Learning objectives
The course is aimed at providing a basic theoretical background required for studying the mechanisms underlying ecological processes at different levels of complexity (organism, population, communities and ecosystem).
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
What is ecology.
Definition of: biodiversity, species, fitness and ecotype
Natural selection.
Conditions and Resources
How the performance of a species is related to the intensity of an environmental conditions
Temperature and individuals: Q10 and the day-degree concepts.
Ectoterms and endotherms.
Acclimatisation.
Radiation as a resource for green plants. Photosynthetic activity and water supply.
The nutritional content of plant and animals as food.
The C:N ratio in plants and animal tissues.
The ecological niche.
Patterns in community structure
Main terrestrial biomes and aquatic habitats.
Population ecology
Counting individuals. Life cycles. Cohort life tables. Reproductive rates, generation lengths and rate of increase. Population structure and sex ratio.
Migration and dispersal in space and time. Seed bank.
Intraspecific competition
The regulation of population size.
Mathematical models: exponential and logistic increase
Interspecific competition
The Lotka-Volterra model.
An outline of mutualism and parasitism.
Predation. The basic dynamics of pradator-prey, the Lotka-Volterra model. A simple model of harvesting: fixed quotas.
An outline of decomposers and detritivores.
Communities
Theories of species abundance.
Patterns of species richness.
Removal or introduction of key species
The number of trophic levels and food webs.
Compexity and stability. Resilence and resistence. Diversity indeces
Ecological theories of island communities.
Ecological succession
Optimal foraging theory
The Flux of energy and matter through communities. Patterns in primary productivity. P:B ratio. Consumption, assimilation and production efficiency. Patterns of energy flow in terrestrial and aquatic communities. Biogeochemical cycles.
Global perturbation of biogeochemical cycles: pollution and global climate changes.
Applied ecology: conservation, ecotoxicology, water depuration, sustainability.
Full programme
What is ecology.
Definition of: biodiversity, species, fitness and ecotype. Natural selection.
Conditions and Resources. How the performance of a species is related to the intensity of an environmental conditions.
Temperature and individuals: Q10 and the day-degree concepts.
Ectotherms and endotherms. Acclimatisation.
Radiation as a resource for green plants. Photosynthetic activity and water supply.
The nutritional content of plant and animals as food.
The C:N ratio in plants and animal tissues.
The ecological niche.
Patterns in community structure
Main terrestrial biomes and aquatic habitats.
Population ecology. Counting individuals. Life cycles. Cohort life tables. Reproductive rates, generation lengths and rate of increase. Population structure and sex ratio.
Migration and dispersal in space and time. Seed bank.
Intraspecific competition. The regulation of population size.
Mathematical models: exponential and logistic increase
Interspecific competition. The Lotka-Volterra model.
An outline of mutualism and parasitism.
Predation. The basic dynamics of predator-prey, the Lotka-Volterra model. A simple model of harvesting: fixed quotas.
An outline of decomposers and detritivores.
Communities. Theories of species abundance. Patterns of species richness.
Removal or introduction of key species. The number of trophic levels and food webs.
Complexity and stability. Resilience and resistance. Diversity indexes.
Ecological theories of island communities.
Ecological succession
Optimal foraging theory
The Flux of energy and matter through communities. Patterns in primary productivity. P:B ratio. Consumption, assimilation and production efficiency. Patterns of energy flow in terrestrial and aquatic communities. Biogeochemical cycles.
Global perturbations of biogeochemical cycles: pollution and global climate changes.
Bibliography
Townsend C.R., Harper J.L., Begon M. 2001. L'essenziale di ecologia. Zanichelli.
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons with interacts with soliciting comments and questions from the students. During the exercises in the classroom the teacher requires individual or collective collaboration of students in the solution of the questions proposed.
Assessment methods and criteria
Learning objectives were verified by ongoing audits, in the form of questions put to the audience of students during the lesson and random testing of proper conduct of exercises. The final exam can be written within one week of the end of the course or oral, by appointment, during the year.
The written test includes 25 open questions and 5 exercises. The final vote comes from the sum of the scores obtained for question (maximum 1 point) and for exercise (from 2 to 5 points). The oral exam is at least 3 questions referred, at least one is the contextualization and carrying out an exercise. The final vote is defined as percentage of: correctness of foreground (50%), and reasoning (30%), communication skills and synthesis (10%), language property (10%).
Other information
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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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