Research Felowwship
Integrative Marine Ecology Department

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Napoli - Italia
Tel.: +39 081 5833212
E-mail:
Contatto Skype: marco.cifoni

Curriculum Vitae

Supervisor: Maria Grazia Mazzocchi
Appointed on project: MicroplastiX

Research Intersts

My research interests are being focused on copepods since my PhD and first post-doc experiences. Planktonic copepods are a fundamental link between primary producers and secondary consumers in both marine and freshwater environments. For this reason, my interest in this extremely diverse group has grown as I have analysed their role in the ecosystem functioning and environmental risk assessment of both groundwater and surface water environments. Understanding the effects of xenobiotics on this taxon represents a crucial challenge to develop an early warning system of environmental status. Among the emerging pollutants whose environmental risk is widely recognized are microplastics. My current task is to assess the relevance of microplastics as potential prey for zooplankton within the JPI Oceans MicroplastiX Project. The research activities that will be carried out in the year 2022 at SZN include the analyses of iponeustonic zooplankton taxa collected in the Gulf of Naples. The organisms will be digested by chemicals and both the abundance and kind of microplastics will be assessed for the whole zooplankton community with a species-specific approach. In particular, the most susceptible zooplankton species to microplastic ingestion will be selected for grazing experiments. In particular, we will evaluate how the presence of mpls affect the feeding behaviour and ingestion rates of the selected species. The results of this research will help to understand the extent of the effects of microplastics on the whole trophic system.

Selected Publications

Cifoni M, Boggero A, Galassi DMP, Di Lorenzo T. (2021). An Overview of Studies on Meiofaunal Traits of the Littoral Zone of Lakes. Water, 13(4), 473.

Di Lorenzo T, Fiasca B, Di Cicco M, Cifoni M, Galassi DMP. (2021). Taxonomic and functional trait variation along a gradient of ammonium contamination in the hyporheic zone of a Mediterranean stream. Ecol. Ind., 132: 108268.

Di Lorenzo T, Cifoni M, Baratti M, Pieraccini G, Di Marzio WD, Galassi DMP. (2021). Four scenarios of environmental risk of diclofenac in European groundwater ecosystems. Env. Poll., 117315.

Di Lorenzo T, Cifoni M, Fiasca B, Di Cioccio A, Galassi DMP. (2018). Ecological risk assessment of pesticide mixtures in the alluvial aquifers of central Italy: Toward more realistic scenarios for risk mitigation. Sc. Tot. Env., 644: 161-172.

Cifoni M, Galassi DMP, Faraloni C, Di Lorenzo T. (2017). Test procedures for measuring the (sub)chronic effects of chemicals on the freshwater cyclopoid Eucyclops serrulatus. Chemosphere. 173: 89-98.

Di Marzio WD, Cifoni M, Saenz ME, Galassi DMP, Di Lorenzo T. (2017). Ecotoxicity of Imazamox and ionized ammonia binary mixture on two different species of freshwater copepods: implication for the environmental risk assessment in groundwater bodies. Ecotox. Env. Saf. 149.

Di Lorenzo T, Melita M, Cifoni M, Galassi DMP, Iannucci A, Biricolti S, Gori M, Baratti M. () Effect of ammonia on the gene expression levels of the freshwater cyclopoid Eucyclops serrulatus. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology. 51: 138-141

Di Lorenzo T, Borgoni R, Ambrosini R, Cifoni M, Galassi DMP, Petitta M. 2015. Occurrence of volatile organic compounds in shallow alluvial aquifers of a Mediterranean region: baseline scenario and ecological implications. Sci. Tot. Env. 538: 712-723. DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.08.077

Di Lorenzo T, Di Marzio WD, Cifoni M, Fiasca B, Baratti M, Sáenz Maria E, Galassi DMP. (2015). Temperature effect on the sensitivity of the copepod Eucyclops serrulatus (Crustacea, Copepoda, Cyclopoida) to agricultural pollutants in the hyporheic zone. Curr. Zool. 61 (4): 629–640.

Di Lorenzo T, Cifoni M, Lombardo P, Fiasca B, Galassi DMP. (2014). Ammonium threshold values for groundwater quality in the EU may not protect groundwater fauna: evidence from an alluvial aquifer in Italy. Hydrobiologia. 743:139–150.