Scienze Naturali, Scienze dei Sistemi Naturali,
Evoluzione del comportamento animale e dell’uomo

The course provides the students with knowledge about the evolution of the relationships between man and environment, about population dynamics and the bio-cultural adaptability in response to different environmental contexts. It will also provide expertise in the field of human population genetics useful for understanding the changes, in space and time, of the genome of human populations. The course also aims to discuss the main causes of air, water and soil pollution and its effects on natural ecosystems and human health.

Students will acquire the theoretical and methodological knowledge that will allow them to critically evaluate the degree of genetic diversity and cultural achievements by human groups and to reconstruct the phases of the migration of Homo sapiens across continents. Students will also possess the skills to analyze the bio-demografical changes of human populations living in different ecosystems and the tools to understand the human-environment interactions. Finally, students will also be able to plan an experimental design for the collection, treatment and processing of data and to develop a research project in the field of human ecology.

Teaching will be helded in Italian, with slides and teaching material in Italian and English. The course will be divided in 48 hours of lectures during which the students will discuss the basic concepts, cases-study, methods from more recent scientific researches in human population genetics and human ecology. Class will be characterized by a strong interaction between teacher and students in order to stimulate critical skills.

oral examination will consist in a seminar held by students about one  topic of the course, followed by discussion. The examination will be concluded with one or more questions from the committee members.

HUMAN POPULATION DYNAMICS

Bio-cultural aspects

-          Climatic and environmental changes and evolution of the populations from the Neolithic to the present day

-          Domestication of plants and origin of agriculture

-          Animal Domestication

-          Relationships between food, resources and human populations

Genetic aspects

-          Basic principles of population genetics applied to human populations

-          Genetic and genomic markers: different types of genetic markers and their use in inferring human genetic history

-          Geography of the human genome: correlations between genetic diversity and geographic distribution of human populations

HUMANS-DISEASE RELATIONSHIPS  

-          Environment, health and disease: ecological and cultural aspects

-          Evolution of the disease

-          Human Genetic Diseases: analysis of genealogic trees, association studies, linkage analysis, human cytogenetics

-          Geographic distribution of human pathogens

-          Aging and dynamics of human populations

-          Birth, death and marriage: biological and cultural aspects

-          Analysis of different theories on aging, with particular attention to the role of genetic variants in the processes related to longevity

HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIPS

-          Environmental changes due to human activities. Concept of Anthropocene

-          Human adaptations to different climatic environments

-          Human adaptations to extreme environments

-          Genotoxicology: theoretical and methodological aspects

-          Genotoxicology of acquatic and terrestrial ecosystems: theoretical and methodological aspects, evaluation of the anthropic impact.

-          Atmosphere pollution: impact on human health and on different natural ecosystems

-          Pesticides: analysis and assessment of their impact on the different natural ecosystems and human health. Genotoxicological aspects: in vitro and in vivo studies

-          Radiations: consequences on human health from environmental and occupational exposure

-          Genomic, genetic and cytogenetic effects of the different radiation types

-          Urban Ecosystem: demographic and ecological effects of urbanization. Municipal waste, incinerators and human health