Cosimo Solidoro - National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics

Partner Coordinator

Research activities focus on numerical analysis and on synthesis, integration and modelling studies of estuarine, coastal and marine systems, with reference to Biogeochemestry and Marine Ecology, Climate Change Impacts, Ecosystem Approach to Fishery and Aquaculture, Sustainable Development, and Integrated Coastal Zone Management. They include developments, analysis and use of a variety of numerical methodologies, ecological models and coupled transport-ecological models of different complexity for the study of: nutrient cycles and trophodynamic; ecosystem response to anthropogenic and climatic forcing; integration of biogeochemistry and ecological process; sustainability of exploitation of renewable resources; aquaculture, fishery and bioeconomic modelling; complexity and applications of chaotic dynamics to simple ecological models; sensitivity and uncertainty analysis; data assimilation and short term forecast of biogeochemical properties of marine system; as well as numerical analysis of multivariate ecological data by means of mono and multivariate statistical techniques and artificial neural networks.
Recent research activities expand further over the human dimensions and the integration among different components of marine systems, including: integration among physical, biogeochemical and ecological aspects, up to the development and use of integrated modelling approaches for the analysis of the dynamics of coastal and marine systems and their capabilities to provide ecosystem goods and services, including fisheries, aquaculture, carbon sequestration and nutrients cycles regulation; integration among socio and biophysical sciences, analysis of socio environmental systems in response to scenarios of global changes and policy options, ecosystem governance, factors preventing efficient implementation of scientifically sound management policies; research in support of the implementation of ecosystem approach to fishery and aquaculture; assessment of the impact of global changes, including ocean acidification, on ecosystems and socio-environmental systems; historical ecology, over-fishing and marine conservation

Vinko Bandelj - National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics

Dr. Vinko Bandelj holds an MD in Environmental Sciences and a PhD in Biomonitoring methods for environmental alterations. He is a researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics - OGS.

His main interests are marine ecology, spatial distribution of marine species, advanced statistical analysis of environmental data, marine connectivity studies. 

Fabrizio Gianni - National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics

Fabrizio Gianni is a post-doc researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (Trieste, Italy). He holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences, earned at the Université Côte d'Azur (France) and he collaborated with many research teams to assess benthic species distribution and diversity in the Mediterranean Sea.
His main research interests include benthic ecology, human impacts on marine communities, ecological modelling, marine conservation and restoration.

Recent publications relevant to Reef ReseArch:

Fricke A, Pey A, Gianni F, Lemee R, Mangialajo L (2018). Multiple stressors and benthic harmful algal blooms (BHABs): potential effects of temperature rise and nutrient enrichment. Marine Pollution Bulletin 131, 552-564. doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.04.012.

Badreddine A, Abboud-Abi Saab M, Gianni F, Ballesteros E, Mangialajo L (2018). First assessment of the Ecological Status in the Levant Basin: application of the CARLIT index along the Lebanese coastline. Ecological Indicators 85, 37-47. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.10.006.

Gianni F, Bartolini F, Pey A, Laurent M, Airoldi L, Mangialajo L. (2017). Threats to large brown algal forests in temperate seas: the overlooked role of native herbivorous fish. Scientific Reports, 7 (1), 6012. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06394-7.

Kotwicki L, Deidun A, Grzelak K, Gianni F (2014). A preliminary comparative assessment of the meiofaunal communities of Maltese pocket sandy beaches. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 150, pp. 111-119. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2013.12.008.

Gianni F, Bartolini F, Airoldi L, Ballesteros E, Francour P, Guidetti P, Meinesz A, Thibaut T, Mangialajo L (2013). Conservation and restoration of marine forests in the Mediterranean Sea and the potential role of Marine Protected Areas. Advances in Oceanography and Limnology, 4:2, 83-101. doi.org/10.1080/19475721.2013.845604.