OVERVIEW

The environment influences organisms profoundly. It affects their present-day ecology (determining where they live and how many can survive there) and, through natural selection acting over past generations, influences their form and adaptations. Present day human-induced changes to the environment are also responsible for endangering species and even driving them to extinction. This course introduces the basic principles and the applications of ecology at different levels of ecosystems (i.e. individual-, population-, community-, ecosystem-, regional and global scales). The ecological theories will be illustrated with examples in order to enable better understanding of the links between the environment and organisms as well as the biological interactions and human-induced threats at each level of ecological organisation. The present course will be concluded with the introduction of biodiversity management, i.e. conservation, restoration and sustaining biodiversity, global ecological crisis, and the economical and socio-political dimensions of nature and environmental management.

COURSE CONTENT

1.Introduction: the science of ecology
2.Human and nature
3.Biodiversity crisis
4.Ecological applications at the level of individual organisms
i.Niche theory
ii.Life-history theory
iii.Dispersal, migration and management
5.Ecological applications at the level of populations
i.Conservation of endangered species
ii.Pest management
iii.Harvest management
6.Ecological applications at the level of communities and ecosystems
i.Succession and management
ii.Food webs
iii.Ecosystems theory s
7.Ecological applications at regional and global scales
i.Landscape management
ii.Global climate change