Course presentation

The Second-cycle degree  course in Ecology and Ethology for Nature Conservation is aimed at training professionals and researchers with a sound knowledge of the basic issues in Ecology and Ethology for Nature Management and Conservation in the current scenario of global climate and environmental changes.
Second-cycle degree graduates in Ecology and Ethology for Nature Conservation have employment prospects in the private and public sectors dealing with the management of natural resources, the conservation of biodiversity and issues relating to man's coexistence with wild and domestic animals.
The programme of study is consistent with the ministerial tables for second-cycle degree in the field of biology (LM6) and the field of natural sciences (LM60). It allows, after a state examination, registration in the Register of Biologists. For this reason, the course is an outlet for both students from first-cycle degrees in Biological Sciences and Natural and Environmental Sciences who are interested in acquiring knowledge and professionalism for the proper management of natural populations and communities in a context of global change.
The programme of study includes, in the first year, the teaching of basic subjects, common to both ecology and ethology, supplemented by practical exercises: statistical analysis, geobotany, geology, paleoclimatology and ecology and ethology. In the second year, the more characterising and specialised subjects of the addresses are explored in depth. The internship and the dissertation play a very important role in the teaching process as students are guided on a path leading to the realisation of a real individual research project. The thesis seminars represent an innovative aspect of the teaching characterising this course of study. They allow the progress of the research project to be monitored, from the state of the art, through to the practical implementation of experiments in nature or in the laboratory, to the collection and critical analysis of data and their interpretation. This can also be done in research institutions outside the university (parks, museums, companies) and abroad with international exchange programmes.