- obtained the PhD in Animal Biology (Ethology) in 1995; - is a researcher at the Department of Animal and Genetics Biology at the University of Florence since 2005; - coordinated or participated in various coastal management projects funded by the Tuscany Region: the VABIC project, aimed at monitoring the health status of Tuscan coastal ecosystems and the BIOMART project, aimed at acquiring data on biodiversity in the Tuscan rocky coasts; - has been part of the scientific staff of three EU international projects since 1996 to focus on the ecology and biodiversity of eastern Africa's mangroves (INCO-DC program) and on the ecology of the Mediterranean and Atlantic rocky coasts ( Prog. MAST); - was a scientific coordinator for the University of Florence in the PUMPSEA project for the study of environmental impacts in Eastern Africa mangroves, VI EU Framework Program; - is currently responsible for the BiBAT project, funded by the Tuscany Region, which provides data acquisition, geo-referencing and biogeographical function of the artificial barriers at the sea of ​​the Tuscan coast and is scaled to their management - is currently responsible for the CREC Project, funded by EU within the Marie Curie Funds and aimed at studying the impact of climate change on African and American mangroves - has organized 2 international congresses on the mangrove ecology and biology of the Decapods of the Mediterranean; - is a member of various national and international scientific societies; - holds international collaborations with universities in Lisbon, VUB (Brussels, Belgium), Dresden (Germany), Padua, Milan and with the Smithsonian Institution and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven (Germany); - author of over 60 publications in international journals

 Animal Biology, Genetics