Iranian Journal of

Background and Objectives: Iran is classically located in the Palearctic zoogeographic zone, but southern pasts of Iran are drastically different from other parts in terms of fauna and flora. Nowadays, considering the technological advances and the ability to locate the zone border using aerial photos, and the need for comparing the prevalence of the diseases in different locations, it is necessary to identify the border of tropical-like zones as detailed as possible.

Methods: The shapefile of the political classification of Iran was used as the base map and metrological and terrestrial data were obtained from Iran Climatologic Research Center and literature review. Data were arranged in the Geospatial Information System and after geostatistical analysis, a raster map was generated and a probability map for all tropical conditions was calculated and generated as a raster map. Tropical areas were proposed in two layers.

Results: According to our study, between 113 to 125 districts from 8 provinces were located in tropical-like zones. Three of these districts had typical criteria of the Indo-Malayan zone and others resembled the Afrotropical zone. The table of the districts located in the tropical-like zones and the shapefile of these areas are available on the website of Iran Epidemiology Society.

Conclusion: Although Iran in located in the Palearctic zoogeographic area, there are some southern areas which resemble tropical regions and accurate definition of borders is a basic essential need for geo-referenced epidemiology and determining the disease pattern. This study provided a preliminary map for this field of study.