Università Roma Tre

Cultural skills (Knowledge of:) The course offers the conceptual bases for (A) understanding the bases of population ecology (B) understanding the community ecology (C) understanding the behavioural ecology (D) understanding the macroecology (E) an evolutionary approach to the study of animal ecology.
Methodological skills (Knowing how to perform:) acquire the critical thinking through readings and discussions, in order to correctly evaluate a research hypothesis, choose research tools and interpret results.

SYLLABUS
THE COURSE CONSISTS OF A PRELIMINARY MODULE OF LESSONS AND ONE OR TWO FINAL RESIDENTIAL STAGES IN A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING BOTH THEORETICAL LESSONS AND SEVERAL FIELD PRACTICES CONCERNING ASPECTS OF POPULATION AND COMMUNITY ECOLOGY, HABITAT PREFERENCE AND RESOURCE PARTITIONING BY THE SPECIES.
THE PRELIMINARY MODULE IS DEVOTED TO STUDY THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS: (a) STRUCTURAL LEVELS OF ANIMAL DIVERSITY. (a) ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS TO THE ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BIOMES. (b) ANIMAL COMMUNITY ECOLOGY: INTRA- AND INTER-SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS; EXAMPLES OF ANIMAL COMMUNITIES OF AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL HABITATS; QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVES METHODS FOR ANALYSING ANIMAL COMMUNITY; DIVERSITY, EVENESS AND DOMINANCE, INDICES; (c) ANIMAL POPULATION ECOLOGY: STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, REGULATION, AGE CLASSES, SEX-RATIO; ESTIMATION OF POPULATIONS SIZE AND DENSITY, CAPTURE AND RECAPTURE METHODS; (d) AUTOECOLOGY: RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA ANALYSES; DEFINITION OF ECOLOGICAL NICHE AND STUDY CASES: REPRODUCTIVE, TROPHIC, SPATIAL (HOME RANGE, TERRITORY), TEMPORAL (PHENOLOGY, LYFE CYCLES), NICHES.
THE COURSE PROVIDES, IN ADDITION TO THE RESIDENTIAL STAGE (CA. 6 HOURS A DAY OF PRACTICES IN NATURE AND 2 HOURS A DAY OF LECTURES), ALSO 2-3 EXERCISES IN NATURE OF A SINGLE DAY, INTERVALED TO THE FRONTAL LESSONS IN THE FIRST MODULE.

NOTES AND POWER POINTS ARE PROVIDED BY THE TEACHER. THE FOLLOWING TEXTBOOKS HELP TO STUDY SOME ASPECTS OF THE PROGRAMME:
- RICKLEFS R.E., 1997. ECOLOGIA. ZANICHELLI;
- BOITANI L. & FULLER T.K. (EDS.), 2000. RESEARCH TECHNIQUES IN ANIMAL ECOLOGY. CONTROVERSIES AND CONSEQUENCES. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, N.Y.;
- KREBS J.R. & DAVIES N.B., 2002. ECOLOGIA E COMPORTAMENTO ANIMALE. BOLLATI BORINGHIERI;
- GOTELLI, N.J. AND A.M. ELLISON. 2004. A PRIMER OF ECOLOGICAL STATISTICS. SINAUER ASSOCIATES, INC., SUNDERLAND, MA.;
- GOTELLI, N.J. 2008. A PRIMER OF ECOLOGY. 4TH EDITION. SINAUER ASSOCIATES, INC., SUNDERLAND, MA.
- HENDERSON, P.A. 2003. PRACTICAL METHODS IN ECOLOGY. BLACKWELL SCIENCE LTD


Students are provided with a document that lists for each lesson topic which textbook and which chapters are most relevant for the study, and for each topic it lists recent scientific papers for further study. Students are also provided with PDFs of lessons and of scientific papers suggested.