ECOSYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2021/2022
- Teacher
- GIUSEPPE CASTALDELLI
- Credits
- 6
- Curriculum
- BIODIVERSITA' ED EVOLUZIONE
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/07
Training objectives
- The principal objective of ecosystem management is the efficient maintenance, and ethical use of natural resources.
Ecosystem management acknowledges that the interrelation of socio-cultural, economic and ecological systems is paramount to understanding the circumstances that affect environmental goals and outcomes.
During the course the student will gain knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts in Management of Ecosystems and the identification of the main environmental problems, in order to be able to understand the possible solutions to the problems themselves. Prerequisites
- The students must have knowledge of physics, mathematics and chemistry (at the high school level). Basic knowledge of Biology and Ecology is required, in order to be able to understand the concepts related to the structure and functionality of the ecosystems and their management. The student must have ownership of language in Italian and in scientific language.
Course programme
- The program consists of four main chapters.
In the first chapter (8 hours), through a historical overview of ecosystem management, the reasons that make ecosystem management difficult in Italy are presented and analyzed and, through the examination of case studies, innovative management hypotheses are provided.
The second chapter (32 hours) examines the distribution of ecosystems on Earth in relation to the vocation of the territory for its edaphic and climatic characteristics. It also examines the differences in structure and function between natural, anthropogenic and partially managed ecosystems. Finally, it examines which Ecosystem Services are offered free of charge to Human Society by Natural Capital and which are the most reliable models for estimating their Ecological and Economic value. Some technical tools for spatial analysis will also be presented.
The third chapter (8 hours) examines the main operational tools for the management in protected ecosystems, such as parks and areas of the Natura 2000 network. Didactic methods
- The course is 6 CFU, 48 hours. Students, if they wish, can contribute preparing and showing power-point presentations. Students experimentally build a project of sustainable management for a defined ecosystem, for the improvement of ecosystem performance for the benefit of Human Society.
Learning assessment procedures
- At the end of the course there will be the possibility to take the exam either as written or oral examination. After that it will be only possible to take the exam as oral examination.
Written examination: multiple choice test with 28 questions (1 point ). Wrong answers are not assigned to a negative value. The total is then corrected by the maximum number of points and the mark is given from 0 to 30. The exam is passed with a mark over 18/30.
Oral examination: three questions. The mark is given from 0 to 30, and the exam is passed with a mark over 18/30. Reference texts
- The professor will provide the power-point slides used during classes, and relevant scientific articles in English.
The students are provided of national and international reports (in Italian and English) on the topics covered and of documents of international organizations (UN, UNEP, EU) (mostly in English). Scientific papers.
