66101 - Plant Ecosystems, Protected Habitats and Environmental Restoration

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, students know the main forest ecosystems of the Italian vegetation, as well as the main  forest habitats protected by the Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC).

Course contents

Prerequisites - To profitably follow  this course, the student should already own some basic knowledge on plant ecology and phytogeography, (see the teaching units 3 and 4 of the 65848 - Plant biodiversity course, degree in Agricultural Technologies and in Sciences of Territory and the Agroforestry Environment, School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, University of Bologna).

 

Teaching units

1 – Vegetation zones and belts in Italy (16 hours)

- The Mediterranean zone and the Central-European zone in Italy.

- Climate, soil and forest vegetation characteristics of the Mediterranean, Basal/Supramediterranean, Mountain, Subalpine belts.

- Distribution, ecology and role in the dynamic series of the main Italian forest species. In particular:

- Mediterranean belt: Quercus ilex, Q. suber, Q. coccifera, Q. calliprinos, Ceratonia siliqua, Olea europaea var. sylvestris, Pinus pinea, P. pinaster, P. halepensis and other minor species.

- Basal/Supramediterranean belt: Quercus robur, Q. petraea, Q. pubescens, Q. frainetto, Q. cerris, Q. trojana, Q.macrolepis, Carpinus betulus, C. orientalis, Ostrya carpinifolia, Laburnum anagyroides, Acer campestre, A. opulifolium, A. obtusatum, Fraxinus ornus, Castanea sativa, Salix sp. pl., Alnus incana, A. glutinosa, A. cordata, Fraxinus oxycarpa, Ulmus minor.

- Mountain belt: Fagus sylvatica, Abies alba, Acer pseudoplatanus, A. platanoides, Fraxinus excelsior, Ulmus glabra, Tilia cordata, T. platyphyllos, Prunus avium, Taxus baccata, Ilex aquifolium, P. sylvestris, P. nigra, P. laricio, P. leucodermis).

- Subalpine belt (Picea abies, Larix decidua, Pinus cembra, P. uncinata).

- The woody pioneer species involved in the dynamic series of the different vegetation belts.

 

Expected knowledge and skills:

- Knowledge of the main Italian forest ecosystems as well as of the most common forest species, of their ecology and of their dynamic role.

 

2. The knowledge and the representation of plant biodiversity (12 hours)
- Biodiversity at different levels of scale. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
- The Corine and the Corine Biotopes systems The CORINE Biotopes system and its relations with the Natura 2000 Code.

- The spatial representation of the vegetation diversity. The quantitative evaluation of the vegetation diversity.

- Examples of natural and semi-natural habitats, including forests, protected in Europe (Habitats Directive), particularly common in Italy and in the Emilia-Romagna region. Issues related to their management, the maintenance of their functionality and the ecosystem services they perform. Outline on the concept of HNV Farmland.

 

Expected knowledge and skills:

- CORINE codes, Natura 2000 Codes, indexes for the quantitative assessment of biodiversity.

- Protected Italian habitats.

 

 

3. The restoration of biodiversity (8 hours)

- Principles of Restoration Ecology. The assessment of the site. The choice of the species to be used and their procurement. The monitoring of the interventions.

- Discussion of protocols for environmental restoration.

Expected knowledge and skills:

- Correct setting up of an environmental restoration intervention.

 

 

4. Practical activities (24 hours)

Practical activities are an important part of the student's preparation for the final assessment test. They include laboratory activities (16 hours) and field activities (8 hours), closely linked not only with the contents of the lectures of this course, but also with the course contents of Forestry Inventory and Remote Sensing and of the Laboratory of Geomatics.

The laboratory activities concern: 1) exercises on practical knowledge of wood species of regional flora; 2) basic use of GIS software (territorial diversity indices, simple quantitative analyzes at the landscape level, etc..) for the interpretation of environmental diversity through the vegetation.

The field activities consist of one excursion, carried out in areas where restoration interventions have been performed and / or in areas where plant communities of particular relevance are present.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

The teaching materials can be downloaded from AMS Campus, with access restricted to students regularly enrolled, through username and password.

We recommend to download and print the ppt presentations before attending lectures, in order to integrate them with personal notes relating to the content of the lectures. The teaching materials should however be supported by the use of the textbooks recommended here:

 

- BERNETTI G., 1995 – Selvicoltura speciale. UTET, Torino, 416 pp. (Esaurito, ma disponibile presso la Biblioteca della Scuola).

- FERRARI C., PEZZI G., 2012 - Paesaggio: ambiente, spazio, luogo, memoria. Diabasis, Reggio Emilia.

- AA.VV., 2012 - Linee guida per la riqualificazione ambientale dei canali di bonifica in Emilia-Romagna. Regione Emilia Romagna.

- AA.VV. 2009 – Gli habitat di interesse comunitario segnalati in Emilia-Romagna. Regione Emilia-Romagna, Bologna.

- AA.VV., 2010 - Disciplinare tecnico per la manutenzione ordinaria dei corsi d'acqua naturali ed artificiali e delle opere di difesa della costa nei siti della Rete Natura 2000 (SIC e ZPS). Regione Emilia Romagna, Bologna.

- AA.VV., 2010 - Foce Bevano - L'area naturale protetta e l'intervento di salvaguardia. Regione Emilia Romagna, Bologna.

- CORINE Biotopes manual, 2005 - Habitats of the European Community.

 

All the textbooks, except Bernetti and Ferrari & Pezzi, can be downloaded from the web.

Teaching methods

The course consists of theoretical lessons (teaching units 1, 2, 3) and practical activities (teaching unit 4) closely interlinked, whose contents are both the subject of the final assessment.

 

Assessment methods

The course is part of the Integrated Course 27362 –Ecosystem monitoring, with the course 27364 Forest Inventories and Remote Sensing. Therefore, the assessment of the integrated course will take into account the level of knowledge and skills acquired by the student on the contents of both the courses (average of the marks of the two courses).

Concerning this course, the assessment of the knowledge acquired is achieved through an oral examination, at fixed date, that are published well in advance on AlmaEsami web site. The final examination will verify the preparation of the student on all parts of the program. It will concern the discussion of two arguments, one chosen by the student, the other proposed by the teacher, regarding all the didactic units of the program.

Teaching tools

 ppt presentations, field guides (for the excursions).

Office hours

See the website of Maria Speranza