XXXVIII CICLO | Ferrante Federico

I am a psychobiologist who has always been interested in the study of animal behaviour. My research has  always focused on cognition and behaviour in invertebrates. After studying vision and learning in jumping spiders at the University of Padua, I moved to Florence to focus on pollinator species. Here I first studied the effects of environmental stressors such as pesticides and microplastics on honeybees. My current PhD project with “Università degli studi della Tuscia” aims to better understand and delineate the biological and behavioural basisof pollinators well-being, with a special focus on domesticated bees, in order to promote innovative and sustainable strategies for studying and raising these key insects.

The aim of the project is to develop optimized and sustainable maintenance strategies for colonies of domesticated bees raised for agricultural and pollination purposes. Specifically, the PhD project aims to investigate and evaluate how to implement some key
aspects of colony rearing. Over the three years of the PhD, aspects of fitness, health and individual and colony defenses against typical environmental stressors will be explored. At the same time, aspects related to colony productivity, declined mainly in the foraging activity, will be investigated. Furthermore, the potential of pollinating insects as an alternative source of protein supply will also be explored, with a special focus on how enriched diets could alter the nutritional profile.