Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+39 0323 518363 (Telephone)
+39 0323 556513 (Fax)
National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Water Research Institute (IRSA)
Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania Pallanza, Italy
Broad research specialisms: Isotope ecology, stable isotopes, radiocarbon, biogeochemistry, carbon cycling, methane dynamics, trophic interactions, food webs, groundwater ecosystems, subterranean estuaries, coastal aquifers, sampling tool development
Research interest: The focus of my research is the acquisition and synthesis of ecological, hydrological, and biogeochemical data to understand ecosystem-level functions in aquatic environments. I am an isotope ecologist studying the past, present, and future of carbon and energy flow through food webs and aquatic ecosystems. I investigate interactions between biological systems (from organisms to food webs) and elemental cycles (C, N, S, and H). I identify natural and anthropogenic environmental factors that influence biogeochemical processes, species interactions, and biodiversity.
Research projects: Main contributions of my research have focused on the biogeochemistry and ecological ramifications of methane and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the coastal zone. These efforts have resulted in a comprehensive ecosystem function model that integrates landscape-level biogeochemical and hydrological processes and quantifies the magnitude of a methane sink in the karst subterranean estuary.
At MEG, the current EU-funded DARKEST project aims to utilize a novel global database of subterranean fauna and combine it with biogeochemical data and high-resolution hydrogeological maps of the world’s aquifers to achieve an integrated understanding of the drivers of biodiversity patterns in coastal aquifers.
Education: After receiving my Biology Diploma from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 2009, I worked as an Ecologist on terrestrial ecosystems in Hungary. Then a Fulbright Scholarship allowed me to pursue a doctorate degree in the Marine Biology Interdisciplinary Program at Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG). After completing my PhD in 2017, I held a Postdoctoral Scholar appointment (2018-2020) in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry at WHOI and the USGS (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and U.S. Geological Survey) and a Postdoc Fellow position (2020-2021) in the Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science at TAMUG. In 2021, I was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship that allowed me to immerse in a new line of research (project DARKEST) as a member of MEG at CNR-IRSA.
Other activities: I have been a diving instructor since 2005, a profession that not only contributed to my research but allowed me to educate people about aquatic and marine ecosystems through teaching, presentations, field expeditions, educational movies, and an award-winning nature documentary.
Publications (just click here) 