PhD, Research Associate
Name: Valentina Costa
Nationality: Italian
Email: valentina.costa03@unipa.it

Valentina Costa born in Palermo (Italy) in 1983 and graduated in Marine Biology at University of Palermo in 2009. In 2013, she got her PhD in Ecology at University of Parma (Italy) in collaboration with the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences at University of Palermo working on the analysis of detritus-based food webs in seagrass ecosystems and the effects of ocean acidification. She participated in several projects using stable isotope analysis to evaluate trophic structure rocky shores (vermetid reefs), to assess trace element bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains and to study food sources of echinoderms. She participated in two specialization courses about monitoring and sustainable management of aquatic and marine ecosystems and in two statistical courses at IAMC-CNR (Italy) and at University of Gothenburg (Sweden). She took part, also, in the project “Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a changing climate – MedSeA” funded by the European Commission. After her PhD, She spent a six-month period at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel (Germany) with a project focused on the ocean acidification effects on Zostera marina decomposition with an International Training Fellowship funded by University of Palermo.

Currently, she works as a Research Associate at the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences of University of Palermo on a project about the use of food sources by the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus using the stable isotope approach.

She is co-author of 6 papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Latest Publications

• Signa G, Mazzola A, Costa V, Vizzini S (2015). Bottom-up control of macrobenthic communities in a guanotrophic coastal system. Plos One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117544
• Costa V, Mazzola A, Vizzini S (2014). Holothuria tubulosa Gmelin 1791 (Holothuroidea, Echinodermata) enhances organic matter recycling in Posidonia oceanica. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 461:226-232
• Vizzini S, Di Leonardo R, Costa V, Tramati CD, Luzzu F, Mazzola A, (2013). Trace element bias in the use of CO₂ vents as analogues for low-pH environments: implication for contamination levels in acidified oceans. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 134:19-30
• Vizzini S, Costa V, Tramati CD, Gianguzza P, Mazzola A (2013). Trophic transfer of trace elements in an isotopically constructed food chain from a semi-enclosed marine coastal area (Stagnone di Marsala, Sicily, Mediterranean). Archives of Environmental contamination and Toxycology DOI: 10.1007/s00244-013-9933-1
• Colombo F, Costa V, Dubois SF, Gianguzza P, Mazzola A, Vizzini S (2013). Trophic structure of vermetid reef community: High trophic diversity at small spatial scales. Journal of Sea Research 77:93-99