66101 - Plant Ecosystems, Protected Habitats and Environmental Restoration

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Moduli: Giovanna Pezzi (Modulo Mod 1) Carla Lambertini (Modulo Mod 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo Mod 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo Mod 2)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Planning and management of agro-territorial, forest and landscape (cod. 8532)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has acquired knowledge about the role of plants in the ecosystems, the main Italian forest vegetation types, the roles and levels of biodiversity, the European protected habitats (Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC) and the main Italian and European regulations for biodiversity conservation. In particular, the student will be able to analyse the territory as an ecosystem and identify needs and actions to take for nature management and/or conservation

 

Course contents

MODULE 1 (prof. Giovanna Pezzi)

 

Basics of Plant and Vegetation ecology (18 hours)

Autoecology: Ecological factors influencing plants and habitats. Stress and disturbance. Adaptation. Life cycle. Plant dispersal. Biotic interactions

Flora and vegetation: Flora. Chorotypes. Life forms. Species identification. Vegetation. Climate and vegetation. Biotic and abiotic factors affecting vegetation. Spatial patterns of plants communities. Vegetation dynamics. Stress and disturbance. Vegetation and habitats. Physionomic and syntaxonomic vegetation classification systems, European classification systems. Sampling methods. Vegetation maps. Vegetation zones and belts in Italy and Europe.

Landscape: Structure, function, dynamics. Patch-corridor-matrix model. Landscape heterogeneity. Disturbance at the landscape level

 

Acquired knowledge

Basic principles of vegetation science, knowledge of the role of plants as ecological indicators and conservation targets. Ability to apply the acquired knowledge in the field of habitat and landscape management, and conservation This part is prepatory to Module 2

 

Practical activities (12 hours)

Selection of appropriate vegetation sampling methods based on a case study suggested by the teacher. Analysis of vegetation data and thematic maps

 

Acquired knowledge

Study and analysis methodologies and tools useful for vegetation evaluation, monitoring and management

 

 

MODULE 2 (prof. Carla Lambertini)

 

Causes of ecosystem decline (6 hours)

Global change: Land use/land cover changes; climate change, Environmental pollution, Increased international mobility, Unsustainable use of nature resources

Change effects: Ecosystem degradation; Habitat loss and fragmentation; Loss of ecosystem services

Evolution of new species and ecosystems: Adaptation process, Invasive alien species

 

Acquired knowledge

Causes and consequences of global change and reasons to conserve nature

 

Tool for nature conservation (5 hours)

International conventions for nature conservation

Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC: a tool for conservation and management. Habitat as ecological units to be conserved. Directive annexes

Nature reserves (Parks), Ecological-riequilibrium areas, Nature 2000 network: SCIs, SPAs and SACs

 

Acquired knowledge

The nature protection system in Italy and in Europe

 

Ecosystem restoration (7 hours)

Restoration aim

Site evaluation. The site after restoration. Species selection and procurement. Site project and construction. Monitoring restoration actions and results

 

Acquired knowledge

Principles to approach environmental restoration

 

Practical activities for the preparation of a restoration project (12 hours)

Data collection to prepare the project

Analysis of nature restoration projects (from the literature, seminars and field trips)

 

Acquired knowledge

Principles to realize environmental restoration/conservation actions

Readings/Bibliography

- Power Point presentations. These documents will be available at the end of each topic session. A list of references is provided at the end of each lecture together with suggested supplementary study material.

- Scientific papers

- Ferrari C., Pezzi G. 2013. L’Ecologia del Paesaggio. Il Mulino Universale Paperbacks

 

Supplementry material (e-books available at https://sol.unibo.it/SebinaOpac/page/advanced):

Vegetation Ecology. Van der Maarel E. and Janet Franklin J., John Wiley & Sons, 2013 (Module 1)

Restoration Ecology: the new frontier. Edited by Jelte van Andel and James Aronson Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2006 (Module 2)

The student selects the topics to study within the suggested books according to the programme

Teaching methods

Class lectures on concepts and methodological approaches

Practical exercises to learn about the main tools and methods for studying and analyzing the vegetation (*)

Field excursions, to analyse and discuss specific ecosystem, habitat and vegetation management and conservation issues in the field (*)

(*) Field excursions and practical exercises will be organized according to the guidelines provided by the University for the COVID-19 emergency

Assessment methods

Type of assessment: Oral examination of an environmental conservation or restoration project presented by the student and of the answers to two questions about the theoretical concepts of the course


Evaluation description: The assessment aims at verifying the acquisition by the students of the fundamental theoretical topics introduced by the course, and their capacity to apply this knowledge to understand the structure, function and dynamics of the main ecosystems and habitats, their vegetation, and nature management and conservation


Teaching tools

Slides presented by the teachers during the lectures, scientific reports and papers provided by the teacher, specialised web sites

Software GIS open source (www.qgis.org), WebGIS and thematic maps

Excel

Acta Plantarum (www.actaplantarum.org) and Dryades (www.dryades.units.it) for plant species identification


Office hours

See the website of Giovanna Pezzi

See the website of Carla Lambertini

SDGs

Life on land

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.