LEARNING OUTCOMES

Provide fundamental knowledge on the methods for the evaluation of environmental issues due to human impacts on the biosphere, with specific regard to pollution and resource consumption.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The applied ecology course is expected to give the basic knowledge regarding ecology and ecosystems together with the knowledge of the methods for the evaluation of the heath state of the natural system and of the sustainability level of environmental systems. The student will be able to face ecological issues and the challenges of a sustainable management of complex environmental systems.

Specifically, the student will be able to:

• analyze natural systems by means of whole system methodology

• evaluate the complexity and functioning of natural

• evaluate causes and effects of natural systems alteration

• assess the sustainability level of territories, productive systems and populations

• apply the concepts to study cases

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons are mainly based on taught classes with several practical exercises aiming at fixing and evaluating the knowledge and learning level.

Taught classes will take advantage of diverse multimedia supports.

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Please refer to the specific AulaWeb page for any updates regarding teaching and organization due to possible changes in the health and epidemiological situation.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

ECOLOGY and ECOSYSTEMS - basic concepts and backgrownd

HEALTH AND INTEGRITY OF ECOSYSTEMS – natural system health as an emergent property – system approaches to environmental health assessment – exergy analysis – network analysis – health index VOR

ECOLOGICAL MODELLING – methods for the analysis of environmental data – techniques for the tmporal series – techniques for spatial data analysis – model development steps – verification and validation of ecological models – goodness of fit measures – accuracy and precision of ecological models

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY – definition and history of sustainability concept – sustainability as an emergent property of anthropic systems – sustainability measures – ecological footprint – emergy analysis – life cycle assessment – greenhouse gas accounting – growth and development in a sustainable context – measure of economic sustainability vs environmental sustainability – index of sustainable economic well being

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lessons and multimedia files employed during classes will be available on AulaWeb repository at the end of every classes cycle.

The suggested books are to be intended as further supporting material. The list is not complete and other texts may be used. Many of the suggested titles are available at the UNIGE library

Basi di ecologia. Eugene P. Odum; Piccin-Nuova Libraria
Fundamentals of ecological modelling. S.E. Jorgensen te al.; Elsevier
Energy Basis for Man and Nature, H.T. Odum McGraw Hill Higher Education
La soglia della sostenibilità. E. Tiezzi et al.; Donzelli ed
Analysing ecological data. Zuur, Ieno, Smith. Springer