General Ecology

Code:

B140

Acronym:

B140

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Biology

Instance: 2013/2014 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Biology
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Landscape Architecture

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
L:AP	28	Planos de estudos a partir 2009	1	-	5	49	135

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Understand the basic concepts in the field of ecology and acquire the capacity to use them to interpret and act on a real world context.

Learning outcomes and competences

Correctly interpret several ecological situations the student may come across.

Working method

Presencial

Program

A - THEORETICAL PROGRAM

I – Introduction
Ecology: meaning, terminology and scope. Multidisciplinarity.
The development of Ecology. Importance of ecological studies.
General organization of the Biosphere: spatial and trophic structure.

II – The ecosystem
Components of ecological systems: abiotic and biotic components. Ecotypes. Regulating factors: temperature, photoperiod, water, atmospheric gases, biogenic salts. The water cycle.
Biological control of the chemical environment. Organic matter decomposition. Matter recirculation in ecosystems.


III – Ecosystem functioning
The nature of energy. Energy and materials. Flow of energy in different ecosystems. Primary production and environmental controls on primary production. Pattern of world distribution of primary productivity.
Secondary production.
Food chains and trophic levels. Major food chains. Ecological pyramids.
Energy budget. Ecological efficiencies.

IV – Biogeochemical cycles
The basic types of biogeochemical cycles.
Major biogeochemical cycles: the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle.

V- Populations. Density, natality, mortality, migration. Population growth. Life tables. Age structure. Survival curves.
Species interactions: neutralism, protocooperation, mutualism, comensalism, coevolution. Competition (intra and inter specific).The Lotka-Volterra model. The Tilman model. Predation.
Metapopulations: concepts and aplications.

VI - Communities. Taxocenosis and guild. Properties: species composition, diversity, dominance, equitability, growth. Similarity of communities. Classification of communities.
Biodiversity. Species richness. Statistical distributions (log-normal, broken stick), diversity indexes (Shannon-Weaver and Simpson). Geographic patterns. Latitudinal gradient theory. Islands biogeography. Ecological niche.
Influence of competition and predation on the structure of communities.
Ecological sucession. Primary and secondary sucession. Seral communities and climax communities.

VII - Ecosystems. Stability, constancy, resilience, resistence, persistence. The intermediate disturbance theory. r and K strategies. 9 keys to understand ecosystems: interactions; matter and energy flows; dinamics; diversity; space and time ocupation; relations between physico-chemical factors and biological factors; ecosystem evolution; ecosystem interactions.
Life strategies.


VIII – Biomes
Main characteristics of major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the world.

B - PRACTICAL PROGRAM
- Sampling strategies in ecology;
- Population density determination: capture per unit effort; capture-recapture methods.
- Modal progression analysis: Battacharya method.
- Life tables analysis
- Methods for studying communities: similarity, dendrograms.
- Visualisation of documentaries about several biomes of the world. Discussion and comentary.

Mandatory literature

Molles, M.; Ecology: concepts and applications, McGraw-Hill, 1999
Krebs, C.J.; Ecology - The experimental analysis of distribution and abundance, Harper International Edition, 1978
Lévêque, C.; Ecologia: do ecossistema à biosfera, Instituto Piaget, Colecção Perspectivas Ecológicas, nº 36, 2001
Smith, R. L. & Smith, T.M; Ecology & field biology, Benjamin Cummings, 2001
Frontier, S.; Os ecossistemas, Instituto Piaget, Colecção Perspectivas Ecológicas, nº 32, 2001

Complementary Bibliography

Ramade, F.; Élements d’écologie - Écologie Appliquée, Ediscience International, 1992
Motta Pinto-Coelho,R.; Fundamentos em ecologia, Artmed Editora, Lda. Porto Alegre, Brasil, 2002
Dajoz, R.; Précis d'écologie, Dunod, Paris, 1996

Teaching methods and learning activities

PowerPoint projections on the subjects of the discipline.
Film projection about several themes of the discipline.
Case studies discussion.
Problem solving.

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

According to existing legislation.

Calculation formula of final grade

The classification of the final exam.

Examinations or Special Assignments

None.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

None.

Classification improvement

According to existing legislation.