Partnership

Scientific interests 

The aim of my research is to study the effects of anthropogenic changes on benthic communities and ecosystem functioning.  

I'm interested in evaluating trophic interactions that involve keystone predators, meso-predators, dominant species, habitat modifiers, and marine macrophytes in shallow rocky reefs. I mainly attempt to focus on sea urchin population dynamics, as functional species with ecological and commercial importance, and on their consequences on benthic communities. I carry out experiments with both manipulative and correlative approaches to measure sea urchin population responses at local (e.g. overfishing) and global (climate change related) stressors and in a multiple-stressors framework. Specifically, within the framework of Murfor, I am in charge of the general coordination of MUrFor, and I contribute to the field-based evaluation of the role of environmental variability and local fishing regulation in determining thresholds of ecosystem collapse, sea urchin population stability, and economic sustainability.  

Scientific interests 

My research overall aims at developing and applying quantitative modelling frameworks to investigate complex marine ecosystem dynamics, and to predict ecological responses to environmental or anthropogenic stressors. My experience in marine ecosystem modelling which includes diverse process-based simulation frameworks as well as statistical and machine-learning techniques to predict ecosystem dynamics and climate-driven range shifts is relevant to several modelling aspects in the MURFOR project. In particular, I plan on adapting the models developed during my PhD, which effectively contributed to the ecosystem-based management of coastal Tasmanian fisheries by identifying key thresholds in rocky reef community dynamics in response to rapid climate-driven ocean changes. I have been involved in a wide range of research projects involving interdisciplinary teams of researchers specialised in fields ranging from statistics & machine learning, numerical modelling, marine ecology, physical oceanography, to marine socio- economics to analyse and model coastal benthic ecosystem dynamics and their relationships to society.

Scientific interests 

I have been working as researcher at CNR-IAS since 2009 with the role of ecosystem modeller using different approaches, including ibm, eulerian, and habitat suitability modelling, based on ecophysiology studies, and ecosystem models. My research spans marine ecology, physical and biological oceanography, computer science, and numerical modelling. I aim to create tools for predicting and assessing human and climate impacts on marine environments. I have been involved in European projects focusing on ecosystem modelling for sustainable European fisheries growth. This approach requires interdisciplinary collaboration, close interaction with stakeholders, and public engagement to define issues and objectives. I have been involved in several EU projects using the end-to-end ecosystem model Atlantis as a supporting tool for ecosystem-based fisheries management in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

Scientific interests 

I am an oceanographer and marine ecologist with a special interest in benthic ecosystems and global change. Currently, I am a Ramón y Cajal fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes, Spanish National Research Council (CEAB-CSIC) and associate research fellow at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn Napoli. I am interested in the functioning and resilience of marine macrophytes and in mechanisms behind non-linear ecosystem transitions (regime shifts). To this aim, I study marine forests ecology at different levels of organization (from individuals to ecosystems) including species interactions and their relation to the environment by means of natural surveys, manipulative experiments and mathematical modelling. I also apply remote sensing techniques (i.e. drones and satellites) to study ecosystem configuration and resilience at the landscape level. More recently, I shifted the perspective towards studying the mechanisms that will increase macrophytes’ resilience under future ocean conditions. Among these, my research focuses on understanding seagrasses and seaweeds’ capacity to acclimate to ocean warming and acidification with the commitment to contributing to marine forests conservation and management. I coordinate the Hidden Deserts project, a citizen science social endeavour to increase the knowledge of underwater deserts (barrens) and promote the restoration of marine macroalgal forests.

Scientific interests 

My research group is broadly interested in the biological and physical processes that generate patterns in natural communities and the role that experimental community ecology can play in improving the conservation and management of natural and human-impacted ecosystems. We work in subtidal communities of the Mediterranean, with the majority of our work focusing on rocky shallow communities, the seagrass Posidonia oceanica and coralligenous reefs, which are ecologically and economically important and are seriously threatened by human activities. Much of our work therefore examines human impacts on these systems and the services they provide, both to inform conservation and management and to advance our theoretical understanding of the ecology of these systems. Our approach consists primarily of manipulative field experiments, supplemented with long-term surveys and spatial analysis techniques.