Ecology and Behavioural Ecology

The course is organized in two modules: that of ethology (I semester) which is focused on understanding the functions and evolution of animal behaviour and that of ecology (II semester) which concerns the basic principles useful for the description and understanding of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems
The main objective of the ethology module is to provide students with knowledge regarding the adaptive function of animal behaviour from an ecological and evolutionary perspective, and scientific methods aimed at designing and carrying out behavioural studies.
The ecology module is aimed at acquiring the basic tools for detecting and interpreting ecosystems in their abiotic and biotic components. These tools should provide the student with the interpretative keys to understand the problems due to anthropogenic interference and therefore the tools to hypothesize possible solutions.

At the end of the ecology part it is expected that students have learned how ecosystems work in nature (energy flow and biogeochemical cycles), as well as simple tools for population monitoring and surveying chemical-physical parameters of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. At the end of the ethology part the student is expected to acquire the knowledge of the adaptive role of animal behaviours, the appropriate scientific terminology of the discipline, as well as the ability to understand and critically discuss the main topics of behavioural ecology reported in the literature.