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B015554 - LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
Main information
Teaching Language
Course Content
Suggested readings
Learning Objectives
Teaching Methods
Type of Assessment
Course program
Academic Year 2011-12
Course year
First year - First Semester
Belonging Department
Architecture (DIDA)
Course Type
Single education field course
Scientific Area
AGR/05 - FOREST MANAGEMENT AND SILVICULTURE
Credits
9
Teaching Hours
90
Teaching Term
26/09/2011 ⇒ 16/12/2011
Attendance required
No
Type of Evaluation
Final Grade
Course Content
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Course program
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Lectureship
Teaching Language
Foundations of general and landscape ecology
Course Content
The knowledge of the main terrestrial ecosystems, consisting of biotic and non biotic components interacting each other, dynamic and open to interactions with other ecosystems.
Suggested readings (Search our library's catalogue)
Ecologia Forestale (M. Paci, Edagricole, Bologna 2011).
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: The knowledge of the main terrestrial ecosystems, consisting of biotic and non biotic components interacting each other, dynamic and open to interactions with other ecosystems.
Competence acquired (at the end of the course): the knowledge of 1) main functional mechanisms of the ecosystems and 2) their interactions at territory scale
Skills acquired (at the end of the course): the ecological bases essential to deal with the management problems at territory scale
Competence acquired (at the end of the course): the knowledge of 1) main functional mechanisms of the ecosystems and 2) their interactions at territory scale
Skills acquired (at the end of the course): the ecological bases essential to deal with the management problems at territory scale
Teaching Methods
Contact hours for:
Lectures: 45
Laboratory/practice: 15
Seminars/excursions: 30
Lectures: 45
Laboratory/practice: 15
Seminars/excursions: 30
Type of Assessment
oral examination and report concerning field surveys in urban and periurban forests
Course program
The ecosystem and the environment. The concept of complexity. Environment: biotic (plants and animals) and non-biotic components.
The energy flow in the Biosphere. Energy balance, Net radiation, food chains, primary and secondary productions.
Material cycle. The main biogeochemical cycles (C, N, P, S) and the water cycle. Global changes and their effects on cycles.
The physical environment: photosyntetically active radiation, temperature, atmosphere composition, water, minerals, soil, fire. The ecological indicators.
The Climate. Microclimate e macroclimate. The main climates of the world. The Bioclimate. The climate of the town.
The main terrestrial biomes.
The biological environment. Individual, population, community: the structure and the dynamics. Habitat, ecological niche, competition, relationships in the community. The ecotone and the ecological corridors.
Vegetation dynamics. The Successions: theories, concepts, climax, successional patterns. The secondary successions on the abandoned fields and pastures. The naturalization of forests. The disturbances and the ecological successions.
The landscape as a result of interacting ecosystems: the secondary successions as a starting-point for landscape modifications (historical and ecological aspects). Connectivity and fractionation of the landscape: the ecological networks.
The biodiversity and different scale levels (ecosystem and territory).
The relationships between man and forests ecosystems in the course of history: tillage, urbanization, forest exploitations, atmosphere and water pollution.
Field surveys in a) urban and periurban forests b) water treatment plant.
The energy flow in the Biosphere. Energy balance, Net radiation, food chains, primary and secondary productions.
Material cycle. The main biogeochemical cycles (C, N, P, S) and the water cycle. Global changes and their effects on cycles.
The physical environment: photosyntetically active radiation, temperature, atmosphere composition, water, minerals, soil, fire. The ecological indicators.
The Climate. Microclimate e macroclimate. The main climates of the world. The Bioclimate. The climate of the town.
The main terrestrial biomes.
The biological environment. Individual, population, community: the structure and the dynamics. Habitat, ecological niche, competition, relationships in the community. The ecotone and the ecological corridors.
Vegetation dynamics. The Successions: theories, concepts, climax, successional patterns. The secondary successions on the abandoned fields and pastures. The naturalization of forests. The disturbances and the ecological successions.
The landscape as a result of interacting ecosystems: the secondary successions as a starting-point for landscape modifications (historical and ecological aspects). Connectivity and fractionation of the landscape: the ecological networks.
The biodiversity and different scale levels (ecosystem and territory).
The relationships between man and forests ecosystems in the course of history: tillage, urbanization, forest exploitations, atmosphere and water pollution.
Field surveys in a) urban and periurban forests b) water treatment plant.