Syllabus
1) Response of organisms on gradient of abiotic conditions. Adaptation on extremes and optimal values (capacity and resistance adaptation). Energetic budget of organisms.
2) The effects of size, energetic balance of ecto and endoterms. Energetic budget - definition. Maintenance cost and cost of reproduction, energetic efficiency, and components of maintenance cost. The effect of size on surface volume ration, other size effects fractal geometry. Cost and benefits of maintenance of constant temperature, energetic cost of various models of behavior.
3) Temperature and thermal energy. Budget of thermal energy thermal budged of organism transfer of thermal energy and components of thermal budget, interaction with another environmental conditions (moisture, latent thermal energy, radiation, isolation properties etc.). Extreme temperatures and its effect on organisms.
4) Thermal budget. Thermal budged ecto and endoterms its effect on overall energetic budget. Mechanisms of production thermal energy and maintenance of content temperature. The effect of environmental temperature on physiology of ectoterms. Mainly development and growth.
5) Radiation. Radiation properties and wavelength, the effect on organisms. Reflection and absorption of radiation glasshouse effect earth environment and protection against some types of radiation. Damage of organisms by various types of radiation. Interaction of radiation and thermal budget. Information role of radiation
6) Water. Water in nature, forms of water transition between them, biologically important physical properties of water, heat capacity, surface tension etc. Mechanism affection water accumulation and movement in environment. Air humidity, water in porous media especially soils ion content in water, fresh water vs. marine water.
7) Water budget of organisms - ion exchange - aeration status. Function of water in organisms, water intake and water loss, dehydration. Mechanisms of protection against water loss, and tolerance to dehydratation, cryptobyosis. Gas dilution in water air water balance in porous media, implication for respiration of invertebrates.
8) Food. Energy intake, assimilation, content of energy in the food, food digestibility. Content of major nutrients, problem with nutrient balance in the food. Essential compounds definition, role of microflora ingested with food and symbiotic microflora in digestion and production of essential compounds.
9) Pollutants. Main types of pollutants, their transport, accumulation degradation and effect on organisms. Tests for pollutant toxicity acute and chronic toxicity lethal and sub-lethal tests. Interpretation of laboratory tests in to field conditions.
10) The effect of organisms on environment. Organisms living on or inside bodies of others parasites and symbionts. Organisms cause changes of environment, the effect of organism in ecosystem turnover of matter and nutrients, indirect effects.
11) Ecosystem engineers. Definition its effect on nutrient cycling forming of special habitats and modification of physical nature of environment. Examples from herbivores soil fauna and bethhos. Humus forms as an example of structures produced by interaction of organisms and environment.
Annotation
The course is focussed on interaction between animals and environment (mostly abiotic one). The focus is based on understanding of complexity of abiotic environment and understanding of physical and chemical processes that drive this complexity. Particular attention will be paid on the effect of scaling on importance of individual physical and chemical process and the effect of organism size on environment perception (changes in surface volume ration with differing size etc.). Main strategies of capacity and resistance adaptation to individual environmental factor effect of these factors on bugged of energy; water, nutrients and essential substances will be explained. Attention will be paid on the effect of animals on abiotic environment modification and non-trophic interaction between organisms driven by modification of environment.