ANIMAL ECOLOGY
Learning outcomes of the course unit
The course is aimed at providing a basic theoretical backgroundrequired for studying the mechanisms underlying animal organismsresponses to environmental changes and main evolutionary ecologicalissues.
Prerequisites
Ecology examination
Course contents summary
Darwin's influence on modern thought
Species concepts.
Short-termsandlong term responses to the environment: regulativeresponses,acclimationresponses, developmental responses andevolutionaryresponses.
Homeostatic constrains
Phenotypic plasticity and reaction norms.
Character displacement
Allometric relationships
Phylogenetic and allometric constrains
Dormancy
Circadian oscillation and gene clock
Molecular bases of phenotypic plasticity.
Case studies
Phylogeography and history of giant Galapagos tortoises.
Physiological and metabolic responses to hypoxia in invertebrates
The seed bank of a freshwater crustaceans.
Environmental and genetic control of sexual reproduction in Daphnia.
Genetics and ecology of a colonising population of Daphnia obtusa in Lake Orta
The clonal ecology of Heterocypris incongruens
Effect of genotype and photoperiod on diapause strategies in Eucypris virens
Hypoxia and starvation tolerance in individuals from a riverine and a lacustrine population of Darwinula stevensoni
Natural variation in a Drosophila gene and temperature compensation
Anoutlineof the ecology of sex. Short-term and long term costsandbenefits. TheRed Queen Hypothesis. Sex determination mechanisms..
Case studies
The freshwater snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum
Experimental evidence for the evolutionary significance of temperature-dependent sex determination
The Wolbachia effect
Recommended readings
Begon M., Harper J.L., Townsend C.R. 1989. Ecologia. Individui, Popolazioni, Comunità. Zanichelli.
Cochburn A. 1991. An introduction to evolutionary ecology. Blackwell Scientific Publications.
De Witt T.J. & Scheiner S.M. 2004 Phenotypic plasticity. Oxford University Press.
Hartl D.L, Clark A.G. 1993. Genetica di popolazione. Zanichelli.
Randall D., Burggren W., French K. 1999 Fisiologia animale. Zanichelli.
Ridley M. 1996 Evolution. Blackwell Science
Sibly R.M., Calow P. 1986. Physiological ecology of animals. An evolutionary approach. Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Stearns S.C. 1992. The evolution of life histories. Oxford University Press.
