SubjectsSubjects(version: 945)
Course, academic year 2022/2023
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Conservation Biology - MB120P113
Title: Conservation Biology
Czech title: Ochranářská biologie
Guaranteed by: Department of Botany (31-120)
Faculty: Faculty of Science
Actual: from 2017
Semester: summer
E-Credits: 4
Examination process: summer s.:
Hours per week, examination: summer s.:3/0, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unlimited
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Additional information: http://www.natur.cuni.cz/~zuzmun/conserv.htm
Note: enabled for web enrollment
Guarantor: prof. RNDr. Zuzana Münzbergová, Ph.D.
Teacher(s): prof. RNDr. Zuzana Münzbergová, Ph.D.
Annotation -
Last update: Mgr. Michal Štefánek (11.05.2017)
The lectures is given in English in the presence of foreign (English speaking) students.
The aim of the course is to provide overview of the issues related to conservation of rare and endangered species
and their communities. It explores demographic and genetic factors determining dynamics of species in small
populations, effects of habitat fragmentation, identification of minimum viable population size and minimum
number of populations at the landscape level. It further explores models of species dynamics in the landscapes,
methods for studying species dispersal and problems related to design of nature reserves. It emphasizes methods
of population viability. Except for theoretical introduction to each studied issue, great emphasis is put to reading
and discussing papers related to the problem, and analyzing sample datasets.
Literature -
Last update: Mgr. Michal Štefánek (11.05.2017)

Meffe & Carroll (1994): Principles of Conservation Biology.

Frankham et al. (2003): Introduction to conservation genetics.

Primack (2000): Primer of Conservation Biology. Česká verze Primack, Kindlman & Jersáková (2001): Biologické principy ochrany přírody.

Young & Clarke (2003): Genetics, demography and viability of fragmented populations.

Requirements to the exam
Last update: prof. RNDr. Zuzana Münzbergová, Ph.D. (24.10.2019)

To pass the exam, the student has to

- present one paper provided by the teacher at one of the lectures. 

- write an essay on a topic selected by the student. The topic needs to be related to the course. The essay should be based on studying 3-5 scientific papers related to the topic. The essay needs to be presented to the other students. 

- read essay of one classmate and ask 2 questions during his/her essay presentation. 

 

ČEŠI SMĚJÍ VŠECHNY TYTO POŽADAVKY PLNIT V ČEŠTINĚ

Syllabus -
Last update: PhDr. Gabriela Kubátová, Ph.D. (27.04.2005)
1) What is conservation biology.
We will start with introduction to the field. We will discuss development in the field and I will show basic literature. Further I will outline issues related to species and diversity protection that will be discussed in the latter talks. We will also discuss basic existing laws ensuring species and area protection in our country and in the world.

2) Population biology of small populations.
One of the key topics of the talk. The aim of this part is to discuss species behavior in small populations from both genetic and demography point of view including evolution in small populations. We will also discuss problems with estimating minimum viable population size.

3) Effect of habitat fragmentation on species dynamics.
In this part we will shift from the studies at local scale discussed in part 2 to the regional scale. The aim of this part will be to discuss species behavior in fragmented populations. We will mainly discuss models of species dynamics, species migrations, importance of gene flow and ways to assess these. We will also discuss issue related to design of nature reserves.

4) Population viability analysis.
This part will link the issues discussed above and will introduce basic techniques used for population viability analysis. I will try to provide overview of specific techniques and programs to perform PVA. We will also discuss possibilities to use these techniques in the real world. Important part of this section will be a discussion of recovery programs of species in the Czech Republic and in the world. This part of the talk will be done together with Vlastimil Rybka from Prague's botanical garden, one of the authors of the methodology for preparation of species recovery plans in the Czech Republic.

5) Diversity, stability and function of ecosystems.
In this last part we will move from issues related to dynamics and protection of single species to species diversity. Here we will discuss methods of studying species diversity, factors affecting species diversity in a landscape and importance of species diversity for function and stability of ecological systems.

 
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