters affecting the marsh were acquired from NASA. The calculation of the areas of water bodies after classification using satellite imagery is done using the maximum likelihood method and comparing it with meteorological parameters. These results showed that these marshes are facing extinction due to the general change of climate and the interference of humans in utilising the drylands of the marsh for agricultural purposes. The vegetation area can be seen to have decreased from 51.15 km2 in 2000 to 8.77 km2 in 2017.
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Authors and Affiliations

Amal Jabbar Hatem
1
Ali Adnan N. Al-Jasim
1
ORCID: ORCID
Hameed Majeed Abduljabbar
1

  1. University of Baghdad, College of Education for Pure Science (Ibn-Al-Haitham), Department of Physics, Baghdad, Iraq
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Abstract

Neospora caninum ( N. caninum) is the etiologic agent of neosporosis, a potential cause of severe reproductive disorders in cattle, small ruminants, equines, wild animals and canids across the world. The current study is performed to estimate molecular prevalence of N. caninum in small ruminants and equines that had abortion in Kurdistan region of Iraq. A total of 64 tissue samples (brain, placenta, heart, lung and liver) were taken from aborted foetuses, with a total of 122 dam blood samples taken from 63 sheep, 39 goats, 12 mares and 8 jennies in local breed fields. Besides, a risk factor analysis for N. caninum positive animals was performed. The observed prevalence of N. caninum DNA in the blood of sheep, goats, horses and donkeys were 20.6%, 17.9%, 21.4% and 25.0%, respectively, and 19.3%, 17.6%, 18.1 and 20.0% in the aborted foetuses of the animals, respectively. Moreover, occurrence of N. caninum was 20.3% in the blood of aborted dams, while it was 18.7% in their aborted foetuses. Confirmatory analysis was also done through constructing a phylogenetic tree to compare the partial sequences of the Nc-5 gene in our isolates (OP771519, OP771520, OP771521 and OP771522) with the GenBank sequences. This showed 98-100% sequence identity with other N. caninum strains in the GenBank database. Older small ruminants and equines had a higher risk of being positive for N. caninum and exposure to dogs were considered as significant risk factors for N. caninum infection in the studied animals (p<0.05). Thus, the results of this study suggest that N. caninum is one of the microbial abortive agents in small ruminants and equines in Kurdistan region of Iraq. It is hoped that the results of this study will help to control animal abortion in livestock and reduce the economic losses.
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Authors and Affiliations

R.R. Mohammed
1
M. Tavassoli
1
K.R. Sidiq
2
B. Esmaeilnejad
1

  1. Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Nazloo Campus, PO Box 1177, Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran
  2. Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Medical and Applied Sciences, Charmo University, 46023 Chamchamal, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
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Abstract

In recent years, a number of Iraqi intellectuals have participated in a discourse on pluralism in Iraq that includes a call to address the traumatic collective experiences of the country’s ethno-religious minorities. Such a confrontation with the “wounded memory” of these minority groups – along with a rewriting of the modern history of Iraq to incorporate their stories – would be an important step in creating a new collective memory, one of cultural pluralism, that could lead to a true coexistence among all Iraqis. Since it is very difficult to carry out this process due to deep sectarian divisions within Iraqi society, literature provides an alternative cultural field for the deconstruction and reformulation of existing “master narratives”. The purpose of the article is to examine literary representations of the “wounded memory” of minorities in Iraq. The examples used here are related to the 1915–1916 Armenian genocide in the former Ottoman Empire and the 1933 massacre of Assyrians in the northern Iraqi village of Simele. They can be found in the following novels written in Arabic by Iraqi authors of Christian origin: At-Tuyūr al-‘amyā’ (The Blind Birds, 2016) by Laylā Qasrānī, Sawāqī al-qulūb (The Streams of Hearts, 2005) by In‘ām Kaǧaǧī, ‘Irāqī fī Bārīs: sīra dātiyya riwā’iyya (An Iraqi in Paris: An Autobiographical Novel, 2005) by Samū‘īl Šam‘ūn, and Fī intizār Faraǧ Allāh al-Qahhār (Waiting for Farag Allah al-Qahhar, 2006) by Sa‘dī al-Mālih. This article is divided into three sections. An introduction is devoted to the aforementioned discourse. The second and solely descriptive section consists of three subsections focusing on literary characters who experience and/ or witness the tragic events and/or tell others about them. The third section contains concluding remarks and refers to several concepts formulated by researchers in cultural memory studies.
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Authors and Affiliations

Adrianna Maśko
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
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Abstract

The contemporary warfare seems to have great influence on the way social sciences position themselves within the socio-political contexts of today. This is being implemented in many cases by the geopolitical context of 9/11 and the fall of former centers of power (end of the Cold War). Cultural anthropology, which shared a similar dilemma in the formative period of its own history provides us today with one of the most controversial examples in this matter. The program initiated by US Army back in 2006 called Human Terrain System started a wide spread debate on ethical issues regarding doing ethnographic fieldwork in a militarized landscape. HTS became thus a field of intellectual and political polemics between certain groups of researches. The academic and political debate on HTS seems to be put in a post-colonial context as a new form of mixing of science and ideology. This paper tackles the problem of emergence of a new type of anthropological understanding of the cultural other and as well its own methods and ethical standards in a situation, where crisis seems to be a permanent state of the discipline and the world its trying to describe.

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Authors and Affiliations

Jarema Drozdowicz

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