ECOLOGY M - ZModule ECOLOGY
Academic Year 2023/2024 - Teacher: Erminia CONTIExpected Learning Outcomes
The main aim of the Ecology Practice is the aquisition of the tools to assess the biosphere as a single large ecosystem in which different species, including humans, interact each other and with the environment using several kind of metrics.
Course Structure
Independent thematic acitivities will offer opportunities to use the students' skills to bring together different data, to explore, and finally to achieve environmental and biological assessments in theory.
Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.
Detailed Course Content
Relationships between organisms and their environment. Population ecology. Behavioural ecology and sociobiology. Relationships among organisms. Optimal foraging. Game theories.
Textbook Information
1) T.M. Smith & R.L. Smith - Elementi di ecologia. Pearson
2) G. Chelazzi, A. Provini & G. Santini - Ecologia. Dagli organismi agli ecosistemi. CEA Ed.
3) M. Begon, J. L. Harper & C. R. Townsend - Ecologia: individui, popolazioni, comunità. Zanichelli
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicchia ecologica: concetti e definizioni - Principio di Gause | 1, 2 |
| 2 | Concetto di popolazione - Proprietà e dinamica delle popolazioni - Metodi di stima dell’ammontare della popolazione - Equazione logistica - Analisi demografiche - Strategie evolutive. Regolazione della popolazione - Accrescimento esponenziale | 1, 2, 3 |
| 3 | Teoria dell’ottimizzazione - Foraggiamento ottimale - Strategie riproduttive e parentali - Teoria dei giochi e strategie alternative. | 1, 2, 3 |
| 4 | Interazioni interspecifiche | 1, 2 |