Università Roma Tre

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) MEANING AND APPROACH OF THE COURSE. (B) ECOLOGY OF ANIMAL POPULATIONS: STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, REGULATION, AGE CLASSES, SEX-RATIO. (C) ANIMAL POPULATION GROWTH MODELS: EXPONENTIAL MODEL, LOGISTIC MODEL, LOGISTIC MODEL WITH INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION, LOGISTIC MODEL WITH PREDATION. (D) NUMERICAL POPULATION ESTIMATES AND METHODS OF CAPTURE-MARK-RECAPTURE. (D) ECOLOGICAL NICHE: METHODS OF RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS OF DATA; PROBLEMS AND STUDY EXAMPLES OF: TROPHIC NICHE; SPATIAL NICHE; TEMPORAL NICHE; NICHE SIZE AND OVERLAP; INDIVIDUAL SPECIALISATION. (E) HOME RANGE. (F) LOCAL ADAPTATION AND ECOLOGICAL PLASTICITY. (G) ECOLOGY OF ANIMAL COMMUNITIES: INTERSPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS; EXAMPLES OF AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL ANIMAL COMMUNITIES (TAXOCENOSIS AND GUILD); QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODS OF THE STUDY OF ANIMAL COMMUNITIES; ASSEMBLY RULES AND NULL MODELS. NESTEDNESS MODELS, CO-OCCURRENCE, TURNOVER AND MODULARITY. METHODS OF ANALYSIS OF MODELS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE. DIVERSITY, EVENNESS, DOMINANCE, BIOTIC DIVERSITY INDICES, ECOLOGICAL ROLE OF SPECIES AND COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION.
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.