Ph. D. Student
Integrative Marine Ecology Department

Tel.: +39 340 499 4379
Fax: +39 081 7641355
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Skype: erika.fabbrizzi

Curriculum Vitae

Director of Studies: Simonetta Fraschetti
Internal Supervisor: Luigi Musco
Program: University of Naples Federico II, XXXV cycle

Research Interests

Worldwide we are observing habitat loss and ecosystems degradation as a result of human impacts and global climate changes. Multiple threats affect in many ways all the ecosystems, altering their structure, function and the services they provide. In this framework, International and European institutions acknowledge that conservation efforts are not enough anymore and identify restoration as a key action to reverse the loss of habitats and ecosystems. My PhD project is focused on marine restoration under the environmental changes which are undermining the Mediterranean Sea. My project is aimed at restoring macroalgal forests (e.g. Cystoseira forests), which play primary roles for the marine coastal ecosystems, from both the structural and the functional point of view. I am particularly interested in understanding the feasibility of restoration actions under present and future environmental conditions, by means of modelling tools which allow to predict possible scenarios for macroalgal forests distribution. By exploiting Machine Learning techniques for models development (e.g. Habitat Suitability Models), I try to find out the main factors which regulate the distribution of macroalgal forests, setting, as a result, restoration priorities at Mediterranean scale. Thanks to the involvement in the EU project AFRIMED, I have the opportunity to share data and information coming from all the Mediterranean countries and to collaborate with some of the foremost experts in this field, gaining the critical knowledge to carry out my PhD studies and researches.

Publications

Fabbrizzi E, Scardi M, Ballesteros E, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Cebrian E, Ceccherelli G, De Leo F, Deidun A, Guarnieri G, Falace A, Fraissiniet S, Giommi C, Macic V, Mangialajo L, Mannino AM, Piazzi L, Ramdani M, Rilov G, Rindi L, Rizzo L, Sarà G, Ben Suissi J, Taskin E, Fraschetti S. (2020). Modeling Macroalgal Forest Distribution at Mediterranean Scale: Present Status, Drivers of Changes and Insights for Conservation and Management. Frontier in Marine Science 7: 20.

Fabbrizzi E, Scardi M, Ballesteros E, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Cebrian E, Ceccherelli G, De Leo F, Deidun A, Guarnieri G, Falace A, Fraissiniet S, Giommi C, Macic V, Mangialajo L, Mannino AM, Piazzi L, Ramdani M, Rilov G, Rindi L, Rizzo L, Sarà G, Ben Suissi J, Taskin E, Fraschetti S. (2019). Modellizzare la distribuzione delle foreste macroalgali nel Mediterraneo: stato attuale, fattori che guidano i cambiamenti e conoscenze per stabilire le priorità di conservazione. Biol. Mar. Med. 26:123-126