- Docente: Stefano Tommasini
- Credits: 3
- SSD: BIO/05
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Sciences and Management of Nature (cod. 8209)
Learning outcomes
Biogeography is the study of the spatial patterns of biological diversity, and its causes, both in the present and in the past. This course will provide the ecological and historical foundations for understanding the distribution and abundance of species, and their changes in distribution and abundance over time. By the end of this course the students should be able: to comprehed the basic principles of biogeography as a discipline; to develop capacity to apply the field methodologies and data analysis techniques used in biogeography; to understand critically human impacts on species distributions and modern conservation strategies.
Course contents
The scope and history of Biogeography. Phylogeny and systematics. Evolution, speciation and extinction. Dispersal, colonisation and invasion. Realms, regions and provinces. Communities and biomes. Island Biogeography. Disturbance and human impact. Extinction and conservation.
Readings/Bibliography
Zunino M., Zullini A.
Biogeografia. La dimensione spaziale dell'evoluzione
Casa Editrice Ambrosiana, Milano (2°ed., 2004)
Teaching methods
Lectures and computer lessons
Assessment methods
oral exam
Teaching tools
Office hours
See the website of Stefano Tommasini