Page 71 - CatalogNEP-LS

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of the course, the students should be able to:
 Demonstrate an understanding of the basic concepts of the subject
 Explain the characteristics, dynamics, and growth of populations
 Understand the characteristics of the community, ecosystem development and climax
theories
 Gain knowledge about the relationship of the evolution of various species and the
environment they live in.
 Design basic field studies, collect data and interpret it
 Carry out population and community studies

THEORY (45 Hours)

UNIT- I (15 Hours)

Autecology and Synecology, Laws of limiting factors, Study of physical factors: Temperature and
Light.Unitary and Modular populations; Unique and group attributes of population: density,
natality,
mortality, life tables, fecundity tables, survivorship curves, age ratio, sex ratio, dispersal, and
dispersion; Exponential and logistic growth, equations and patterns, r and k strategies;
Intraspecific population regulation: density-dependent and independent factors.

UNIT- II (15 Hours)
Types of species interactions, Interspecific competition: Lotka-Volterra model of competition,
Gause‘s Principle with laboratory and field examples, Niche concept; Predation: Lotka-Volterra
equations, Functional and numerical responses; Predation: Predator-Prey interaction, Role of
predation in nature, predator defense mechanisms, Resource partitioning. Community
characteristics: species richness, dominance, diversityconcepts and levels, role of biodiversity in
ecosystem functions and stability, speciation and categories of threat, distribution, and global
patterns, Terrestial biodiversity hot spots, abundance, guilds, ecotone and edge effect; Ecological
succession with examples and types.

UNIT- III (15 Hours)
Types of Ecosystems: Terrestrial ecosystem, vertical stratification in tropical forest; Food chain:
detritus and grazing food chains, linear and Y-shaped food chains, food web; Energy flowthrough
the ecosystem; Ecological pyramids and Ecological efficiencies; global biogeochemical cycles,
mineral cycles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecology in wildlife conservation and
management, Protected areas: National Parks, Biospherereserves and Sanctuaries; Restoration
ecology, Principles of Environmental impact assessment.

PRACTICAL (30 Hours)

1. Determination of population density in a natural or a hypothetical community by quadrate
method and calculation of Shannon-Weiner diversity index.
2. Study of an aquatic ecosystem:
a) Phytoplankton and zooplankton
b) Measurement of temperature, turbidity/penetration of light, determination of pH
c) Dissolved oxygen content (Winkler‘s method), chemical oxygen demand
d) Free carbon dioxide and alkalinity
3. Study of ten endemic animals of India with slides/pictures/videos.

56