EKO/ZZEA Basic Ecology

Lecturer: Monika Mazalová
Lecture: 2 hours/week
Credits: 5
Winter semester
Form of course completion: exam

Introduction to the study of ecology: basic terms, definitions and methods, proximate and ultimate causation. Ecological factors and sources. Environment and organisms, adaptations, evolution, convergence, divergence, speciation. Population, dynamics of populations, interactions of populations with environmental factors. Community, interactions between species, food webs, species richness, diversity, ecological stability. Ecosystems, flows of energy and nutrient cycling, biotic and abiotic components, functional processes, ecological mechanisms, trophic interactions, productivity, decomposition. Actual problems in environmental and conservation ecology.