Basic Ecology

The course is aimed to gain the basic knowledge about objective, history, regularities, principles and methods of ecology; evolution of ecosphere and anthropogenesis; environmental factors and their impact on biota; niches; regularities, structure and dynamics of populations; diversity, succession, stability and biogenic balance of ecosystems; the main cycles of biogeochemical circulation; the main local.

To gain the knowledge on the main concepts, regularities and principles of ecology.

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1. Concept objective, history, methods of ecology. 2. The concept of ecosphere, factors that determine the evolution of the ecosphere, geochronology; eras of evolution, periods, stages of life development. 3. Influence of environmental conditions on the evolution of life and Homo sapiens (anthropogenesis). 4. Concept and specific features of the environment, environmental factors and their impact to alive organisms. 5. Adaptation of biota to changeable environment, ecological niche. 6. Conception, internal structure, abundance, density; dynamics of populations. Relations between individuals inside population. 7. Regularities of human population growth and its impact on environment. Relationships between the populations of different species. 8. Competition. Competitive exclusion and niches. Mathematical and laboratory models. Competition and niches. Exploitative interactions. Exploitation and abundance. Dynamics. Refuges. Mutualism. Evolution of mutualism. 9. Species abundance and diversity. Environmental complexity. Disturbance and diversity. 10. Interaction between species and community structure. Food webs. Indirect interactions. Keystone species. 11. Primary production and energy flows. Primary production in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Consumer influence. Trophic levels. 12. Succession and stability. Community and ecosystem changes during succession. Mechanisms of succession. Community and ecosystem stability. 13. Nutrient cycling: importance, sources, and flows. Decomposition rate. Organisms and nutrients. Disturbances and nutrients. 14. All selected homework topics

1. The concept of ecological science, objects, development of branch classification and research methods are described. 2. Characterized stages of ecosphere evolution and life development, evolution of Homo sapiens due to changes in habitat conditions. 3. The concept of living environment of organisms, components, environmental factors, their diversity, tolerance of organisms to the effects of environmental factors, methods of adaptation, ecological niche are described. 4. The concept, structure, dynamics of the population, regularities of population growth are described. 5. Interactions between individuals and between species are explained; population dynamics and models. 6. Community and ecosystem concepts, structure, primary production and energy flows, time dynamics and determinants of stability are described. 7. The cycles of the main nutrients and the factors determining their retention are explained. 8. Written work and presentation of homework assignments in a suitable form, sufficiently generalized, clear and well organized.