Teacher
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MARCELLI Marco
(syllabus)
The course includes part of theoretical lessons and exercises in the laboratory and in the field, dealing with the topics specified below. Historical notes on the birth of oceanography as a science. Physiographic characteristics of marine environments. Origin and evolution of marine and oceanic waters. The water cycle and the oceans. The chemical composition of sea water, the interaction with the atmosphere, carbon dioxide and the balance of carbonates. The cyclic salts. The physical properties of sea water. The Earth and the solar system. The energy balance of the Earth. The atmosphere and atmospheric circulation. Relations between climate and oceans. Exchanges of energy between the sea and the atmosphere. Energy distribution on the earth's surface. The distribution of the fundamental variables of marine and oceanic water masses. The Coriolis force. Horizontal and vertical movements of water masses, wave motion, sea currents and other dynamic phenomena. Pelagic and benthic organisms. The ecotypological classification of marine organisms. Introduction to marine biology: phytoplankton, zooplankton, necton and benthos. The regulating variables of biological processes and the distribution of organisms. Phytoplankton and primary production. Solar radiation and its ecological significance. Biomass, production and biological productivity. Photosynthesis, production and growth. The environmental regulatory factors of PP. The limiting factors. Gross and net production. Trophic levels, food chains and webs. Trophic transfer efficiencies. Methods of estimating Primary Production at sea. Marine, oceanic and coastal habitats. The zoning of the benthos and the Mediterranean benthic biocoenoses: the classifications of Perès Picard and Riedl. Energy flows and biogeochemical cycles (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, silicon cycles). Energy flow and trophic structure of ecosystems: ecological pyramids and efficiencies. The dynamics of marine ecosystems. Time and dimensional scales. Micro-scale processes: the boundary layer, the vertical structure and the biology of the mixed layer. Meso-scale processes: ecological phenomena associated with upwelling, fronts, tides and internal waves. Macro-scale processes: the ecology of large-scale phenomena (major currents, gyres, eddies). Oceans and Global Change: physical and biological aspects, the role of the "biological pump".
(reference books)
Lecture notes by prof. Marco Marcelli, available on Unitus Moodle (https://moodle.unitus.it).
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