NATURE CONSERVATION
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2021/2022
- Teacher
- CRISTINA MUNARI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/07
Training objectives
- Nature Conservation is a discipline that deals with aspects of ecosystems management, for the biodiversity and nature conservation and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources. Students are expected to achieve the skill to tackle the integrated study of the main aspects of i) nature conservation for a sustainable environmental management, ii) main critical issues caused by anthropogenic activities and the related effects on the state of natural ecosystems, biological communities and human health.
The student is guided along the path to achieve the understanding of the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and the importance of proper management for conservation perspectives
Knowledge and understanding
The student:
- knows the proper biological terminology;
- has knowledge of biological subjects as general biology, zoology, botany;
- has knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry
Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
The student:
-is able to use the proper technical terminology describing chemical, biological and ecological processes
-is able to evaluate the ecological status of natural systems, both aquatic and terrestrial
-is able to assess the main threats to the integrity of natural systems and biodiversity
-is able to identify any critical management issues of natural ecosystems and biodiversity to suggest possible solutions and mitigation measures. Prerequisites
- No formal propedeuticity is required, however the student must have basic knowledge of Biology and Ecology, with properties of language and scientific mastery.
Course programme
- PART ONE (20 hours)- THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES. Mean causes of species vulnerability and extinction. The extinction whirl. Conservation genetics. Typology of protected areas: National and Regional Parks, Natural Reserves, other protected areas, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation, Sites of Community Importance. Marine Protected Areas. Characteristics and zonation of protected areas. Actions on animal populations: reintroductions/re-establishment, introductions, and reinforcement of species into the wild. In situ and ex situ conservation. Priority criteria for the conservation of the species and biological communities. IUCN classification and Red Lists. Washington Convention, the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and the Birds Directive 79/409/EEC. Implementation of the Habitats Directive in Italy.
PART TWO (20 hours)-ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION. Water pollution. Air pollution. Climate change and its effect on ecosystems. Waste materials: solid, toxic and dangerous. Traditional and renewal resources of energy. Environmental monitoring and biological quality element for the ecological quality assessment of water ecosystems (e.g. Posidonia oceanica). Bioaccumulation, bioconcentration and biomagnification. The Directive 2000/60 / EC, the Legislative Decree 260/10, the Legislative Decree 152/06. Treatment of industrial and urban waste waters. The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC
PART THREE (8 hours) - LANDSCAPE BIOINDICATION. Soil bioindication through the use of carabids. The use of the Sirphid Diptera as bioindicators. Apoidea hymenoptera: potentiality of a taxonomically and ecologically complex group. Citizen science: potential for citizen involvement in biomonitoring. The main platforms for data collection. The roadkill phenomenon, one facet of road ecology Case studies. Didactic methods
- The course consists of theory lessons for a total of 48 hours of teaching (6 credits). Lessons are held weekly in the classroom and the exposure is done through the use of power-point slides.
and audiovisual materials. In the middle and end of the course, 2 + 2 hours will be devoted to the assessment, the revision of the topics and their discussion. Learning assessment procedures
- The aim of the final test is to access the level of knowledge on the topics of the course program and the critical skills developed by the student. The assessment is expressed as usual in thirtieths (/30); the minimum score to pass the test is 18/30. The test is oral with 5 questions (6 points each).
Reference texts
- Essentials of Conservation Biology 6th Edition RB Primack 2014. Environmental Science: a global concern 15th Edition McGraw-Hill 2021, by W. Cunningham & M. Cunningham. Introduzione all’ecologia applicate (Galassi S, Ferrari I, Viaroli P) Città Studi Editore 2014. Iucn.it, parks .it, ispra.it
Corazza C, Ed., 2012. I Ditteri Sirfidi nella bioindicazione della biodiversità. I Sirfidi, il database Syrph the Net e una chiave dicotomica ai generi dei Sirfidi italiani. The hoverflies (Diptera Syrphidae) as Bioindicators of Biodiversity. The hoverflies, the Syrph the Net database and a dicotomic key to the Italian genera of Syrphidae Disponibile/available in PDF: https://storianaturale.comune.fe.it/modules/core/lib/d.php?c=cDJP2 Abstract and some chapter in English.
Sommaggio D., Paoletti M.G., 2018. Gli invertebrati come bioindicatori di un paesaggio sostenibile. Libreariauniversitaria.it edizioni, 275 pp., € 23,90.
