82671 - Anthropogenic Alterations, Monitoring and Management of Ecosystems

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student has a good knowledge on some environmental alteration caused by human activity, of their consequences at a functional level, of the principles that underlie the methods for mitigation and restoration of habitats.

Course contents

Measuring anthropogenic alterations of ecosystems
Methods for assessing the taxonomic composition and abundance of ecological assemblages.
Definition of biodiversity, components of biodiversity, definition of ecosystem services.
Measuring biodiversity within ecosystems: species diversity, richness, evenness, diversity indices, accumulation and rarefaction curves, taxonomic distance, taxonomic diversity and distinctess.
Measuring biodiversity between ecosystems: alpha, beta, gamma diversity.
Multivariate analysis applied to ecological data analysis, in particular to the taxonomic composition of ecological assemblages: similarity measures, cluster analysis, ordination methods (multi dimensional scaling, principal component analysis).
Functional diversity.
Measuring biodiversity within species, genetic diversity.

Conservation of biodiversity in the Eurepean Union
the Natura 2000 Network, "Habitat" and "Birds" directives.

Pollution
Non-toxic pollutants in water, concentration of oxygen in surface waters and effect of pollutants, eutrophication.
Toxic pollutants and ecotoxicology, fate and effect of pollutants. Fugacity models for the prediction of fate of pollutants in the environment.
Fate of pollutants in organisms, toxicokinetics, upteke, distribution, storage, metabolism (phase I and phase II), excretion, bioaccumulation, bioconcentration, biomagnification.
Effects of toxic pollutants at the molecular and cellular level, biomarkers.
Toxicity tests, toxicity values.
Interaction between toxic substances: additivity, potentiation (synergism) and antagonism.
Effects of toxic substances on population and community level.
The Lake Orta case study.

Environmental biomonitoring
Definition of environmental biomonitoring, the different approaches in environmental biomonitoring.
Characteristics of biomonitoring in comparison to chemical and physical monitoring.
Integrated approaches to environmental monitoring (weight of evidence).

The REACH regulation
Objectives of the rgulation. The European Chemicals Agency. Registration, evaluation, authorization, restriction.

The Water Framework Directive of the European Union Objectives of the directive, definition of status, quantitative status, chemical status, ecological status.
Chemical status: environmental quality standards and their identification.
Ecological status: biological, physico-chemical, hydromorphological quality elements.
Categories and types of water bodies, type-specific reference condition, definition of the ecological status levels.
Examples of methods for the assessment of biological, chemical and physico-chemical, hydromorphological quality elements: 
River basin districts and autorities.

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive
Objectives, qualitative descriptors, the phases of the strategy (application cycles), the reports of the European Commission.

Climate change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its reports.
Global temperature trend from 1850 to the present, available datasets.
Reconstruction of the temperature of the last two millennia. Concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the late 1950s.
Past concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases based on ice core measurements.
Attribution of global warming to human activity.
Effects of climate change on ecosystems.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Copies of the lesson slides.
Video and Audio recordings of the lectures.

Worksheets of data analysis classes
Quizzes for the preparation of the written test.

Teaching methods

Lectures.
Computer classes (data analysis).
Both during the lectures and during the computer clesses student-teacher interaction and discussion between students is actively encouraged.

The activities will be held in person, remotely, or in mixed mode depending on the the indications of the University at the time of the course. Lessons and exercises will in any case be recorded for the benefit of students who may not be able to attend.

Assessment methods

The exam for the integrated course of Principles and Methods for the Environmentally Friendly Development (this course + Evaluation Tools for the Eco-Compatibility) is unified.

The exam consists of a written and an oral test.

The written test can be divided into two partials during the period of the lessons (ongoing tests).

The written test is a quiz with multiple choice questions, open-ended questions, calculation exercises.

Oral mark will be the average of marks reported on specific questions on the different topics. The students is invited to provide answers to open questions in a relatively synthetic manner through pertinent answers, also with the help of schemes and drawings.

The final score will be the average of written and oral marks. The assessment is expressed as a grade up to thirty cum laude.

Teaching tools

Classroom with computer connected to video projector.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Pasteris