ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY

博士前期課程地球環境学研究科

MGGE7820

コース情報

担当教員: 田中嘉成

単位数: 2

年度: 2024

学期: 春学期

曜限: 火3

形式: 対面授業+オンライン授業(オンデマンド授業,同時双方向型授業(Zoomなど)) /Alternating face-to-face & A

レベル: 600

アクティブラーニング: あり

他学部履修: 可

評価方法

リアクションペーパー

60%

レポート

40%

詳細情報

概要

This course outlines fundamental principles and applications of ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation biology. Those subjects are essential for identifying the driving forces of the biodiversity loss and the ecosystem degradation and for deriving relevant solutions of the issues that are caused by them. The protection of endangered species, the invasion of exotic species, and ecosystem changes by the global warming and the eutrophication will be treated as up-to-date environmental issues, whereas the ecological and evolutionary principles behind these phenomena are focused on.

目標

The aim of this course is to acquire basic knowledge and understanding on ecology and conservation biology, which are needed to look at various environmental problems associated with the loss of biodiversity and perturbations of ecosystems from the scientific viewpoint. Students are expected to understand how separate phenomena causing different environmental issues are related to each other in the underlying processes that ecology and other environmental sciences have elucidated.

授業外の学習

A question (quiz) for reaction paper is given every class. Students are required to write their answers as Word files (the maximum word count is 400) and submit them to Moodle in a week. For active learning all participants are divided into several groups for collaborative work. All groups are given a question concerning the lecture content and are required to work out appropriate solution. The students must finally submit a report individually based on their survey (the maximum word count is 800).

所要時間: The participants are expected to spend about 190 minutes for preview and review of each class.

スケジュール

"The crisis of biodiversity and ecosystems" Introduction of species concept; estimation of extinction risk based on area-species relationship; the 6 th mass extinction. (Subject study) Arrangement of groups for active learning
"Demography of wild life" Introduction to basic population ecology; Logistic equation; "The limit of growth" and the concept of carrying capacity.
"Ecosystem structure and functions sustained by ecological interactions" Basics of community and ecosystem ecology; the definition of ecological stability and the factors driving perturbation; introduction to ecosystem function and its relation to biodiversity (Subject study) Discussion on the given study question with group members
"Food webs and the stability of ecosystems" Introduction to food web theory in ecology; the factors that govern their stability; the concept of ecological resilience
"Eutrophication of lakes and the ecosystem health" Mechanistic explanation on the eutrophication of wetlands and its environmental issues
"The regime shift of ecosystems and the planetary boundary" Interaction between driving factors in complex systems leading to abrupt and irreversible change "regime shift"; current ecosystem states on our planet.
(Active learning) The participants discuss the solutions of the given question among group members.
"Adaptation of organisms to environments: Organismic evolution" The basic evolutionary theory based on population genetics; the meaning of adaptation in biology; natural selection and evolutionary process.
"How was biodiversity created? Speciation and coevolution" The biological definition of species; the process of branching species: speciation. The process of coevolution and its contribution to biodiversity.
"The red data of endangered species and extinction risk of populations" Introduction to red-list categories; ecological background for the categories.
"Invasion of exotic species" Elucidation of various adverse influences of invasive exotic species to ecosystems on the basis of ecological and evolutionary principles.
"Global warming and the ecosystem adaptation" Evolutionary responses by wildlife to the ongoing global climate change (Subject study) Discussion on the given study question with group members
(Subject study) Discussion on the given study question with group members
(Active learning: Presentation Session ) Each group gives a presentation of their solutions to the question.

教科書

No textbook is designated because latest research articles published in acdemic journals are introduced and explained.

参考書

Further readings and references are indicated in classes

Essentials of Conservation Biology 6th edition

著者: R. B. Primack

出版社: Sinauer Associates
Ecology: Individuals, Populations and Communities, 3rd edition

著者: M. Begon, J. L. Harper, C. R. Townsend

出版社: Blackwell
Evolution 3rd edition

著者: M. Ridley

出版社: Blackwell