ABOUT US

I am full professor at Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Sorbonne Université) in Paris. I have broad interests in many aspects of ecology, conservation biology, physiological ecology, animal behaviour, and environmental sciences. My research mainly focusses on understanding the responses of animals to a variety of natural and anthropogenic stressors and their consequences, and the causes and consequences of diversity in behaviour, physiology and key life-history traits. I also aim to develop methods that seek to assess/predict animal responses to global changes, and to apply fundamental knowledge to develop successful conservation and wildlife management programs. My research is mostly conducted on vertebrates and is carried out with species under natural, semi-natural, or captivity conditions.

I obtained my PhD in biology of behaviour at the University of Groningen, where I studied the expression of personalities in great tits. I then studied neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying sexual and individual differences in birds at the University of Liège. I was the executive scientist of the EU project STARFLAG (FP6) “Understanding patterns of animal group movements”. I am currently lecturer in physiology and ethology at the University of Tuscia, and research associate at the University of Groningen (NL) where I collaborate in a research project on the use of robofalcons to frighten bird flocks. I am member of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour ethics committee, of the council of the Italian Ethology Society, and the evaluation panel of Flanders Research Council.

I completed my MSc in Environmental Biology at Sapienza University of Rome where I focussed on the relationship between environmental variability and phenotype expression in pied flycatchers. For my thesis I analyzed data collected during a 30-year study and was struck by the importance of long-term monitoring projects. During university I developed a fascination with movement ecology thanks to bird ringing, then started my collaboration with Ornis italica taking part in data collection on Linosa shearwaters, European rollers, and different raptor species. I have also worked as RADAR operator for the Strait of Messina Strait Observatory project and other international collaborations.

I am a natural scientist with a MSc in Animal Behaviour. I am currently working on my PhD project at the University of Haifa investigating the effects of environmental conditions on diurnal migration movements of soaring birds at different spatial and time scales, using data recorded by radar and GPS in Israel, Turkey, and Italy. I have been collaborating with Ornis italica since my undergraduate studies on Linosa shearwaters, but also in tracking migration by radar at the Strait of Messina, and homing pigeons by GPS in Rome. I am especially interested in the interacting effects of different environmental components on causes and consequences of specific movements. I also find important to use the information and tools that movement ecology provides to understand and solve conflicts between human development and wildlife.

I am a biologist with a MSc in Evolution of Animal and Human Behaviour from the University of Turin with a thesis on the feeding ecology of free-roaming cats in relation to Scopoli’s shearwater conservation on Linosa Island. During the last five years I have been collaborating with Ornis italica in Linosa, monitoring the shearwater colony and managing the free-roaming cat population. In 2016 I managed the D3 action as part of the Life project “Pelagic Birds”, aiming at sensitising inhabitants to the importance of shearwater ecology and conservation. I am currently a PhD researcher at the University of Exeter, where my aim is to identify the drivers of cat hunting behaviour and find solutions to mitigate cat impact on wildlife and birds in particular.

I am a behavioural ecologist with a deep passion for seabirds, developed studying pair bonds and divorce of Scopoli’s shearwaters on Linosa island since 2011. I have worked as technical/field assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology investigating the patterns of female nest attendance and male feeding throughout the incubation period in blue tits. In 2017 I collected data on breeding behaviour of red phalaropes in Alaska, where I coordinated bird trapping, behavioural observations, application of RFIDs and MSR electronic dataloggers to investigate couple-specific incubation rhythms. This experience confirmed my passion for being outside observing wild birds in harsh environmental conditions. I am currently doing my PhD in Mexico on the behaviour of black-vented shearwaters.

I graduated as Master of Science in Biology at the University of Giessen in 2017. Since 2014 I have been assisting annually in the breeding monitoring of Scopoli’s Shearwater on Linosa Island. I have completed two theses about breeding synchrony and modulation of parental foraging effort in this species. My main scientific interests are seabird behavior and pollution biomonitoring. I have gained work experience in the evaluation of environmental impact in birds, bats, reptiles and insects in Germany, conducting field surveys and reports. Currently, I am contributing together with Ornis italica to the European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility (ERBFacility) by developing best practice guidance for contaminant surveys on urban peregrine falcons.

Animals have been my greatest passion since I was child. I went on to get my MSc in Evolution of Animal and Man Behavior at the University of Turin, with a thesis on the shearwaters breeding in Linosa. I love parrots and consider myself an expert in their wellness, ethology, and environmental enrichment to improve their captive breeding. I prefer to be on the field rather than in front of a computer, and with a project on homing pigeons I found a good compromise between the two. I am training pigeons for group and single releases with GPS and accelerometers and collaborate as part of the Ornis italica team with colleagues from France, UK and Israel to studies on bird flight in relation to landscape and meteorological features.