Research Fellowship
Marine Animal Conservation and Public Engagement Department (CAPE)

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
Napoli (Italy)

e-mail: rosario.balestrieri(at)szn.it
Skype: https://join.skype.com/invite/kUQYA4yhFmMF

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

In the multimedia age, it is of paramount importance to understand which are the most effective strategies for spreading scientific culture, providing correct biological and ecological knowledge and addressing people toward sustainable models of life. It is essential that new knowledge and the most innovative research reach the ordinary citizen as clearly and quickly as possible. In this regard, the Zoological Station with its outreach facilities (Turtle point, Aquarium, DADOM) is an ideal laboratory for measuring the effectiveness of correct scientific communication.
The SZN is the place for deepening knowledge of the marine environment and working at SZN can allow to evaluate the effectiveness of communication on different spatial scales, from the local one that interests the visitor of the public facilities to the global one, linked to social media and his followers
The information campaigns aimed at residents, schools and tourists using informative and educational supports and those conveyed via the web and social media, press, radio, TV, are excellent tools for studying the science literacy of people.
In this context"citizen science" is a particularly interesting research scenario, being an extraordinary (increasingly widespread) tool to actively involve the citizens. The user becomes an investigator within the framework of a research or monitoring project, being informed and empowered and, at the same time provider of useful data that are difficult for researchers to find in any other way.

Selected Publications

Author of 12 publications on ISI-journals

Valerio F., Basile M., Balestrieri R. (2021) The identification of wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots: Citizen science reveals spatial and temporal patterns. Ecol Process 10, 6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-020-00271-4-

Innangi M, Balestrieri R., Danise T., D'Alessandro F., Fioretto A. (2019) From soil to bird community: APartial Least Squares approach to investigate a natural wooded area surrounded by urban patchwork (Astroni crater, southern Italy). Ecological Modelling 01/2019; 394:1-10., DOI:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2019.01.002

Balestrieri R., Basile M., Romano S., Ferraro S., Izzo M., Posillico M., Matteucci G. (2018) Breeding performance of Blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus can be predicted from time since last logging in Mediterranean mixed oak forest. DOI:10.30456/AVO.2018203

Giorgio A, De Bonis S.,Balestrieri R., Rossi G., Guida M. (2018) The Isolation and Identification of Bacteria on Feathers of Migratory Bird Species. 12/2018; 6(4):124., DOI:10.3390/microorganisms6040124

Balestrieri R, Basile M, Posillico M, Altea T, Matteucci G. (2017) Survey Effort Requirements for Bird Community Assessment in Forest Habitats. Acta Ornithologica 08/2017; 52(1):1-9., DOI:10.3161/00016454AO2017.52.1.001

Basile M, Balestrieri R, Posillico M, Altea T, Matteucci G. (2016) Measuring bird abundance - A comparison of methodologies between capture/recapture and audio-visual surveys. Avocetta 12/2016;

Basile M, Valerio F., Balestrieri R, Posillico M, Bucci R, Altea T, De Cinti B, Matteucci G. (2016) Patchiness of forest landscape can predict species distribution better than abundance: the case of a forest-dwelling passerine, the short-toed treecreeper, in central Italy. PeerJ 09/2016; 4:e2398(18). DOI:10.7717/peerj.2398

Valerio F, Basile M, Balestrieri R, Posillico M, Di Donato S, Altea T, Matteucci G. (2016) The reliability of a composite biodiversity indicator in predicting bird species richness at different spatial scales. Ecological Indicators 12/2016; 71. DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.043

Basile M, Balestrieri R, De Groot M, Flajšman K, Posillico M. (2016) Conservation of birds as a function of forestry. Italian Journal of Agronomy 01/2016; 11(S1).

Balestrieri R, Basile M., De Groot M, Flajšman K., Posillico M. (2016) Did ManFor C.BD forest treatments influence diversity and composition of the bird community?. Italian Journal of Agronomy 01/2016; 11(S1). DOI:10.4081/ija.2016.789

Badano D., Balestrieri R., Basile M., Birtele D., Cistrone L., Corezzola S., Costa M., de Groot M., Jurc M., Mason F., Meterc G., Posillico M., Romano A., Zapponi L. (2016) Assessing indicators of animal diversity. Annals of Silvicultural Research 40(1), pp. 88-97

Balestrieri R., Basile M, Posillico M, Altea T, De Cinti B, Matteucci G. (2015) A guild-based approach to assessing the influence of beech forest structure on bird communities. Forest Ecology and Management 07/2015; 356. DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2015.07.011