Education and training
- 1995, Master Degree in Agricultural Sciences, University of Pisa.
- 1998, PhD in Crop Protection (curriculum: Agricultural Entomology), University of Pisa.
- 2001-2004, Research grant, University of Pisa.
- 2007, Research entomologist at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa
- 2016, Associate Professor at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa.
- 2023, Full Professor at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa.
The research activity is documented by more than 250 research papers (more than 200 published on top-ranked journals with impact factor; H-index is 47). The main research fields are:
- Insect behavior and biological control of fruit flies, with particular emphasis on the host location strategies of parasitic wasps and their chemical ecology
- Tri-trophic interactions in the parasitoid-plant-phytophagous model
- Repellency and toxicity of plant extracts against agricultural and medical insects
- Functional foods: honey and pollen
- Pollinator insects of crops
- Faunistical studies in natural reserves
Technical skills
- Optical and dissecting microscope
- SPME and GC-MS analysis
- GC-EAD
- High-speed video camera recordings
- Bioassays in still-air arena, olfactometers, Y-tube
- Breeding-up various insect populations in laboratory
- Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM)