91435 - Management of Resources and Ecosystem Services

Learning outcomes

The student will learn the concept of ecosystem services, how they influence the well-being of human populations, how they can be monitored with both traditional and citizen science methods, and how their economic value can be quantified. After obtaining the basic knowledge on the dynamics of some ecosystem examples (e.g. coastal marine and river ecosystems), he/she will experience in the field the sampling protocols useful to determine biodiversity and environmental quality indexes. The student will learn to elaborate collected data up to the determination of the index value. The student will then learn the procedures for environmental impact assessment (VIA and VAS) required by legislation, acquiring both theoretical and practical knowledge about instruments and indexes used to identify, assess and evaluate the impacts. The course will cover aspects which are important for future professional development of the student, who will acquire skills about monitoring, in particular through marine biodiversity, river macrobenthos and fish fauna as environmental quality indicators. The student will be able to acknowledge the importance of : 1) manage the environment in an integrative way, 2) conserve or restore environmental physical dynamics to protect biodiversity, 3) using the concept of ecosystem services for an ecological analysis of ecosystem "value". The student will learn the importance of the VIA e VAS procedure sas tools to prevent significant human impacts on the environment. He will learn to perform monitoring activities in marine and freshwater ecosystems and to identify river macrobenthic and fish communities at the taxonomic level required by legislation.

Course contents

The course is composed by a theoretical part, two field excursions, one laboratory exercise, and four intermediate self-evaluation quizzes.

 

Program of theoretical lessons

- Ecosystem services: what they are, how to quantify them, how to manage them. Some case studies coming from scientific papers will be analyzed.

- Monitoring of natural resources

- Marine biodiversity monitoring through Citizen Science

- The role of environmental education in managing ecosystem services.

- River ecosystems and their management.

- Macroinvertebrates identification to assess river environmental quality.

- River fish monitoring and the refining of river environmental quality indexes (including a seminar by Giovanni Rossi, ARPAE)

- Valutazione di Impatto Ambientale (VIA), Valutazione Ambientale Strategica (VAS)

 

Field trip to the Cinque Terre Marine Protected Area

 The one-day field trip to Monterosso al Mare includes the realization of a marine biodiversity monitoring action, to be performed in snorkeling. The details of the field trip will be defined at the beginning of the course.

 

Field trip at the Foreste Casentinesi National Park

- The two-day excursion (overnight out) at S. Benedetto in Alpe includes the realization of sampling actions of macroinvertebrates (with specific nets) and fish (using electrofishing) close to an artificial structure (weir). Collected data will be used to elaborate indexes to assess its up- and down-stream environmental quality. Collected macroinvertebrates will be used during the laboratory exercise.

 

Three laboratory exercises

- The biodiversity data collected during the excursion at the sea will be analyzed to derive an environmental quality index, using Microsoft Excel.

- The macroinvertebrates collected during the excursion at the river will be analyzed at the microscope for the taxonomic determination at the level foreseen by current legislation, using dichotomic tables. An environmental quality index (EBI) will be calculated.

- River fish data will be elaborated during a computer exercise, to calculate an environmental quality index (NISECI)

 

During the course, students will be provided with three multiple response online tests. These quizzes do not take part in determining the finale exam grade, but they are used as a self-evaluation tool for the student about the knowledge of basic concepts. An informal "competition" with a "prize" (unrelated to the final evaluation grade) will be set up to foster participation, ehich remains on a voluntary basis.

Readings/Bibliography

All teaching material will be provided before each lesson on the online didactic platform.

 

No textbook will have to be purchased.

Teaching methods

The course includes front lessons, laboratory exercises with microscopes and dichotomic keys for macroinvertebrate identification, computer exercises, field excursions in terrestrial, river and coastal marine environments, brainstorming.

Assessment methods

The exam aims to assess that the student has reached the teaching goals.

The exam, only oral, is composed of three parts:

1) determination of a macroinvertebrate at the microscope by using dichotomic keys, down to the level required by current legislation (with Mauro Cesarini)

2) The definition of two terms randomly selected from a list that will be provided by the end of the course

3) One question on a subject related to each one of the terms of part 2. A slide corresponding to each subject will be chosen from the slides used during the lessons and provided as support.

The exam evaluation mode will be explained in detail during the first lesson of the course. Many lessons will contain clear moments of training for the evaluation mode. The final lesson of the course will be entirely dedicated to clarify any residual doubt about the exam mode and evalutation.

Teaching tools

Power Point slides, computer, projector, scientific articles, legislation articles and ministry directives, snorkeling suits, masks, snorkels, fins, marine biodiversity monitoring record quetionnaires, scientific gear for macroinvertebrate and fish sampling in river environments, binocular microscopes, dichotomic keys, wooclap, Excel.

Office hours

See the website of Erik Caroselli