Ecology

The ecosystem: structure and functions. Production and decomposition, cybernetic control of the ecosystem. The Gaia hypothesis: the hearth ecosystem, its evolution and feedback systems.
Limiting factors: Liebig and Shelford laws and related examples. Habitat and ecological niche. Biogeochemical cycles: nitrogen, phosphorous, carbon and water.
Population structure: thickness, age and sex composition, specimen distribution.
Population dynamic: natality, mortality, survival and fecundity slopes, slopes of exponential and logistic growth, fluctuation and regulation. Migration and dispersal in time and space, r and k selection.
Population interactions, competition and coexistence, predation, parasitism, allelopathy, commensalism, mutualism, symbiosis.
Community structure: composition, richness slopes and diversity indeces, spatial dispersal, trophic organization. Food webs: grazing and detritus chains. Community dynamic: evolution and ecological successions. Matter and energy transfer. Quality and quantity of energy. Primary productivity, ecosystem productivity, trophic pyramids, ecological efficiency.
Biodiversity: energetic theory and other hypoteses, Index of Shannon-Weaver and island theory.
Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, autotrophic and eterotrophic environments. Top- down and bottom-up control.
Definition of pollution. Contamination of aquatic ecosystems, eutrophication and biomanipulation. The atmospheric pollution: oxidative and reductive smog. The indoor pollution. Ozone deplection: mechanisms and ecological effects. Climate change and its consequences. Loss of biodiversity and habitat.

Materials
The books recommended are the following:
Scienze Ambientali, G. Tyler Miller Jr., Edises srl.
Elementi di Ecologia, T. Smith & R.L. Smith, Pearson eds.

Exams' procedure
The written exams will be carried out through some open questions and exercises

Language
Italian

Additional information
Slides of the entire course are available on the ARIEL website.
The attendance of the course is strictly recommended.

Ecosystems: flux of energy through ecosystems; primary and secondary productivity; limiting factors; food chains; grazers and decomposers; terrestrial biomes; flux of matter through ecosystems; hydrological cycle and main biogeochemical cycles (P, N, C); human impacts
Populations: characteriscs of populations; population dynamics; exponential and logistic growth curves; life tables; population regulation; metapopulations; exctinction processess
Communities: biodiversity; species richness; diversity indices; trophic webs; ecological successions; island biogeography
Species interactions: intra- and interspecific competition and coexistence; predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, symbiosis; ecological niche concept; alien and invasive species
Organisms: heterothermy and endothermy; species concept, speciation, adaptation; life cycles; fitness and reproductive investment
Human impact on the biosphere and sustainability


Reference Material
Slides shown during the course
Smith TM, Smith RL. Elementi di Ecologia. Pearson Editore
Begon ML, Harper JL, Townsend CR. Ecologia: individui, popolazioni, comunità. Zanichelli Editore
Chelazzi G, Santini G, Provini A. Ecologia: dagli organismi agli ecosistemi. Editrice Ambrosiana


Prerequisites and examination procedures
It is expected that the students have basic notions of Plant biology and systematics, Animal biology and systematcis, Biochemistry, Evolutionary Biology. The examination will take place in written form, with open questions and quantitative ecology excercises


Teaching Methods
Teacher-centred lectures, with interactive slides; excercises of quantitative ecology. It is strongly recommended that the student follows all the lectures


Language of instruction
Italian


Recommended Prerequisites
Plant biology & Systematics, Animal biology & Systematics, Biochemistry, Evolutionary biology


WEB pages
http://drubolinieeb.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/v3/home/Default.aspx