Ph. D. Student
Ecosustainable Marine Biotechnology Department

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Naples - Italy

Tel.: +39 081 5833503
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Skype: emanuele.somma93

Curriculum Vitae

Director of Studies: Antonio Terlizzi
Internal Supervisor: Valerio Zupo
External Supervisor: Maria Costantini
Program: XXXVI cycle, Università degli Studi di Trieste

Research Interests

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

Gregorin, C.; Musco, L.; Somma, E.; Zupo, V. Behavioural Responses of the Colonial Sea Squirt Botrylloides violaceus Oka to Suspended Food Micro-Particles in Laboratory Cultures. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8, 1021. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121021

Mutalipassi, M.; Riccio, G.; Mazzella, V.; Galasso, C.; Somma, E.; Chiarore, A.; de Pascale, D.; Zupo, V. Symbioses of Cyanobacteria in Marine Environments: Ecological Insights and Biotechnological Perspectives. Mar. Drugs 2021, 19, 227. https://doi.org/10.3390/md19040227

Gregorin, C.; Albarano, L.; Somma, E.; Costantini, M.; Zupo, V. Assessing the Ecotoxicity of Copper and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Comparison of Effects on Paracentrotus lividus and Botryllus schlosseri, as Alternative Bioassay Methods. Water 2021, 13, 711. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13050711

Glaviano, F.; Ruocco, N.; Somma, E.; De Rosa, G.; Campani, V.; Ametrano, P.; Caramiello, D.; Costantini, M.; Zupo, V. Two Benthic Diatoms, Nanofrustulum shiloi and Striatella unipunctata, Encapsulated in Alginate Beads, Influence the Reproductive Efficiency of Paracentrotus lividus by Modulating the Gene Expression. Mar. Drugs 2021, 19, 230. https://doi.org/10.3390/md19040230

Levy T, Zupo V, Mutalipassi M, Somma E, Ruocco N, Costantini M, Abehsera S, Manor R, Chalifa-Caspi V, Sagi A and Aflalo ED (2021) Protandric Transcriptomes to Uncover Parts of the Crustacean Sex-Differentiation Puzzle. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:745540. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.745540