Applied Ecology

The teaching addresses the main environmental issues associated with the impacts of human activities on ecosystems and biological communities, describing the approaches and methods currently available for monitoring, mitigating, and managing these impacts. For clarity, these topics will be examined separately for atmospheric, aquatic, and terrestrial environments.

Atmospheric Environments
Effects of natural emissions and human activities on atmospheric composition and on the processes regulating its components. Topics include air pollution and its impacts at both local and global scales, including acid rain, alterations of the greenhouse effect, and global warming. Biological indicators and biomonitoring methods for assessing air quality will also be discussed.

Aquatic Environments
Water pollution and the main factors contributing to water quality degradation. Methods for monitoring water quality and assessing the effects of contaminants on aquatic organisms, including the Extended Biotic Index (EBI), STAR_ICMi, and New Index for assessing the ecological status of fish communities (NISECI) indices. Wastewater treatment technologies will be presented, together with approaches for managing eutrophication processes and applications of biomanipulation.
Overexploitation of aquatic resources will also be examined, including fishery resources, the fishing industry, aquaculture, and the principles of fisheries management. Approaches for sustainable aquaculture will be discussed.

Terrestrial Environments
Sources of soil degradation and contamination. Bioremediation of contaminated soils. Alternative approaches to the use of plant protection products in agriculture, with particular emphasis on biological control methods. Methods for assessing soil biological quality, including the QBS (Soil Biological Quality Index). The issue of waste generation and waste management strategies will also be covered.