ECOLOGY OF FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2018/2019
- Teacher
- LUISA GIARI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/07
Training objectives
- Students will gain knowledge and understanding of the structure, functioning and evolution of the main types of inland water ecosystems (lakes, rivers, wetlands), also in the context of management, conservation and restoration programmes. The main objective is to provide chemical, physical, biological and geomorphological basis of freshwater knowledge in order to understand and analyze aquatic ecosystems by taking into account their several abiotic and biotic components and their multiple interactions. Students will acquire both theoretical basis and experimental approaches of the study of lentic and lotic ecosystem to analyze their structure and functioning also in relation to human alterations and with the aim of proposing restoration actions and sustainable management solutions.
Prerequisites
- No preliminary course is required but the students must have adequate knowledge of the main ecological theories and basic notions of chemistry, physics, microbiology and zoology.
Course programme
- Introduction to freshwater ecology (definitions, terminology), history of limnology in Italy and in the word
Water properties and hydrogeological cycle
Watershed as the unit for managing water resources
Lakes: origin and evolution, morphology of the lake basin, optical properties (irradiance and transparency), thermal properties (seasonal changes in water temperature, thermal balance, meromitic state), water movements, chemical properties of lake waters (oxygen, inorganic carbon, ionic spectrum, organic matter, suspended solids), nutrient cycles (nitrogen, phosphorus, silica), transfer of matter and energy (primary production, metabolism), trophic state, pelagic and benthic components of the lake biotic community and their interactions, anthropogenic pressures on lentic ecosystems, examples of water quality alterations (eutrophication, acidification) and Italian cases of lake restoration, sampling methods of lakes, monitoring of the lake quality in Italy
Rivers: morphology of lotic ecosystems and notes of river hydrology (watershed, hierarchy of the hydrographic network, hydrological regime, erosion, river transport), abiotic factors (current, flow, substrate, temperature), chemical properties (oxygen, carbon, nutrients, substance organic), multi-dimensional vision of lotic ecosystems: longitudinal (River Continuum Concept), lateral (Flood Pulse Concept), vertical (interaction with groundwater) and temporal (seasonal cycles, evolution), energy flow, organic matter processing and nutrient dynamics (Nutrient spiralling), main biotic components, zonation of running water organisms and their adaptations, anthropogenic pressures (exploitation of water resources, morphological, hydrological, biological and chemical alterations, consequences of climate change), sampling methods (example of Lagrangian sampling approach), monitoring of the quality of lotic environments in Italy, Italian cases of river restoration and integrated river basin management
Main techniques and experimental approaches for the estimation of benthic metabolism in aquatic environments: sediment sampling, laboratory and in situ incubations for the measurement of water-sediment exchanges of gases and nutrients and for the estimation of the potential microbial activity, measurement of primary production and air-water gas exchanges in macrophyte stands, metabolism estimations at the scale of whole-systems (e.g. wetlands, river or canal reaches) Didactic methods
- The course consists of lectures for a total of 48 hours of teaching (6 CFU). Lessons are held weekly through the use of Power-point slides.
Learning assessment procedures
- Students will have the possibility to take the exam either as written or oral examination. The written test consists of 18 multiple choice questions and 3 open questions. The estimated time for the test is 1 hour. The final score is calculated according to the following criteria: 1 point for each multiple choice question and maximum 5 points for each open question. The total is then corrected by the maximum number of points and the mark is given from 0 to 30. The oral examination consists of 3 questions, one of which is related to a topic chosen by the student. The answers to open questions are evaluated both for the content and the pertinence of scientific language. The exam is passed with a mark over 18/30.
Reference texts
- Bertoni. 2006. Laghi e scienza. Introduzione alla limnologia. Aracne Editrice
Fenoglio S., T. Bo. 2009. Lineamenti di ecologia fluviale. Edizioni Città Studi.
Bettinetti, Crosa, Galassi. 2007. Ecologia delle acque interne. Edizioni Città Studi
The teacher provides the Power-point slides presented and discussed during the lessons and suggests e.books and scientific papers available online.
