Syllabus (ZOOLOGY)

Course Type: MAJ-13

Semester: 7

Course Code: BZOOMAJ13C

Course Title: Ecosystem Structure and Function

(L-P-Tu): 4-2-0

Credit: 6

Practical/Theory: Practical

Course Objective:

Learning Outcome: Course Outcome: After completion of this course the student will know about the basic information about ecosystem and figure out how to use it. The following is part of this information: population growth and the factors influencing this growth, Resource

Ecosystem Structure and Function

Theory=4 credits

Ecosystem Structure and Function

Course Objective: The term "Ecology" refers to the study of inter-relationships between organisms and their physical environment. There are various ways in which these relationships can regulate the natural ecosystem such as distribution and abundance of living organisms, the variety of species living together, and the energy flow in natural ecosystem. Since environmental change is occurring at a rapid rate in the early twenty-first century it is vital that we better comprehend the ecology of the planet. While most people associate ecologists with fieldwork, ecologists who develop theoretical models or do laboratory research have made some of the most significant contributions to ecological theory. We can clearly see that our simplistic description of ecology does not adequately convey its vastness or the diversity of its practitioners. Let's talk at this course to have a better grasp of what ecology is all about.

Theories on relation between biodiversity and ecosystem function.

1. Species complementarity
2. Sampling effect
3. Redundancy

Population growth models.

4. Population regulations.
5. Metapopulation and Metacommunity concept.
6. Resource - consumer interactions.
7. Modelling species interactions – apparent competition, intraguild predation, succession, bipartite network and application.

Natural resources and sustainable development – principles and models.

8. Environmental world views.
9. Wildlife resources, aquatic living resources, forest resources, Ecosystem services valuation, links with biodiversity.
10. Ecological footprint analysis; ecosystem health.
11. EIA and EPA
12. Ecological processes in wetland and mangrove ecosystem.

13. Decline of global biodiversity and loss of ecosystem function.

14. Functional diversity and ecosystem functioning.

15. Insurance hypothesis and habitat fragmentation and dispersal on ecosystem functioning.

16. Ecosystem services, biodiversity and ecological economics.

Practical 2Credits

1. Study of an aquatic ecosystem: Determination of Conductivity, Biochemical oxygen demand, Primary productivity (light bottle-dark bottle method), Chlorinity, Salinity, Alkalinity, and Total hardness.
2. Study of an terrestrial ecosystem: Determination of pH, Organic Carbon and Organic Matter.
3. Qualitative analysis of sampled terrestrial community.
4. Quantitative and qualitative estimation of zooplankton communities.

References:

Paper XVI: Ecosystem Structure and Function

Reference readings

Smith, T.M. and Smith, R.L. (2012). Elements of Ecology, 8^th Edition.

Atlas, R.M. and Bartha, R. (1997). Microbial Ecology: Fundamentals and Applications.

Townsand, J. et al. (2006). Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems, 4^th Edition.

Odum, E.P. (2008). Fundamentals of Ecology, 2^nd Edition.

Chapman, J.L. and Reiss, M.J. (1998). Ecology: Principles and Applications.

Krebs, C.J. (2014). Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, 6^th Edition.

Faurie, C. et al. (2008). Ecology: Science and Practice.

Mackenzie, A. et al. (2001). Instant Notes in Ecology, 2^nd Edition.

Walker, C.H. et al. (2012). Principles of Ecotoxicology, 4^th Edition.

Saha, G.K. (2016). Wetland Crisis and Options.

Ricklefs, R.E. and Miller, G.L. (2001). Ecology, 4^th Edition.

Miller, G. and Spoolman, S. (2014). Essentials of Ecology.

Gotelli, N.J. (2008). A Primer of Ecology, 4^th Edition.

Hunter et al. (2021). Fundamentals of Conservation Biology.

Wilson, E.O. (1999). Biodiversity.

Laurila-Pant, M. et al. (2015). How to value biodiversity in environmental management? Ecological Indicators, 55, 1-11.

Brauman, K.A. and Daily, G.C. (2008). Ecosystem Services. In: Human Ecology, 1148-1154.

Costanza, R. (2012). Ecosystem health and ecological engineering. Ecological Engineering, 45, 24-29.

Duncan, C. et al. (2015). The quest for a mechanistic understanding of biodiversity – Ecosystem services relationships. Proceedings of Royal Scoiety B, 282, 20151348.

Dormann, C.F. et al. (2009). Indices, graphs and null models: Analyzing bipartite ecological networks. The Open Ecological Journal, 2, 7-24.