Ph. D. Student
Integrative Marine Ecology Department (EMI)
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Sicily Marine Center
Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo (complesso Roosevelt)
Palermo - Italia
Tel.: +39 392 6391476
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Director of Studies: Emanuela Fanelli
Tutor: Carlo Cattano
Internal Supervisor: Manfredi Di Lorenzo
Program: Corso di Dottorato (D.M.226/2021)- XL Ciclo -DR082-Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, percorso PDS1-2024-Biologia ed Ecologia Marina
Research Interests
My interests are in the ecology of elasmobranchs and their conservation, and integrate different methodologies to study diet, trophic position within the food web, and movement/migration patterns. During my Ph.D. activities, I will focus on some threatened species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and specifically on analyzing the changes that these species experienced in terms of abundance, occurrence, and resource use over time, due to human-related activities, such as overfishing and climate change. In addition to different approaches already deepened, such as Stomach Content Analysis (SCA) and Stable Isotope Analysis (SIA) on different tissues (muscle, vertebra, spine) on alive organisms and museum specimens, I will integrate new non-invasive techniques such as DNA metabarcoding from cloacal swabs. The aim of my activities is to contribute to their knowledge and conservation by promoting specific management measures. My studies take place in the laboratory, using instruments such as stereomicroscope with camera and the MicroMill micro-driller, as well as in the field with the collaboration of fishermen.
Selected Publications
Caracausi L, Da Ros Z, Premici A, Gennari E, Fanelli E. (2024). Trophic Ecology of the Pyjama Shark Poroderma africanum (Gmelin, 1789) Elucidated by Stable Isotopes. Animals, 14(17), 2559.
Caracausi L, Da Ros Z, Masia Lillo P, Ligas A, Fanelli E. (2024).Trophic ecology of Scyliorhinus canicula in the Mediterranean Sea: literature review and insights from a Tyrrhenian case-study. Submitted to Regional Studies in Marine Science.
