PROGRAM

I. Introductory and general concepts
Main chemical constituents of animals and their meaning: elements, inorganic compounds (water, mineral salts) and organic (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids).
Prokaryotic cell and eukaryotic cell: structure and functions. Mitosis.
Reproduction (agamic and gamic). Meiosis. Hermaphroditism. Generation alternation. Parthenogenesis. Meaning of sexuality. Sexual dimorphism.
Notes on the embryonic and post-embryonic development of animals.
Evolution: theories, mechanisms and tests; Darwinism and synthetic theory.
Species concepts. The typological concept. The biological concept of species, the population as an evolutionary unit.
The mechanisms of speciation (allopatric model, sympatric model).

II. Animals and the environment
Abiotic and biotic factors. Habitat. Concept of population in ecology (growth curves, reproductive strategies, -r and -K selection). Communities (zoocenosis, taxocenosis). Ecosystem. The concept of fauna *.
The interspecific relationships (predation, competition, symbiosis and parasitism, adaptive coloring, mimicry, cryptism) and intraspecific (animal colonies and societies, competition and sexual selection, territory).
The ecological niche. Aquatic environments (marine, inland waters) and terrestrial environments, characteristics and adaptations. The biomes. Notes on zoogeography: general principles, definitions, zoogeographic regions.

III. Animal diversity
The concept of Biodiversity. Animal diversity and its meaning. Principles of Zoological classification, Linnean taxonomic categories.
Systematic ordering at class level, general body organizational plan, biology, ecological role and evolutionary aspects of the "Protozoa" and the following animal phyla: Porifera, Cnidaria, Plathyelminthes (Turbellaria, Trematoda, Cestoda), Nematoda, Mollusca (Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda), Annelida(Polychaeta, Oligochaeta, Irudinea), Arthropoda (Arachnida, Crustacea, Myriapoda, Hexapoda), Echinoderma, Chordata (Urochordata, Cephalochordata). Introduction to Vertebrata.

Part I and II (Introductory and general concepts, Animals and the environment):
1. Hickman C.P. et al., 2008. Fondamenti di Zoologia. McGraw-Hill, Milano.
2. Argano et al., 2007. Zoologia. Evoluzione e adattamento. Monduzzi Editore, Bologna
3. Baccetti et al., 1995. Trattato Italiano di Zoologia, vol. 1. Zanichelli, Bologna.

Part III (Animal diversity)
4. Hickman C.P. et al., 2007. Diversità animale. McGraw-Hill, Milano.
5. Argano R. et al., 2007. Zoologia. Diversità animale. Monduzzi Editore, Bologna.
6. Baccetti B. et al., 1994. Lineamenti di Zoologia sistematica. Zanichelli, Bologna.

* For the Concept of Fauna see La Greca M., 2002. Fauna e ambiente. In: Minelli A. et al. eds, La Fauna in Italia. Touring Editore, Min. Ambiente, pp. 10-16. [the book is available at the Faculty of Agriculture library, Univ. Tuscia]