“Ecological worldview in the modern world” - course 10,000 rubles. from MSU, training 4 weeks. (3 months), Date: December 5, 2023.

1. General questions of the history and development of biology and ecology
Prerequisites for the development of natural sciences: from natural philosophy to biology, Great geographical discoveries, isolation of biology, the emergence of taxonomy: the “pre-Linnaean” period, Carl Linnaeus. General problems of systematics and its development.

2. Isolation of ecology and its development
Problems of early biology: evolutionary teachings. Organism and environment: early ecology and stages of its formation. Basic laws and concepts of ecology. From organism to populations. Communities. The birth and isolation of ecology.

3. Origin and evolution of life on Earth.
Early history of the planet. The origin of life: Oparin’s theory, the Miller-Urey experiment. Ribozymes. RNA world. LUCA. The origin of eukaryotes: the history of the theory of symbiogenesis, its strengths and weaknesses. Cyanobacterial mats: microbial communities that changed the world. The main stages of the evolution of life on Earth.

4. Biogeochemical activity of microorganisms in the past and present.
Basic biogeochemical cycles. Gaia hypothesis. Global carbon cycle. Links of the nitrogen cycle regulated by microorganisms. Biogenic sulfur cycle. Iron transformations caused by the activity of microorganisms.

5. Microbiology of key habitats.
Microbiology of land: soils, rocks. Aeromicrobiology. Natural bioaerosols, ways of their distribution. Factors affecting the survival of microbes in the air. Microbiology of aquatic ecosystems. Flows of matter and energy in marine biocenoses. Primary and secondary productivity, “microbial loop”. Microbiology of freshwater ecosystems. Extreme habitats. Microbiology of cities.

6. Microbial communities.
Types of connections in microbial communities. Methods of communication of microorganisms. Biofilms. Microbial mats. "Quorum sensing" effect. Horizontal gene transfer. Signaling metabolites.

7. Some problems of plant ecology
Problems of plant ecology. Populations and communities of plants. Discussion between continualists and structuralists.

8. Some features of animal ecology.
Animal ecology. Evolution and adaptations. Strategies for survival and adaptation. Coevolution. Ecosystem engineering and related concepts.

9. The role of chemical pollution of the biosphere in the life of modern society.
Anthropogenic degradation of the biosphere, types and causes. Concepts about ecology and the environment. Fundamentals of the doctrine of the ecological state of the environment, the significance of the processes of its chemical pollution. Chemical pollution as a component of anthropogenic degradation of the biosphere and a possible source of a planetary environmental crisis. Medical and biological aspects of the impact of pollution on the biosphere. The importance of environmental monitoring, environmental assessment, and EIA programs to ensure environmental protection from pollution and its improvement. Goals and objectives of environmental monitoring. Pollutants, definition of the concept. Sources of biosphere pollution and their classification. Modes of entry of pollutants. Nature, extent of distribution of pollutants and levels of biosphere pollution.

10. Pollution of the biosphere with oxides of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen.
Composition of the atmosphere, changes under the influence of pollution. Sources of biosphere pollution with carbon oxides. Local and global consequences of biosphere pollution with carbon oxides. Sources of sulfur oxides entering the biosphere. Transformations of sulfur oxides in the atmosphere. Sources of nitrogen oxides entering the biosphere. Transformations of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. Local and global environmental consequences of biosphere pollution by sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Chemical and biological methods for assessing biosphere pollution by sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Self-purification of the atmosphere from sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Acid rain and its sources. Ecological consequences of acid rain on the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Direct and indirect effects of acid precipitation

11. Impact on the ecosystem of inorganic pollutants coming from waste
Pollution of the biosphere by waste from major industries. The influence of waste from various industrial sectors on the environmental situation in industrial centers of the Russian Federation. Indicators of soil pollution by inorganic pollutants. Pollution of the biosphere with heavy metals. Natural and man-made sources of heavy metals in the biosphere. Forms of occurrence of heavy metals in soils and their influence on the environmental consequences of their pollution of the ecosystem. Geochemical associations of pollutants in industrial zones. The influence of inorganic pollutants on the chemical state of contaminated soils. The influence of pollution on the ecological state of urban natural-technogenic complexes. Environmental and social aspects of the problem of biosphere pollution. Methods for remediation of contaminated soils.

12. Pollution of the biosphere with organic toxicants
Carcinogenic polycyclic hydrocarbons, composition, properties. Toxic effect on living organisms. Pollution of the biosphere by surface active pollutants, transformation in the soil. Agricultural pollution of the biosphere with organic substances. Pesticides, their classification and properties. Ecological consequences of introducing pesticides into soils. Factors influencing the transformation, stability and redistribution of pesticides in the soil. Pollution of the biosphere with products and waste from the oil production and oil refining industries.