Environmental Sciences

Module 1 (10 hours) Ecological factors and distribution of terrestrial plants: ecological factor concept, climate, bioclimate, climate factors, climate diagrams, bioclimatic indices; Raunkiaer biological forms; the relationship between abiotic ecological factors (light, CO2, water, temperature, nutrients) and functional status of plants. Module 2 (10 hrs.) Interaction between plants and abiotic stressors: concept of environmental stress; plant response strategies to stressors: acclimation, adaptation, phenotypic plasticity; Grime's C-S-R model; main abiotic stressors (water stress, salt stress, temperature stress, flooding, pollutants) and their impact on plants. Module 3 (10 hours) Plant biotic interactions: the relationship between plants and microorganisms: symbiosis, competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism; negative plant-pathogen interactions: structural, chemical, and elicited defenses; positive plant-microorganism interactions: mycorrhizae; nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Module 4 (10 hours) Role of plants in the mitigation of environmental impacts: use of plants to offset greenhouse gas emissions: carbon sequestration and storage; forestation as a climate change mitigation tool; plants and air quality improvement; use of plants for environmental remediation and decontamination. Module 5 (20 hours): Educational excursion

Basic knowledge of Botany and Ecology acquired during the first years of the course of study.

Sanità di Toppi L., Interazioni piante-ambiente (2018), Piccin Gratani L., Appunti di Ecologia Vegetale (2015) Aracne Editrice Pignatti S., Ecologia Vegetale, 2000, UTET Lecture notes and scientific articles on specific topics provided by the lecturer

While attendance is optional, it is encouraged because in the classroom students are actively involved in critical discussion of the topics covered, in addition, to emphasize the connections between the various parts of the program, there are continuous cross-references throughout each lecture to topics covered in previous lectures.

Interview on the topics covered in class aimed at evaluating their understanding as well as the judgment and critical analysis skills of the student.

Lesson PDFs are available to students. For some of the topics covered in class, the teacher can also provide didactic material (lecture notes), and scientific and informative material. The material is made available in a Google Drive folder that the teacher shares with the students enrolled in the course, both attending and not attending.

The course is delivered traditionally through classroom lectures delivered via projected slides. In the course of the lectures, students learn the fundamental knowledge of the discipline and the elements to make critical assessments of the functioning of individual species and/or plant communities in relation to the characteristics of the environment. Teaching also includes field activities organized in such a way as to reinforce the achievement of the teaching objectives. Both classroom and field lectures are conducted with a focus on interactive dialogue between lecturer and students.