Course program
Elements of biology and biochemistry. Morphological and structural living beings. Protists and their organization level. The composition of living matter. Enzymes as biological catalysts. Environmental microorganisms and their role in the degradation of organic matter. Bacterial metabolism: anabolism and catabolism.
Fundamentals of Ecology. The natural environment: air, land, water. The man-made environment. Ecosystems. Ecological homeostasis. Energy in ecosystems. Food chains. Ecological pyramids. Biogeochemical cycles. Nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and biogenic elements-cycles. Growth laws: tolerance and minimum law. Population. Population dynamics. Communities examples of natural and artificial ecosystems.
Ecotoxicology and Toxicology. Definition. Effects on humans of the most common chemicals. Identification of the pollutant based on physic-chemical properties. Main biotic and abiotic transformation processes and transport of pollutants. Biodegradability, bioaccumulation, bioconcentration, biomagnification. Definition of toxic compounds. Exposure and dose. Concentration-effect curves. Acute and chronic toxicity. Interaction between toxic. Sublethal effects: acute and chronic. The estimates of toxicity.
2 CFU equal to 50 hours of student commitment of which:
• 20 hours between lectures, exercises and seminars;
• 30 hours of individual study.
The terrestrial environment. Pedogenesis. Physical, chemical, mechanical and biological properties of soil. Sources of soil pollution and definition of the levels of contamination. Direct and indirect effects on biotic communities of plants and animals. Main processes of soil self-remediation. Approach to remediation of contaminated soils.
The aquatic environment. Surface water and groundwater. Uses of water. Sources and effects of lentic water. Main self-purification processes in water. Biological, chemical, and physical of the main pollution. Monitoring of water pollution. Measures to control water pollution. Groundwater and their use. Lake pollution: eutrophication. Recovery of eutrophic lakes. Marine pollution. River pollution. Study of river pollution with sack curve.
The ambient air. Vertical temperature gradient. Main sources of anthropogenic and natural pollution. Primary and secondary pollutants. Monitoring of atmospheric air. Air pollution effects. Effects on climate: greenhouse effect refrigerator, UV effect, acid deposition, smog. The direct and indirect effects on biotic communities of plants and animals. Measures to control air quality. Electromagnetic pollution. Normative references. Review of electromagnetism. Main sources of electromagnetism. Low and High-frequency electromagnetic fields.
4 CFU equal to 100 hours of student commitment of which:
• 40 hours between lectures, exercises and seminars;
• 60 hours of individual study.
Prerequisites
For a good learning of the subject, the elementary knowledge of the following disciplines is useful: chemistry, physics, biology and mathematical analysis.
Books
Fenomeni di inquinamento degli ambienti naturali. Principi e metodi di studio.
Author: Boni Maria Rosaria. Publishing house: Carocci. March 2007
Lesson plans and handouts
Frequency
The lessons will take place in the classroom and the student is invited to follow the lessons in order to simplify the study of the matter
Exam mode
The learning objectives achieved by the students will be analyzed organically within the profit exam at the end of the course.
The exam, in which the candidate will be judged based on the knowledge of the course topics, consists of an oral test.
During the oral exam questions will be extracted from the program, the student will have to demonstrate his ability to orient himself independently between the different topics covered during the course.
Lesson mode
The course is divided into lectures, during which the fundamental knowledge is imparted relating to the activities necessary for the study of the phenomena of pollution of natural environments, for their protection and remediation. Specific seminars are organized on topics of particular interest. The basic principles of ecology are also introduced through application examples that allow to evaluate the phenomena related to pollution and analyze the qualitative characteristics of the environment.
