Concept of greenhouse effect. The extent of climate change. Entity of responses from the major ecosystems. Adaptation strategies for climate change. Tools and methodologies for studying the impact of climate change and adaptation strategies
Lessons notes
Didactic material edit by the Professor
Fifth Assessment Report of IPCC (WGI, WGII and WGIII), 2013
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: Tools and methodologies to study the role of climate change on ecosystems management
Competence acquired (at the end of the course): elements characterizing the role that climate change will have on ecosystems and the strategies that will have to adopt to manage climate change.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course): analysis of the problems determined by climate change in the next years in the management of the main agricultural, natural and forest ecosystems; knowledge about the use of the principal tools for determining the response of ecosystems to climate change and for developing strategies to minimize the damages.
Prerequisites
.
Teaching Methods
Total hours of the course: 75 (= 3 x 25)
Hours reserved to private study and other individual formative activities: 51
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 20
Contact hours for Practices (hours): 4
Further information
Frequency of lectures and practices: recommended
Teaching tools: software open-source
Type of Assessment
Exam modality: Report and presentation on a selected subject
Course program
LECTURES.
Causes of Climate change: Basics on electromagnetic radiation; Interactions between solar radiation and the atmosphere; The Earth-Sun energy balance and the greenhouse effect; Main greenhouse gases, characteristics and effects on the energy balance. The extent of climate change: Changes observed in terms of temperature, precipitation and other socio-economic parameters; Introduction to emission scenarios (SRES and RCPs); Future projections.Agricultural eco-systems response to climate change: Direct, indirect and combined effects; Concepts of exposure, sensitivity, impact, adaptation capability, vulnerability; Impacts already observed and expected in the coming decades; Identification of the most vulnerable areas and ecosystems.Tools and methodologies for studying the impact of climate change. Climatic models and downscaling methodologies; Systems for the analysis of vegetal ecosystems in high CO2 concentration; Basics of crop modelling: Definitions and classification, main components of crop models, description of main bio-physical processes to simulate. calibration and validation of models.Adaptation strategies to climate change: Adaptation and mitigation concepts; Economical and environmental adaptation strategies; Short-term and long-term adjustments; Interactions between mitigation and adaptation strategies; Factors limiting the introduction of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
TRAINING COURSES:
Training courses on the instruments described during the lessons.