Senior Researcher
Integrative Marine Ecology Department
Tel.: +39 081 5833217
Fax: +39 081 7641355
e-mail: fabio.crocetta(at)szn.it
Research Interests
I’m a marine biologist and zoologist, interested in combining a multidisciplinary approach with the aim to study the North-Eastern Atlantic marine benthic biodiversity, with emphasis on the Mediterranean biota. My research comprises: 1) historical ecology and analysis of material preserved in natural history museums; 2) integrative taxonomy and speciation patters of the native Mediterranean biota; 3) barcoding of the invertebrates from the Gulf of Naples; 4) ecological and faunal dynamics in selected environments (e.g. lagoons, Cystoseira belts); 5) benthic and floating litter and its fouling communities; 6) human-induced changes on biodiversity through alien species introduction, with emphasis on faunal and molecular spread patterns; 7) citizen-science and public engagement through social medias; 8) ECO-EVO-DEVO approaches in model species. My favourite phylogenetic group is constituted by Mollusca, of which I'm also interested in cataloguing and updating taxonomy, nomenclature, and distribution. I currently work as tenured researcher at the Integrative Marine Ecology department in Naples, where I continue working in the research lines listed above in collaboration with Italian and foreign researchers.
Selected Publications
Virgili R, Tanduo V, D’Aniello S, Fontana A, Turon X & Crocetta F (2025). Paedomorphic adaptations in a new Heterostigma species: a novel strategy for ascidians to live in soft-bottom habitats. Invertebrate Systematics, 39: IS24103.
Virgili R, Fasciglione P, Tiralongo F, Pannone R, Palomba M, Santoro M, De Luca P & Crocetta F (2025). Risk assessment at early invasion stages: interdisciplinary approaches maximise the evidence on human-induced and climate-driven fish dispersal. Hydrobiologia, 852(8-9): 2241-2261.
Rizzo L, Minichino R, Longo F, Sciuttieri V, Pedà C, Consoli P & Crocetta F (2024). Not only in the crowd: benthic litter characterization in a low population density area still reveals widespread pollution and local malpractices. Environmental Pollution, 355: 124262.
Rifi M, Basti L, Rizzo L, Tanduo V, Radulovici A, Jaziri S, Uysal İ, Souissi N, Mekki Z & Crocetta F (2023). Tackling bioinvasions in commercially exploitable species through interdisciplinary approaches: A case study on blue crabs in Africa’s Mediterranean coast (Bizerte Lagoon, Tunisia). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 291: 108419.
Rizzo L, Minichino R, Virgili R, Tanduo V, Osca D, Manfredonia A, Consoli P, Colloca F, Crocetta F (2022). Benthic litter in the continental slope of the Gulf of Naples (central-western Mediterranean Sea) hosts limited fouling communities but facilitates molluscan spawning. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 181: 113915.
Virgili R, Tanduo V, Katsanevakis S, Terlizzi F, Villani G, Fontana A, Crocetta F (2022). The Miseno Lake (central-western Mediterranean Sea): an overlooked reservoir of non-indigenous and cryptogenic ascidians in a marine reserve. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9: 866906.
Kleitou P, Crocetta F, Giakoumi S, Giovos I, Hall-Spencer JM, Kalogirou S, Kletou D, Moutopoulos DK, Rees S (2021). Fishery reforms for the management of non-indigenous species. Journal of Environmental Management, 280: 111690.
Crocetta F, Riginella E, Lezzi M, Tanduo V, Balestrieri L, Rizzo L (2020). Bottom-trawl catch composition in a highly polluted coastal area reveals multifaceted native biodiversity and complex communities of fouling organisms on litter discharge. Marine Environmental Research, 155: 104875.
Tsiamis K, Azzurro E, Bariche M, Çinar ME, Crocetta F, De Clerck O, Galil B, Gómez F, Hoffman R, Jensen K, Kamburska L, Langeneck J, Langer MR, Levitt-Barmats Y, Lezzi M, Marchini A, Occhipinti-Ambrogi A, Ojaveer H, Piraino S, Shenkar N, Yankova M, Zenetos A, Žuljević A, Cardoso AC (2020). Prioritizing marine invasive alien species in the EU through Horizon Scanning. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 30(4): 794-845.
Golestani H, Crocetta F, Padula V, Camacho-García Y, Langeneck J, Poursanidis D, Pola M, Yokeş MB, Cervera JL, Jung D-W, Gosliner TM, Araya F, Hooker Y, Schrödl M, Valdés Á (2019). The little Aplysia’s coming of age: From one species to a complex of species complexes in Aplysia parvula Mörch, 1863 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 187(2): 279-330.
