Ph. D. Student
Integrative Marine Ecology Department
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Napoli - Italia
Tel.: +39 071 2204649
E-mail: chiara.gregorin(at)szn.it
Director of Studies: Paolo Mariani
Internal Supervisor: Tomas Vega Fernandez
External Supervisor: Luigi Musco, Stefania Puce
Program: Italian University, Università Politecnica delle Marche, XXXVI ciclo
Research Interests
During my Ph.D course, I’m working on the predation of large prey performed by cnidarian polyps. Although benthic cnidarians are considered suspension-feeders, several observations of polyps feeding upon big gelatinous plankton (jellyfish and salps) are reported. I’m particularly focusing on small-sized polyps collaborating to catch and feed upon a large prey, sharing efforts and benefits of the predation (protocooperation). I’m carrying out laboratory experiments on the costs:benefit ratio of the predation of large prey versus passive suspension- feeding, on the protocooperation success depending on the aggregation level of polyps, and in general on the feeding behaviour of polyps when they face a large prey. I’m working with the model organism Aurelia coerulea in its benthic stage, rearing polyps in laboratory conditions. I’m also collecting observations in the field on different species of anthozoans feeding upon jellyfish, and performing experiments on protocooperation taking advantage of jellyfish blooms. In my past experiences, I worked on microzooplankton dynamics in the Gulf of Trieste with a taxonomic approach, on the effects of contaminants (PAHs and Copper) on the tunicate Botryllus schlosserii, and on the chemical cues produced by metabolic activity of cyprinids that are known to affect daphniids populations in terms of diel vertical migrations, morphology and behaviour. My main research interests are the ecological and trophic interactions between species. In particular I often focused on the prey:predator relationship and on the factors that can modify this relationship.
Selected Publications
Roveta C, Annibaldi A, Domenichelli F, Gregorin C, Gridelli S, Pantano V, Vagnoni F, Puce S. (2022). Single and combined effects of two trace elements (Cd and Cu) on the asexual reproduction of Aurelia sp. polyps. Aquat Ecol, 1-7.
Gregorin C, Albarano L, Somma E, Costantini M, Zupo V. (2021). Assessing the ecotoxicity of Copper and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: comparison of effects on Paracentrotus lividus and Botryllus schlosseri, as alternative bioassay methods. Water, 13(5): 711.
Roveta C, Annibaldi A, Afghan A, Calcinai B, Di Camillo CG, Gregorin C, Illuminati S, Pulido Mantas T, Truzzi C, Puce S. (2021). Biomonitoring of Heavy Metals: The Unexplored Role of Marine Sessile Taxa. Appl Sci, 11(2): 580.
Gregorin C, Musco L, Somma E, Zupo V. (2020). Behavioural responses of the colonial sea squirt Botrylloides violaceus Oka to suspended food micro-particles in laboratory cultures. J Mar Sci Eng., 8(12):1021.
Chiarore A, Palombo C, Ciscato M, Gregorin C, Munari M. (2019). Let mum take care of it! Maternal buffer effects in response to climate change in the sea urchin Arbacia lixula. Poster presentation at the SIBE Congress – VIII Edition, Padua September 1-4, 2019.
