ECTS credits ECTS credits: 4.5
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 74.25 Hours of tutorials: 2.25 Expository Class: 18 Interactive Classroom: 18 Total: 112.5
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Functional Biology
Areas: Ecology
Center Higher Polytechnic Engineering School
Call: Second Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable
To show students the concept of biological diversity and the techniques and tactics applicable in the field of conservation and recovery of ecosystems and species.
Biodiveristy. concept and measures. Introduction to biological diversity conservation. Landscape environmental management: an ecological perspective. Management of natural areas: basic concepts and strategies. Ecological restoration introduction.
THEORETICAL PROGRAMME OF NATURAL ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT
CONTENTS
Unit 0. Why to conserve? The philosophical framework. How to conserve? The scientific framework.
Block I: Biodiversity
Unit 1. The value of biodiversity. Direct and indirect values. Values of consumer and non-consumer use. Monetary values.
Unit 2. Biodiversity: Definition. Components: genes, species, ecosystems. The origin of biological diversity. Distribution of diversity in the biosphere. Vavilov centres.
Unit 3. Qualities of diversity. Endemism and rarities: definition and characteristics. Types and causes of rarities. Indexes of rarities. Application to the selection of species and zones of interest for conservation.
Unit 4. Measurement of ecological diversity. Characteristics of the statistics. Indexes of richness, distribution, abundance and dominance. Choice of a good descriptor. (
Unit 5. The ecosystem as an integrating element. Diversity-structure relations and function of the ecosystem. The importance of the functional groups. Concept of biological or ecological integrity.
Block II. Environment disturbance
Unit 6. Threats for biodiversity. Human population and resources. Disturbance and overexploitation of the environment. World situation: environmental indicators of pressure and disturbance. The sustainable human development.
Unit 7. Management of the forest system. Impact in the ecosystem at a functional (cycles) and structural (diversity) level. Use of indicators of ecological integrity. Spatial impact: Galician forest plan and Spanish forest strategy. Models of sustainable management, FSC and PEFC.
Unit 8. Impact on the river ecosystem: characteristics and benefits. The autonomous and national hydrologic plan. Directive on E.U. waters. Models of sustainable management.
Unit 9. Fragmentation of the territory. Analysis of landscape modification. Land reallocation. Sustainable models of the agricultural space use.
Unit 10. Assessment of pollution. Concept of pollution. Use of life systems as indicators: bioindication and biomonitoring. Background levels. Examples: eutrophication, pollution by heavy metals and by biocides.
Unit 11. Disturbance consequences. Extinctions: historic evolution. The role of species and the ecosystem in the process of extinction: key species, cascade effect and critical ecosystems. Red lists.
Unit 12. Introduction to conservation. In-situ and ex-situ conservation. Integral management. Natural resources and social structures. Levels of management: political-administrative, socioeconomic, biological environment. Ecosystemic management of the environment.
Block III. Environment global management
Species conservation and population viability
Unit 13. Introduction. Landscapeecology and conservationbiology . Historic development and field of application. Current tendencies: conservation ecology.
Unit 14. Conservation and spatial structure of the landscape I: The landscape: definition, formation, characteristics and functioning principles. Elements: stain, matrix, corridor, networks.
Unit 15. Conservation and landscape II: Stains and corridors. Shape and size: border effect. Interaction between stains and corridors: indexes. Implications for conservation. Structure of landscape and conservation: the net size. Examples.
Unit 16. Island theory. Species/area relationships. Hypothesis of balance. The design of natural reserves: selection of size, shape and spatial structure.
Block IV. Present management of biological diversity
Unit 17. International treaties and European programmes about conservation. Foundations and derived conservation plans and strategies. . Directives on Birds and Habitats. Red Natura 2000. Management tools: PORN, PRUG
PRACTICAL PROGRAMME
Whereas the theoretical programme means the analysis of the subject matter, the practical programme must imply the synthesis of the analysis done in the theoretical programme. That is, to condense and to direct, tending towards the analysis and critical and scientific manipulation of the surrounding reality, in order to facilitate its practical use.
We will try to get this objective by means of 3 trips of practices (compulsory), class exercises (compulsory) and a subject practice (compulsory).
PRACTICE TRIPS
I. Field visit to a Natural Park in Galicia with two objectives:
1. To know the natural values of our country.
2. A real confirmation of the present management of our Natural Parks. Measures and strategies of daily management, as well as the problems of their establishment.
DEPARTMENT PRACTICES
Introduction to the Landscape Ecology
The objective of this practice is to introduce students in the use of the Indexes of Landscape Ecology, applied to the spatial assessment of a territory, with the objective of determining its conservation capacity. The students will get familiar with the carrying out of thematic cartography, use of bibliographic references about the distribution of species in Galicia, using red lists and the Directive Birds and Habitat.
