She graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of Siena in 1977, and worked as a research biologist and marine ecologist at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, at the current Ischia Marine Center, from 1983 to 2021, coordinating the Ischia team for some periods. Since 2021 she has been an associated researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics - OGS in Trieste, she is also associated with ISPRA-Rome (September 2023) and the Polar Scientific Institute of the CNR in Messina (May 2024). She has worked in the field of ecology of benthic biota, and coastal benthic ecosystems, with particular focus on the taxonomy and ecology of polychaete marine worms, and the ecology of seagrass systems, especially Posidonia oceanica. She has also worked in coastal polar environments, participating between 1989 and 2006 in 6 oceanographic expeditions to Antarctica and sub-Antarctica within the PNRA and the German and Spanish programmes, coordinating the research group of the SZN team in Ischia. For over 20 years she has been studying the effects of climate change on the benthos, in relation to both the increase in temperature (heat waves, alien species) and ocean acidification. In this later topic she is studying the ecology and eco-physiology of the benthic biota, including seagrasses, which live in particular coastal hydrothermal systems characterized by CO₂ emissions from the seabed (vents) and natural acidification of the waters both at Ischia and in the Aeolian islands. She has supervised approximately 36 master's theses, 11 PhDs and 4 post-docs. She has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Marine Ecology (Wiley; 2005-2013) and has published over 300 scientific papers and 4 books. Passionate about classical and popular music, she completed regular flute studies at the R. Franci music school of Siena.

Graduated in Sciences and Technologies for Environment and Landscape at the University of Milano Bicocca, I am currently a PhD candidate in Polar Sciences at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. My research project focuses on water isotopes analysis of surface snow and Antarctic ice cores for reconstructing past temperatures. I have collaborated with CNR-ISP in Venice on developing Continuous Flow Analysis coupled with Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer system for continuous chemical and isotopic analysis. Additionally, I have contributed to instrument management and maintenance at the Dirigibile Italia station in Svalbard (Ny-Ålesund) during the winter season, and participated in the Ice Memory project by analyzing an alpine ice core. Currently, I am affiliated with CNR-ISP for cutting the Antarctic ice core retrieved from Little Dome C through the Beyond EPICA project.

PhD student in Polar Sciences at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, where he previously obtained a Master's Degree in Environmental Sciences. His research project aims to understand if in the recent period Svalbard has really changed their climatic regime defining the potential associated consequences.

Since 1990 he is full professor of Ecology at the Faculty of Science of the University of Messina (Italy). General Secretary in the following NATO courses coordinated by Dr Trevor Platt, Halifax, Canada: (a) Lipari Island, Italy (12-24 October 1980) on Physiological ecology of Phytoplankton, (b) Bombannes (Bordeaux, France 12-20 May 1982) on Flows of energy and materials in marine ecosyistems: theory and practice, (c) S. Miniato, Italy (1-7 October 1985) on Physiological Ecology of photosynthetic Picopl9ankton in the Ocean. From 1990 to 2002, Italian Delegate to the Scientific Commission of the CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Hobart (Tasmania, Australia). Over 60 months accumulated research experience at sea, including the following PNRA Italian Antarctic Expeditions as Principal Investigator: III Exp. (Terra Nova Bay Ecosystem,1987-88), V (South Pacific Sector,1989-90), X ROSSMIZE (Ross Sea Marginal Ice Zone Ecology,1994-95), XIII PIPEX (Pack Ice Plankton Expedition,1997-98), XV PIED (Pack Ice Ecosystem Dynamics 1999-2000), XX SEAROWS (Sea ice Ecology in the Antarctic: ROss and Weddell Seas) on the Polar Queen, Cariboo, Italica (1987-2002), Peri-Antarctic Oceanographic Expeditions in the Strait of Magellan I (1991) and II (1995), and one Arctic canadian cruise by N/R Hudson (1980). He has been Scientific Responsible of the Operative Unit Zooplankton and Micronekton in the following European projects: VECTOR, RITMARE, COCONET, MARINE STRATEGY. From 1968 to now, his research activity has been continuously addressed to issues on the zooplankton and micronekton ecology and biodiversity. Its main fields of study concern: (a) spatio-temporal distribution and daily vertical migrations (DVM) of marine zooplankton and micronekton communities in the Mediterranean and Polar ecosystems, in relation to the physical, chemical and biological water mass structure) (b) brackish environments functioning and biological response to stressor variables, (c) functioning of the coastal and pelagic food chain, with particular regard to the role of euphausiid and mesopelagic fish in the Deep Scattering Layer (DSL) (d) zooplankton role in the carbon cycle, (e) particles size spectrum (OPC) in the study of aquatic ecosystems (f) effects of climate change on the biology and ecology of Antarctic sea-ice and free water zooplankton communities. During 18 PNRA Antarctic expeditions (1987-2018) in Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea and South Pacific Sector in free water and pack-fast-ice he collected about 6000 samples which are part of the zooplankton and micronekton collection laboratory of the University of Messina. In addition to the classic mesozooplankton and micronekton such as WP2, Indian Ocean Standard Net (IOSN), Bongo 40, IKMT, PHN, advanced electronic multinet are part of its field instrumentation such as BIONESS (1 m2) with 12 nets, MININESS (0.25 m2) with 10 nets 200, 500 and 1000 um, MICRONESS with 4 100 um nets, equipped with a multiparametric probe seabird 11 plus, fluorescence sensor and Optical Plankton Counter (OPC).
Research results are documented in more than 240 papers on national and international peer journals. Editor of these books: Atlas of Marine Zooplankton Strait of Magellan I Copepods (1995) and II Amphipods, Mysids, Euphausiids, Ostracods, Chaetognaths, Springer Verlag (1996); Ross Sea Ecology, Springer Verlag 2000; Mediterranean Ecosystems Structure and Processes, Springer Verlag (2001). Editor of the Research Topic "Ecology of Marine Zooplankton and Micronekton in Polar and Sub-Polar Areas” in Frontiers in Marine Biology (2023-2024).