Ascolta

PhD, Research Associate
Name: Cristina Andolina
Nationality: Italian
Email: cri.andolina@gmail.com

Cristina Andolina, born in Palermo in 1986, graduated at the University of Palermo with a Master’s degree in Marine Ecology in 2013. During her postgraduate studies she spent one year (2011-2012) as Erasmus exchange student at the University of Portsmouth (UK), where she worked on a project assessing the effects of extreme climate events on benthic community through experimental manipulation, by subjecting the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum to simulated heat waves. After graduation in 2013, she earned a professional qualification as Biologist and started her PhD in Environmental Sciences at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, working in collaboration with the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences of the University of Palermo. Also, she had the opportunity to participate to a training school organized by the COST Action ES0906, about the “Effects of increased CO₂/OA on seagrass meadows” in May 2013, and is currently involved in a study assessing the effects of acidification on the trophic structure of benthic macrofauna communities associated to macrophytes situated in proximity of natural CO₂ vents.

Her research project, focused on the ecology of coastal waters, aims to characterize the trophic structure of coastal marine ecosystems, with the purpose to detect its variations at spatial and temporal scale and to assess its potential role as indicator of environmental change. In particular, she is looking at the contribution provided by different habitats, both natural and artificial, to the trophic organization of fish species at population and community level, through the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes.

Latest conference contributions:

• Andolina C, Martínez-Crego B, Vizzini S, Massa-Gallucci A, Gambi MC (2014). Composition and trophic structure of motile fauna populations in macrophytes of a natural CO2 vent system. In: L’ecologia oggi: responsabilità e governance. Ferrara, 15-17 Settembre 2014. (Oral presentation).
• Andolina C, Franzoi, P, Vizzini S (2014). Using food web metrics as descriptors to evaluate variation of trophic organization at spatial and temporal scales. In: X incontro dei Dottorandi in Ecologia e Scienze dei sistemi acquatici. Palermo, Italia, 07-10 Aprile 2014. (Poster presentation).
• Vizzini S, Martínez-Crego B, Andolina C, Massa-Gallucci A, Gambi MC (2014). Managing Structure of motile fauna populations in macrophytes of a Mediterranean CO2 vent system. In: Seagrasses in Europe: Threats, Responses and Management Olhão, Portugal, 4-6 March, 2014. (Poster presentation).