Guia docente 2023_24 Facultade de Ciencias do Mar

Contents

Topic	Sub-topic
Ecology and environmental crisis	Construction of the sociocultural human niche. The anthropocene. Planetary boundaries. Ecology in an anthropogenic biosphere. Presentation of the subject.
Biogeochemical reactions in the sea	Energy in the ecosystem. Cycles of matter and energy flows. Metabolic diversity of the biosphere. Compartments, mass balances and residence time. Oxygen: distribution and redox gradients. Reactions of the carbon cycle: acidification. Reactions of the nitrogen cycle: eutrophication. Reactions of the phosphorus cycle: dynamics in the water-sediment interphase.
Energy flows and biological production	Primary production. Magnitudes. Control of primary production: efficiency of the photosynthesis, irradiance and nutrients. Hydrodynamic control of primary production: Sverdrup model. spatial and temporal variability of primary production. Secondary production. Efficiencies. Organic matter decomposition and remineralization. Microbial heterotrophic production.
Dynamics of isolated populations	Concept of individual and population. Characteristics of populations. Evolutionary strategies. Fundamental equation of population growth. density independent growth: exponential model. Density independent growth in aged-structured populations: life tables, survival curves, Allen diagrams. Density dependent growth: logistical model. Variations of the logistical model: Time-lag, Allee effect, discrete growth. growth.
Interactions between species	Interspecific competition. Experimental evidences of competition. Competition and ecological niche. Lots and Volterra model of competition. Predation. Functional and numerical responses. Variations of the Lotka and Volterra predation model.
Community structure and function	Concept, assembling and filters. Specific diversity, biodiversity, specific wealth and functional diversity. Equitativity: Abundance distribution models. Diversity indexes. Relation diversity-ecosystem function Diversity in space: spectrums and gradients. Food web topology. Key species and trophic cascades. Top-down vs bottom-up control.
Ecological succession and stability	Temporal changes in the community: succession and fluctuation. Explanatory models of succession. Succession and diversity. Effect of physical perturbations: Intermediate perturbation hypothesis. Succession and energy flow. Diversity-stability hypothesis. Meanings of stability. Concept of resilience: principles for sustaining ecosystem services.
Ecosystem conservation and management	Socio-ecological systems. Ecosystem services: offer and demand. Analysis of interactions and identification of conflicts. Bases of conservation ecology. Resilience-based ecosystem management. Non linear responses and histeresis. Principles for the maintenance of the ecosystem services.