Document Type : Original Research
Authors
1
Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
2
Temperate Fruits Research Center, Horticultural Sciences Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Iran
3
Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute (NSTRI), Tehran, Iran
4
Faculty of Food Scince and Engineering & College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
Abstract
Background and Aim: The ability of cockroaches to transmit pathogenic agents to food makes them a threat to the country's food security in terms of use in war and biological terror. In this research, the identification of cockroaches (Blattodea), their geographic distribution, and establishment potential in date warehouses of six important date-growing provinces of Iran, including Kerman, Fars, Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Bushehr, and Hormozgan, were carried out to their risk predict.
Methods: The statistical method of factor analysis was used to investigate the variance between several dependent variables based on their description in terms of a few latent variables (factors) effective on the type of population distribution. The cluster analysis was performed using a hierarchical method and its accuracy was evaluated using linear detection techniques and a generalization of Fisher's linear discriminator.
Results: Three species of cockroaches, including the American cockroach Periplaneta americana, the eastern cockroach Blatta orientalis, and the German cockroach Blattella germanica, are active in Iran's date-producing areas. The highest distribution of these cockroaches was in (Kerman, Fars, and Bushehr), (Kerman and Sistan and Baluchistan), (Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchistan), (Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchistan), Bushehr and Fars, respectively. The highest relative establishment rate was found in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozgan, and Khuzestan. The largest unexploited habitat niche was in Hormozgan province, related to the German cockroach. The unanticipated outbreak chance of cockroaches in the warehouses of that province increases with the index of the unexploited habitat niche in that province.
Conclusion: Early detection to prevent the spread of the biological agent is a passive defense against the biological threat. The results of this research are essential in analyzing the risk of cockroaches and determining the hazards caused by them.
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