Ph.D. Student
Ecosustainable Marine Biotechnology Department
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Naples - Italy
Tel.: +39 081 5833 319
Fax: +39 081 7641355
E-mail: stella.terzo(at)gmail.com
Contatto Skype: stella.terzo_1
Internal Supervisor(s): Donatella de Pascale, Maria Cristina Mangano
External Supervisor: NunziaCarla Spanò
Program: Università italiane, XXXVI Ciclo
Research Interests
Deep-sea habitat are ecosystems of great importance hosting more than 95% of global biosphere (Cartes et al. 2004), it is inhabited by a large number of species (Danovaro et al. 2010; Ramirez-Lodra et al. 2010), mainly erected passive suspension feeders with low growth rate and high longevity, like of sponges, cnidarians. These habitats, called Marine Animal Forest (MAF) and recognized as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME), promote biodiversity (Chimienti et al 2020) and perform several essential ecosystem services, such as benthic-pelagic coupling regulation (Buhl-Mortensen et al., 2010; Rossi and Rizzo, 2021), organic matter dynamics and blue carbon stock (Cerrano et al., 2015; Coppari et al. 2019). My PhD project is focused on the study of the role Marine Animal Forest in addressing ecosystem functioning, in terms of associated biodiversity and effect on quality of sediment and water column and on the investigation of bioactive potential of the metabolites, produced by these organisms. Another aim is the assessment of the individual responses of Marine Animal Forest organisms to fishing disturbance through the measurement of their metabolic stress (i.e oxygen consumption) after exposure to disturbance.
