The fundamentals of Environmental Science

The main goal of the course is to equip students with the basic knowledge about the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues. The latter reflect the man’s need for food, energy and raw materials, leading to the exploitation of natural sources, which, above all, reflects in environmental pollution and in the impacts on the ecosystems, as well as on the humans. This requires proper environmental management, including the legal, economic and other measures for environmental protection.

The course mainly represents the connections and relations between individual spheres of the environment, namely natural sciences, engineering and humanities and therefore covers the fields of chemistry, biology, ecology, meteorology, hydrology, economics, sociology and also toxicology and health ecology. It is therefore dependent on the knowledge acquired in the 1st-year courses and, on the other hand, provides knowledge of the above-mentioned courses, which are carried out in the 2nd and 3rd years of studies.

The course covers the following chapters: environment, Earth as a system, life and environment, preserving life sources, energy, aqueous environment, air pollution, environment and society.

Knowledge and understanding:
• Connections and interrelations between various disciplines in the environment
• Functioning of ecosystems and basic processes in the environment as well as consequences of our needs for food, energy and raw materials
• Working in interdisciplinary teams and formation of such teams
• Basic actions to prevent degradation of the environment and harmful effects on humans

D. Botkin, E. Keller: Environmental Science – Earth as a Living Planet, 5. izdaja, J. Wiley&Sons, New York, 2005. Catalogue E-gversion

Fieldwork report (25 %), positive grade (5.5) from theoretical tests or written exam (40 %), oral exam (35 %)

Prof. dr. Anton Brancelj is a full professor of Ecology at the University of Nova Gorica.

MORI, N., BRANCELJ, A. Differences in aquatic microcrustacean assemblages between temporary and perennial springs of an alpine karstic aquifer. International journal of speleology, ISSN 0392-6672, 2013, vol. 42, no. 3, str. 257-266, ilustr. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1604&context=ijs, doi: 10.5038/1827-806X.42.3.9. [COBISS.SI-ID 2949711]

GALASSI, D. M. P., STOCH, F., BRANCELJ, A.. Dissecting copepod diversity at different spatial scales in southern European groundwater. V: SUAREZ MORALES, Eduardo (ur.). Selected papers presented at the 11th International Conference on Copepoda (Mérida, Mexico, 10-15 July 2011), (Journal of natural history, ISSN 0022-2933, vol. 47, no. 5/12). London: Taylor & Francis, 2013, vol. 47, no. 5/12, str. 821-840. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2012.738834, doi: 10.1080/00222933.2012.738834. [COBISS.SI-ID 2731599]

WATIROYRAM, S., BRANCELJ, A., SANOAMUANG, L. A new Bryocyclops Kiefer (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopoida) from karstic caves in Thailand. The Raffles bulletin of zoology, ISSN 0217-2445, 2012, vol. 60, no. 1, str. 11-21. http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/60/60rbz011-021.pdf. [COBISS.SI-ID 2525263]

BRANCELJ, A., WATIROYRAM, S., SANOAMUANG, . The first record of cave-dwelling Copepoda from Thailand and description of a new species: Elaphoidella namnaoensis n. sp. (Copepoda, Harpacticoida). Crustaceana, ISSN 0011-216X, 2010, vol. 83, no. 7, str. 779-793. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/001121610X502894, doi: 10.1163/001121610X502894. [COBISS.SI-ID 2345295]

BRANCELJ, A. Fauna of an unsaturated karstic zone in Central Slovenia: two new species of Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda), Elaphoidella millennii n. sp. and E. tarmani n. sp., their ecology and morphological adaptations. Hydrobiologia, ISSN 0018-8158, 2009, vol. 621, no. 1, str. 85-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9634-3, doi: 10.1007/s10750-008-9634-3. [COBISS.SI-ID 1933391]

BRANCELJ, A. Microdistribution and high diversity of Copepoda (Crustacea) in a small cave in central Slovenia. Hydrobiologia, ISSN 0018-8158, 2002, letn. 477, str. 59-72. [COBISS.SI-ID 15480537]