Position: Researcher
SZN Dept: Integrative Marine Ecology
Email: simone.farina(at)szn.it
Skype: sifar78
Telephone:
Twitter: @simfarina
Web: SZN webpage
Web: Google scholar
Personal keywords: #FunctionalBenthicEcosystems, #EcosystemConservation, #TrophicInteractions, #SustainableFishery, #ClimateChange
Scientific interests in a nutshell:
The aim of my research is to study the effects of anthropogenic changes on benthic community and ecosystem functioning. I'm interested in evaluating trophic interactions that involved keystone predators, meso-predators, dominant species, habitat modifiers and complexity structure of habitat within macrophyte communities. I carry out removal/exclusion experiments and correlative approach studies between trends of species abundance and distribution. I estimate changes in trophic cascade effects on macrophytes, the key habitats for biodiversity, through the assessment of sea urchin population dynamic, as levers of the ecosystems balance. I attempt to highlight the effects on sea urchins and on benthic community as consequence, of human drivers such as overfishing and environmental drivers such as temperature, nutrients and marine heat-waves, among other climate change evidences. My purpose is to contribute in guaranteeing natural resources while maintaining ecosystem functioning and conserving biodiversity.
Selected publications:
Farina S, Ceccherelli G, Piazzi L, Grech D, Panzalis P, Navone AG and Guala I (2022). Protection effectiveness and sea urchin predation risk: The role of roving predators beyond the boundaries of a marine protected area in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
Ceccherelli G, Addis P, Atzori F, Cadoni N, Casu M, Coppa S, De Luca M, de Lucia GA, Farina S, Fois N, Frau F, Gazale V, Grech D, Guala I, Mariani M, Marras MS, Navone A, Pansini A, Panzalis P, Pinna F, Ruiu A, Scarpa F, Piazzi L. 2022. Sea urchin harvest inside marine protected areas: an opportunity to investigate the effects of exploitation where trophic upgrading is achieved. PeerJ 10:e12971
Asnaghi V, Chindris A, Leggieri F, Scolamacchia M, Brundu G, Guala I, Loi B, Farina S (2020). Decreased pH impairs sea urchin resistance to predatory fish: A combined laboratory-field study to understand the fate of top-down processes in future oceans. Marine Environmental Research.
Farina S, Baroli M, Brundu R, Conforti A, Cucco A, De Falco G, Guala I, Guerzoni S, Massaro G, Quattrocchi G, Romagnoni G, Brambilla W (2020) The challenge of managing the commercial harvesting of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus: advanced approaches are required. PeerJ 8: e10093
Farina S, Quattrocchi G, Guala I, Cucco A (2018) Hydrodynamic patterns favouring sea urchin recruitment in coastal areas: A Mediterranean study case. Marine Environmental Research.