546-0495/02 – Engineering Ecology (IEK)
| Gurantor department | Department of Environmental Engineering | Credits | 5 |
| Subject guarantor | doc. Ing. Barbara Stalmachová, CSc. | Subject version guarantor | doc. Ing. Barbara Stalmachová, CSc. |
| Study level | undergraduate or graduate | Requirement | Compulsory |
| Year | 1 | Semester | winter |
| | Study language | Czech |
| Year of introduction | 2013/2014 | Year of cancellation | 2024/2025 |
| Intended for the faculties | HGF | Intended for study types | Follow-up Master, Master |
Subject aims expressed by acquired skills and competences
Engineering Ecology disseminates till now obtained knowledge (in the bachelor
study). Students must know and understand ecological processes in ecosystems and their components.The study of Ecology will be linked with ecological physiology, evolutionary ecology and biosystematics. Applications and argumentations. Determination of CR flora.
Teaching methods
Lectures
Tutorials
Experimental work in labs
Terrain work
Field data collection
Summary
Production ecology. Principles and processes of photosynthesis. Plant and environment. Fitness. Autecology and synecology. Human ecology.
Compulsory literature:
BEGON M.,HARPER J.L.,TOWNSEND C.R.: Ecology -individuals, populations and commnunities. Blackwell Scien. Publ., 2006.
BROWER J., VON ENDE C.N. Field and laboratory methods for general ecology. McGraw-Hill. 2010.
PARDO S., PARDO M. Statistical Methods for Field and Laboratory Studies in Behavioral Ecology. Chapman & Hall/CRC Applied Environmental Statistics. 2018.
SMITH R.L., SMITH T.M. Elements of Ecology. Pearson. 2015.
Recommended literature:
LARCHER, W. Physiological plant ecology. Berlin: Springer, 2003
KREBS C.J. Ecological Methodology. 2nd Edition. Addison Wesley Longman, Menlo Park etc. 1999.
RICKLEFS R. Ecology: The Economy of Nature. WH Freeman. 2018.
GLIESSMAN S.R. Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems. CRC Press. 2015.
Additional study materials
Way of continuous check of knowledge in the course of semester
Credit and Exam
examination papers, semetral paper, determination of Flora CR
E-learning
Other requirements
The elaboration of Semester paper and its presentation.
Prerequisities
Subject has no prerequisities.
Co-requisities
Subject has no co-requisities.
Subject syllabus:
1. Ecosystem, definition, components, properties, changes over time; basic concepts and examples. Food links, trophic chains and networks, regulation.
2. Cycles of substances, biogeochemical cycles, methods of studying the balance of mineral nutrients and their cycle in the ecosystem. Nutrient recovery in ecosystems, the key role of decomposition. Energy flows, ecosystem productivity, information transfer, regulation.
3. Ecosystem dynamics, ecosystem activity. Limiting factors, minimum and tolerance laws, ecological niche.
4. Radiation - modification of solar radiation, adaptation of plants to radiation, heat balance, plant temperatures, adaptation of plants to temperature, methods of studying abiotic components of the ecosystem - radiation, temperature, air humidity, precipitation, heat balance.
5. Atmosphere, pollution, effects of pollution on plants and communities.
6. Hydrological cycle, small and large water cycle, consequences of cycle disturbance by deforestation, regulation of flows and influence of dam bodies. Nutrient balance in aquatic communities, cycle of C, N, S, P, Fe, Mn in the aquatic environment, importance of aerobic and anaerobic processes
7. Pedosphere - importance of plants for soil formation, influence of relief on soil formation, dependence of plants on soil chemistry, principles of soil research, physical factors, chemical factors, foreign and harmful substances in soil.
8. Community structure: communities and their components; relative abundance; food webs; community arrangement; ecotone; competition and its influence on the development of the structure of communities; planar dynamics; saturated vs. unsaturated communities. Metasociety.
9. Development of communities; types and models of succession; primary vs. secondary succession, causes, structural and energetic changes during succession; climax; convergence/divergence of communities; coevolution, community structure, ecological pyramids, trophic levels
10. Species diversity vs. diversity; environmental heterogeneity; alpha-, (beta-), gamma- diversity; diversity and production, competition and environmental variability, disturbance; "species-area" dependence; Rapoport's rule, theory of island biogeography; island phenomena.
11. Bioindication, biomonitoring, phenology. Principles of biodiagnosis, bioindication, ecological monitoring, methods of bioindication, methods of ecotoxicology.
12. Man and the environment. Climatic adaptation - influence of air temperature and humidity, air composition and radiation. Cultural aspects of climate adaptation. Man and biotic environmental factors. Ecopathology. Health risks in developed countries.
13. Classification of ecosystems with human participation. Types of ecosystems, forms of management, energy aspects of human ecosystems. Problems of urbanization. Synanthropization and synurbanization of plants and animals. Ecosystem services.
Conditions for subject completion
Occurrence in study plans
Occurrence in special blocks
Assessment of instruction