The purpose of the present study is to determine bioclimatic zones in Isfahan province using multivariate statistical method. Thirty‐nine climatic variables, which were more important in plant ecological conditions (especially Artemisia sieberi and Artemisia aucheri that include more than half of rangeland surface in Isfahan province), were selected and investigated with factor analysis. Results of factor analysis showed the first three factors that explain 92.3% of total variance in selected variables were precipitation, temperature and radiation and wind with 41.91, 40.18 and 10.23% of variance, respectively. According to results and using hierarchical cluster analysis in Ward's method, bioclimatic classification in Isfahan province was performed and seven bioclimatic zones were found. In addition, to compare the results of this study with the other climatic classification methods, Isfahan province was classified by four traditional climatic classification methods (Koppen, Gaussen, Emberger and De Martonne) and its results were compared to climatic classification by multivariate statistical method. It showed that multivariate statistical method gives better classification in comparison with other methods. Beside that precipitation is the most important factor in vegetation distribution of humid and cold and sub‐humid and cold regions in west and south parts of Isfahan province. In addition, temperature is the most important factor in vegetation distribution of hyper warm‐arid and warm‐arid climatic regions in eastern low elevation parts of province. Furthermore, dominant species were determined for each climatic region. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society

The importance of the honey bee lays in its huge role in pollination and, as a result, maintaining the flora of the environment and also increasing agricultural production. Temperature is the most important element of the atmosphere affecting beekeeping. Results of stationary conclusions are generalized to the area of Fars province by using geographical information system (GIS) according to direct relationship between elevation changes and temperature variations. A beekeeping capability map was then drawn for the Fars province by months of the year. The results showed that heat conditions in four months of the year, from December to March, are not suitable in most of the northern and eastern parts of the province. The southern regions with an altitude of less than 1100 meters above sea level are considered as a suitable place for deployment, wintering and beginning of bee colony activities. The most optimal months of the year for honey bee activities are May and October. For fixed beekeeping, the central strip of the province with an average height of 1500 meters above sea level is the most suitable places.

The relationship between plant species and climatic factors has always been a fundamental issue in plant ecology, and the use of multivariate statistical methods can be effective in revealing the relationship between climatic factors and plant species distribution. Therefore, in this study, climatic factors affecting the distribution of Artemisia sieberi and Artemisia aucheri, widely distributed in Iran, were investigated. For this purpose, 117 climatic factors were used, and to reduce the number of factors and determine the most important effective ones, a factor analysis was used by principal component analysis. The results showed that six factors including heating temperature, spring and summer precipitation, wind, autumn-winter precipitation, and dusty and cloudiness days explained 37.32%, 22.54%, 7.18%, 6.6%, 4.22%, and 4.15% of data variation, respectively. Together these seven factors account for 82% of data variation. The autumn-winter precipitation and heating temperature had the greatest impact on the presence of Artemisia sieberi and Artemisia aucheri, respectively, so that the autumn-winter precipitation was negative in areas where Ar.sieberi is observed. The heating temperature factor is negative in areas where Ar.aucheri is present, while it is positive in areas lacking Ar.aucheri. The study of the effect of environmental factors on Artemisia species distribution is very important in planning and management of natural resources, and Artemisia is one of the most important plants in the country's rangelands; therefore, the results of this research can be used for practical planning, management and reclamation of these rangelands.