Researcher

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

Integrative Marine Ecology Department
Calabria Marine Centre - CRIMAC
C.da Torre Spaccata, Località Torre Spaccata, 87071 Amendolara - Italia

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Contatto Skype: dani.pica

Link CV
Daniela Pica - ResearchGate

Research Interests

Taxonomy is one of the oldest spheres of biological investigation. By discovering, identifying, and describing new species, taxonomy provides the foundation upon which all biological research rests. This is why my research interest is based on it, particularly on the taxonomy and evolution of marine invertebrates, mainly cnidarian and bryozoans. I have described many new species found in all the oceans by integrating traditional methods of analysis with modern and genetic techniques. I have used many different approaches to investigate the morphology of invertebrates, from histology to microtomography, but also to investigate the ecology and the symbiosis among taxa. Starting from a taxonomical approach, I have worked on the ecology of benthic communities both on rocky, sandy, and anthropic substrates paying attention also to non-indigenous species and invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea. In all my studies an important aspect is represented by field surveys, sample collection, and underwater experiments that gave me an important base and overview of the taxa relationship, distribution, and habitat changes over time.

Selected Publications

• V. Palummo, G. Milisenda, D. Pica, S. Canese, E. Salvati, N. Spanò, T. Romeo, S. Greco (2024). Improving the knowledge base of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems’ distribution in the Amendolara Bank (Ionian Sea). Mediterranean Marine Science 25(1): 220-230.
(DOI: 10.12681/mms.35680)
• C.J.L. Fourreau, D. Pica, E.A. Jamodiong, I. Mizukami, G. Mironenko, J.D. Reimer (2024). Millepora spp. as substrates of their hydrozoan counterparts Stylaster sp. in the Pacific Ocean. Diversity 16(3): 142.
(DOI: 10.3390/d16030142 )
• E. Nocella, S.S. Zvonareva, G. Fassio, D. Pica, B. Buge, R. Villa, N. Puillandre, M.V. Modica, M. Oliverio (2024). Spicy food for the egg-cowries: the evolution of corallivory in the Ovulidae (Gastropoda: Cypraeoidea). Frontiers in Marine Science 10.
(DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1323156)
• D. Maggioni, P. Schuchert, A.N. Ostrovsky, A. Schiavo, B.W. Hoeksema, D. Pica, S. Piraino, R. Arrigoni, D. Seveso, E. Montalbetti, P. Galli (2024). Systematics and character evolution of capitate hydrozoans. Cladistics 40(2): 107-134.
(DOI: 10.1111/cla.12567)
• V. Palummo, G. Milisenda, S. Canese, E. Salvati, D. Pica, A. Passarelli, N. Spanò, T. Romeo, S. Greco (2023). Effect of environmental and anthropogenic factors on the distribution and co-occurrence of cold-water corals. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10.
(DOI: doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1272066)

Other

Editors of WORMS for the family Stylasteridae (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) (2020): http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=editors
Pica D. (2019) Lace corals at Lizard Island. Post on The Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation webpage. https://lirrf.org/posts/lace-corals-at-lizard-island/