B018899 - WATER ECOSYSTEMS

Italian

Provide knowledge on ecosystems and skill for critical analysis of environmental biotic and abiotic data.Guide-lines on monitoring of water quality and use of indicators.
Methods of sampling and analysis
for aquatic environments

The aim of the course is to give the basicknowledge on aquatic ecosystems.Marine coastal and oceanic waters, transitional waters, catchment basins,features and definitions. Physical, chemical, optical characterization, community, biodiversity, food webs and space-time variability. Planktonic organisms.
Primary and secondary production, assessment and optical remote sensing. Water pollution and man induced alterations. Eutrophication.
EU legislation, index and ecological indicatorsof water quality. Methods.

Courses required: none
Courses recommended: Ecology

Lectures
Laboratory and field practices

Oralexamination

Surface water bodies (marine coastal, neritic, oceanic, transitional and fresh waters) typification, hydrodynamics, space-time variability, communities. Water-atmosphere interactions, light propagation in water. Bio-optical properties of the medium sea. Production, consumption and decomposition of organic matter. Passive and active remote sensing of pelagic resources and estimation of primary production.
Pelagic communities, food webs, seasonal successions, biodiversity.
Water pollution, organic loading, trophic state and eutrophication, algal blooms, HABs. Case studies (Mediterranean Sea, Southern Ocean, Orbetello Lagoon).
Methods of measurements and analysis of environmental factors and biotic components.
Protectionand monitoring of aquatic systems, EU directives, index and indicators of the ecological state.
Laboratory and field activity: measurements of environmental factors, assessment of biological processes, microscope training for taxonomic analysis and quantitative assessment of planktonic organisms.

DELLA CROCE N, CATTANEO-VIETTI R, DANOVARO R., 1997. Ecologia e protezione dell’ambiente marino costiero. UTET, Torino.
TAIT & DIPPER, Elements of Marine Ecology. Butterworths, 1998.
BERTONI R., 2006. Laghi e scienza. Introduzione alla limnologia. Aracne Ed., Milano.
Provini A., Galassi S., Marchetti R., 1998. Ecologia Applicata. CittàStudiEdizioni, Milano.
ISPRA-SIBM,2010. Metodologie di studio del Plancton marino – Manuali e Linee Guida 56/2010.