88369 - ECOLOGY

Anno Accademico 2021/2022

  • Docente: Bruna Gumiero
  • Crediti formativi: 6
  • SSD: BIO/07
  • Lingua di insegnamento: Inglese
  • Modalità didattica: Convenzionale - Lezioni in presenza
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Laurea Magistrale in Low carbon technologies and sustainable chemistry (cod. 9246)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course is aimed at the comprehension of the fundamental principles of how ecological systems work. It will focus on the ecological problems caused by human activities as well. Fundamental and applied aspect of ecology will be empathized. An understanding of the scope of the problems facing us (climate change, unsustainable use of resources, pollution, extinctions and the erosion of natural biodiversity) and the means to counter and solve these problems depend on a proper grasp of ecological fundamentals. Although we will analyze all the main types of ecosystems, we will work in particular on river ecosystems and their basin. We will cover concepts such as sustainable development, ecosystem services, environmental monitoring in detail.

Contenuti

Contents

Ecology and how to do it

  • What is ecology
  • Individual, population, community, and ecosystem scales
  • Observations, experiments, models
  • Statistics and scientific rigor
  • Case studies

    Evolution theory

  • Diversity, evolution, natural selection, and fitness
  • Species and speciation
  • Effects of climate change and continental drift
  • Convergents and parallels

    Physical conditions and resource availability

  • Environmental conditions
  • Plant and animal resources
  • Intra-specific competition
  • Ecological niche

    Population dynamics

  • Birth, death and movement
  • Life cycles
  • Life tables
  • Survivorship curves
  • Population growth
  • Life history patterns

    Communities

  • Inter-specific competition
  • The competitive exclusion principle

    Ecosystems

  • Flux of energy
  • Flux of matter
  • Food web
  • Global biogeochemical cycles

    Fresh water ecosystems and their catchments

  • Fluvial processes at Catchment scale: hydrology and geomorphology
  • River corridors: dynamics and riparian vegetation
  • River restoration

    Applied Issues in Ecology

  • Sustainability
  • Ecosystem services
  • Monitoring

TEACHING TOOLS

  • PDF files with slides used during lessons
  • Book pdf available Essential of Ecology
  • Scientific papers

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Bruna Gumiero