The course aims to provide solid basic knowledge on the structure and functioning of environmental systems, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms that determine both the distribution and abundance of organisms and their relationships with the environment. The course aims to enhance the hierarchical and interdisciplinary nature of ecology with the aim of stimulating students to deal with complex and multi-scalar disciplines and problems. This objective is reflected in the organization of the program that runs along the hierarchical scale of the ecological organization, from the mechanisms underlying the genesis of biodiversity (evolutionary ecology), passing through the relationships between organisms and species (population ecology) up to the structure and the functioning of biological communities (community ecology).
The course will provide the basis for further specialist studies in the fields of ecosystem and applied ecology, biological evolution, conservation of biodiversity and sustainable environmental management.