CLASS EXERCISES AND ADDITIONAL READINGS
As complement to the purely theoretical units, along the academic year magisterial classes will go with exercises related with the different units, so that the student can reach a minimum habit of bibliographic consultation, systematization of information and public presentation . It will be also provided a series of scientific articles (Additional Readings) that will help you to immerse in some units.
•Básica
La diversidad de la vida. Wilson, 2001.
Introducción a la biología de la conservación. Primack, 2002.
Measuring biological diversity, Anne E. Magurran, 2008.
Ecología de Paisaje. Burel e Baundry, 2011
Biodiversity. An Introduction, Gaston e Spicer1998
Complementaria
Ecología Insular. Fernández-Palacios, 2004.
Gestión de espacios naturales. Azqueta e Pérez, 1996.
Conservation Science and Action. Sutherland,1998
Students will have to be able to use indicators that allow them to establish minimum criteria for the conservation of species and to design basic strategies in the restoration of degrading ecosystems.
Specifically they will have to have the capacity of:
- Assessment of the structure of a territory from the point of view of the species conservation.
- Assessment of the effects of the human activities in the conservation/disturbance of the biologic diversity.
- Basic knowledge for the land use planning in the field of conservation: landscape and protected areas.
Magisterial classes
Exercises/ work in class
Oral presentation of the pieces of work
Subject piece of work as a cooperative work in group and under service/learning
For the final mark we will take into account the marks got in the class exercises, practice piece of work and the final exam, in the proportion 20:40:40.
TO OBTAIN THE FINAL PASSING MARK IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO PASS INDEPENDENTLY THE CLASS EXERCISES, THE PRACTICE PIECE OF WORK AND THE EXAM. FIELD TRIP IS MANDATORY TO PASS. SAME CONDITIONS FOR FIRST AND SECOND OPPORTUNITY, NO ACADEMIC EXCEPTION.
“The essence of a person who wants the other learns is to force him/her to think, no more.” (In GROS and ROMAÑA, 1995).
In any teaching treatise it is recognised that:
“The university teachers would have to teach students to think, more than confining to transmit a piece of information”.
In the preceding paragraphs it is drawn a fundamental line that this teacher is going to follow when assessing the effort done during the academic year, that is, both in the exam assessment, and in the department practical pieces of work, as well as the class exercises and oral presentations, the teacher will always tend to appreciate (always at your disposal) the reasoning capacity and the personal contribution, and not so much the degree of memorizing and /or automatic repetition.
In any writing test, it will be assessed (we repeat) the personal contribution, the capacity of professional expression, reasoning logic, relation of theoretical concepts and its application… so that the capacity of memorizing will not be basic, and the wrong use of fundamental concepts of Management and Ecology will count negatively.
The detection of PLAGIARISM (to copy) will mean the TOTAL and IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION (zero, that is) until the September’s call.
As the logic sequence to the previously presented design, next you have the rules that you have to follow in the process of exams assessment:
Rules to review the exams and the pieces of work
1. They will only be discussed the contents submitted in writing and /or the piece of work.
2. We will never come to discuss about personal questions.
3. Theory and pieces of work/exercises are independent and with the same importance in the reference to their fulfilment and assessment.
4. June and July have two unique calls, which end definitively the day assigned to do the exam and /or to submit the pieces of work.
The person, who only submits the exam or the practical piece of work, will have the mark of fail in the corresponding call.
SUBJECT PIECE OF WORK: 35 HOURS
CLASS EXERCISES: 10 HOURS
READINGS: 10 HOURS
STUDY OF THE SUBJECT: 25 HOURS
1. Attendance to class
2. Fulfilment of the class exercises
3. Reading of articles
4. Use of tutorials
“The best way of learning is to teach, the best way of teaching is to continue learning, and what counts in the end is to share an experience and to reflect together”. (Oppenheimer/Delacòte, 1998)
We are always complaining about the overcrowding in university teaching and its impersonal character. Well then, the use of tutorials by the students means an opportunity to break with this teacher/student relationship (anti-relationship).
Tutorials (6 hours a week) mean a meeting point where the student can solve his/her doubts of orientation in the study of the subject, etc, and for the teacher in this case, to indicate what part of the subject establishes most of the comprehension difficulties for the student of the contents dealt in class.
Tutorials must be used along the academic year, as clarification of doubts, etc, and not two days before the written tests, since the purpose of this time dedicated to students is not to impart private classes of the subject.
Emilio V. Carral Vilariño
- Department
- Functional Biology
- Area
- Ecology
- emilio.carral [at] usc.gal
- Category
- Professor: University Lecturer