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 activities). The assessment of these effects represents an important issue for the implementation of new mitigation and management strategies and claims for the comprehension of the possible impacts on the highest hierarchical levels of organization, from the communities, to the ecosystems and biomes. 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 on the ecosystem functioning, and an interdisciplinary approach for coping with complex problems in which the interactions play a fundamental role.

The present course is partially linked with the ‘Biodiversity and global change’ course (R. Soukand), of which represents a natural extension.

- Systems thinking: systems, ecosystems and social-ecological systems
- Dynamics of ecosystems: ecological succession and ecosystem development, disturbance, resilience
- Ecosystem function: the processes that facilitate energy and matter transfer across the compartments of the ecosystem
- Drivers of change: climate change and other direct and indirect drivers of change of global importance (welcome to the Anthropocene)
- Impacts on ecosystems: impacts on ecosystem processes (primary production, nutrient cycling), life history strategies, interspecific interactions and changes in the community structures
- Impacts on ecosystem services: how the impacts on ecosystems become impacts on our society
- Perspectives for a sustainable future: can we achieve a transformative change?
- Presentation of case studies

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