ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The global change is the main driver of the natural environments transformation, acting in a synergistic way with direct impacts produced by the human species, in terms of land claiming for different uses (urbanization and many other exploitation activites). The assessment of these effecs represents an important issue for the implementation of new mitigation and management strategies and claims for the comprehension of the possbile impacts tha the highets hierachical levels of organization, from the communities, to the ecosystems and buiomes. The course deals with the analysis of possible effects of global changes on the higher hierarchical levels, namely community and ecosystem. The focus will be on the description of the expected effects of global changes on the structure of biological communities and how these can interfere with the ecosystem processes and functioning. At the ecosystem level, indeed, we can observe emergent properties that are directly affected by modifications in the lower hierarchical levels, from population to community. The course will offer the scientific background and the analytical tools to cope with this kind of scientific issues. The course will be mainly focused on the marine environment, but conclusions would be easily transferable to any other kind of ecosystems.

Students are expected to develop the capacity to apply a systemic approach to the analysis of the possible effects of climate change to the ecosystem functining and the intedisciplinary approach for coping with complex problems in which the interactions play a fundamental role.

The present course is partially linked with the ‘Biodiversity and gobal changes biology’ course (R. Soukand), of which represents a natural extension and could find a finalization, in applicative terms, in the ‘Integrated management of natural resources’ one (C. Giupponi).

Ecosystem function: the processes that facilitate energy transfer along food webs, and the major processes that allow the cycling of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen.

The mechanisms of change through global warming, including ecosystem processes (primary production, nutrient cycling), ecosystem services, life history strategies, and complementarity (interspecific interactions).

Changes in the community structures: modifications of species composition due to distribution shifts, generally to higher latitudes and/or deeper waters. Meridionalization and tropicalization.

Changes of the abiotic compartment: the example of the ocean acidification.

Assessment of effects of the ecosystem goods and services; case study of the Venice lagoon.

Implications for conservations and management of the marine environments; case study from the fishery world.

None, scientific papers of the specific issues will be used

The final exam consists in the discussion of 3 issues developed during the course, including an issue at the choice of the student, aimed to verify the student capability to apply the studied concepts to specific case studies.

Frontal teaching, multimedia resources and group discussion on specific topics

English

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development