ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND PLANT CONSERVATION

Paper Code: 
DBOT 803
Credits: 
4
Contact Hours: 
60.00
Max. Marks: 
100.00
Objective: 
 
This course will enable the students to –
1. To provide an idea of endangered and extinct plant species and emphasize on the
role of environment in plant life.
2. To teach the students the importance of renewable and nonrenewable resources, the
importance of biodiversity conservation and how to achieve sustainable development
targets.
3. To impart knowledge about various ecosystem dynamics and their productivity
assessment.
4. To develop a comprehensive understanding of Autecology and Synecology.
Course Outcomes (COs):
 
12.00
Introduction to ecology and environment, factors affecting ecology (climatic, topographic,
edaphic and biotic factors), ecological niche, life zones, major biomes and vegetation
types of the world.
12.00
Population Ecology: characteristics of population – natality, mortality, vital index, biotic
potential, survivorship curve, exponential and logistic growth, population dynamics:
community ecology: structure and development of community, community analysis.
12.00
Clementsian’s categories, concept of continuum and ordination, mechanism of ecological
succession- relay floristics and initial floristic composition, facilitation, tolerance and
inhibition models. Structure and function of ecosystem, primary and secondary
productivity, energy dynamics (trophic organization, energy flow pathways, ecological
efficiencies), litter fall and decomposition, global biogeochemical cycles of C, N, P and S.
12.00
Environmental pollution and its management (air, water and soil), greenhouse gases,
ozone depletion and global warming, environmental policies and regulations, impact of
pollution on biodiversity, other causes of biodiversity loss, IUCN categories of threat,
biodiversity hotspots.
12.00
Concept of resistance and resilience, ecological perturbances (natural and
anthropogenic), and their impact on plants and ecosystems, ecology of plant invasions,
environmental impact assessments and ecosystem restoration. Ecological management:
concept, sustainable development and sustainability indicators.
Essential Readings: 
Odum, E.P., & Barrett, G.W. (2009). Fundamentals of Ecology. Australia: Cengage
Learning.
 Kormondy, E.J. (1996). Concepts of ecology. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
 Chapman, J.L. and Reiss M.J. (1998). Ecology: Principles and Applications. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge, UK.
 Frankel, O.H.; Brown, A.H.D and Burdon, J.J. 1995. The Conservation of Plant
Biodiversity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
 Hill, M.K. 2010. Understanding Environmental Pollution. Cambridge University Press.
Cambridge, UK.
 Kothari, A. 2018. Understanding Biodiversity: Life Sustainability and Equity. Orient
Longman.
 Bhargava, R.N., Rajaram, V., Olson, K., & Tiede, L. (2019). Ecology and Environment.
The Energy and Resources Institute,New Delhi
 Sharma, P.D. (2014). Ecology and environment: A text book for University students.
Meerut: Rastogi Publications.
References: 
Suggested Readings:
 Baker, H.G. (1978). Plants and Civilization (3rd edition) Belmont, C A.
 Bole, P.V. and Vaghani Y. (1986). Field Guide to Common Indian Trees. Oxford
University Press, Mumbai.
 Barbour, M.G., Burk, J.H. and Pitts, W.D. (1998). Terrestrial Plant Ecology. Benjamin/
Cummings Publication Co., New York.
 Begon, M., Harper, J.L. and Townsend, C.R. (2005). Ecology: From Individuals to
Ecosystems, 4th Edition Blackwell Science. Cambridge, USA.
 Brady, N.C. (2016). The Nature and Properties of Soils. Pearson
 Chandel, K.P.S, Shukla, G. and Sharma, N. (1996). Biodiversity in Medical and
Aromatic Plants in India: Conservation and Utilization. NBPGR, New Delhi.
 Gadgil, M. and Guha, R. (2000). Ecology and Equity: Use and Abuse of Nature in
contemporary India. Penguin, New Delhi.
 Heywood, V.H and Watson, R.T. (1995). Global Biodiversity Assessment. Cambridge
University Press Cambridge, UK
e-Resources:
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/102105088 Environmental Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur
 102 https://nptel.ac.in/courses/104073 Wild Life Ecology, IIT Kanpurr
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/102104068 WildLife Conservation, IIT Kanpur
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/102104082 Forests and their management, IIT Kanpur
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/102104087 Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology,
IIT Kharagpur
Resources
_ECOLOGY.pdf
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IV/Punam%20Jaiswal%20PGIV%
20Mechanism%20Of%20Ecological%20Succession.pdf
storation
Ethics – Problems and Perspectives
Microbiology
Assessment
and Global issues
Contaminated Sites
Journals:
 Advances in Ecological Research (Academic Press)
 Ecology (Ecological Society of America)
 Ecology Letters (Wiley-Blackwell)
 Ecology and Evolution (Wiley-Blackwell)
 Journal of Applied Ecology (British Ecological Society)
 Nature Ecology and Evolution (Nature Publishing Group)

 

Academic Year: 
2023-2024
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