XXXVIII CICLO | Giusto Chiara

Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Sciences (L-32) and Master’s Degree in Environmental Monitoring and Remediation (LM-75). My goal is to apply the knowledge acquired by dealing with the ecological aspects related to both biotic communities and the abiotic environment, in a context of anthropization and climate change. My research interests are mainly in zoology, in particular invertebrate animals.

Benthic macroinvertebrates are a functional group that ensures ecological quality within freshwaters, allowing the recycling of nutrients due to their position in the food web. In addition, this group exhibits different levels of sensitivity to variations in their habitat, leading them to be historically used as bioindicators of water quality. Despite this, the biodiversity of these organisms, as well as their delicate habitat, still has little attention from the conservation point of view.

The project aims to assess the biodiversity of benthic macroinvertebrate taxa, integrating three levels of taxonomic identification: the traditional morphology-based identification, and the most recent molecular methods of identification starting from both the individual (DNA barcoding) and the environmental matrix (freshwaters; eDNA metabarcoding). The survey will be conducted in Protected Areas, to assess their efficiency in the conservation of biodiversity characteristic of river ecosystems.