43909 - Conservation of Nature and its Resources (4 Credits)

Course contents

State of the world. Demographic trend of world population. Resource definition, Present state of overexploitation of environmental resources and degradation.

Food resources and availability. The fight to increase the agricultural productivity. Environmental effects of food demand. Consequences of marine fishing.

Water resources. Effect of overexploitation. Pollution of rivers, seas and lakes. Concentration of toxic pollutants thought the food chain. Persistent organic pollutant and radio nuclides. Fresh water eutrophication. Algal flowering, coloured tides and mucilages. Coastal zone, marshes and coral reefs. Functions and problems of the sea. Sea pollution and oil shedding. Consequences of whaling

Not renewable energetic resources and problems with their mining and uses.

Renewable energetic resources and use ways. Not combustibles mine resources and their problems.

Soil resource; type of soils and their distribution. Erosion and desertification.

Air pollution: primary and secondary pollutants; photochemical smog. Greenhouse effect and consequences.

Ozone layer depletion. Sulphuric aerosols. Acid rains.

Agroecosystems: types of agriculture. Traditional and conventional agriculture. Biological agriculture. The hedges. Agricultural methods, use of pesticides and fertilizing products and their environmental effects. Biological fight.

Forests and their effect on the water cycle. Forest types. Natural cycles in tropical lands. Tropical forests: extension, deforestation rate and effects on climate and soil.

Ecological footprint and sustainable development.

Mass extinctions and natural catastrophes. Background extinction. Recent and present extinctions. Extinction and speciation.

Biodiversity: definition, role and importance. Biodiversity levels. Biodiversity index.

Specie richness and area. Abiotic and biotic factors influencing biodiversity. Introduction of foreign species. Global biodiversity. Diversity in tropical forests. Diversity loss in agriculture and zootechny. Biodiversity resources: food, useful and medicinal plants. Beta diversity and plant series.

Biogeography of islands. Island types, islands origins, characteristic of insular flora and fauna. Relict endemisms. Colonization and speciation on the islands. Ecological theory of the island community: immigration and extinction of species. Insularity effects.

Genetic biodiversity of species. Loss of genetic diversity. Problems in small populations. Conservation of population and species; in-situ and ex-situ conservation. Animal species reintroduction and return in Italy.

Red lists of plant and animal (IUCN and WWF). IUCN categories. International authorities for Nature Conservation. Ramsar, Washington, Berna, Bonn and Rio Conventions. UE Directives. Specie and habitats or European community interest. Network "Natura 2000".

Office hours

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