Teacher
|
CIMMARUTA Roberta
(syllabus)
• NATURE, RESOURCES, BIODIVERSITY: definitions, general considerations, objectives and purposes of conservation. The three levels of organization of biodiversity. Evil Quartet and its role in the extinction process. • BIODIVERSITY AT POPULATION LEVEL 1) Diversity at the genetic level: basics of population genetics; The importance of genetic variability; The evolutionary forces that create genetic variability (mutation, gene flow, selection, genetic drift); Loss of genetic variability and conservation issues (effective population size, inbreeding and outbringing depression, bottleneck, “Red Queen” hypothesis, genetic erosion) 2) Diversity at population level: Outline of demography and population dynamics; Minimum Viable Population (MVP); Vortex of extinction; Paradigms of small populations and declining populations • BIODIVERSITY AT SPECIES LEVEL: The problem of extinctions; Red Lists (IUCN); "In-situ" and "ex-situ" conservation strategies (reintroductions, restocking, etc.) •BIODIVERSITY AT COMMUNITY LEVEL: Protected areas (design, management, purposes, problems); Framework law on protected areas 394/91; “Habitats” Directive 92/43/EEC - Natura 2000 Network; Ecological networks and biotic corridors
(reference books)
R.B. Primack, L. Boitani “Biologia della conservazione” Ed. Zanichelli
|