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Ecology and conservation of amphibians and reptiles

Research Area: Ecology - Zoology

Coordinators: Roberto Sacchi, Marco Mangiacotti

ERC sectors: LS8_1 Ecosystem and community ecology, macroecology; LS8_3 Conservation biology; LS8_4 Population biology, population dynamics, population genetics

Herpetology laboratory
Laboratorio di Biologia Molecolare Applicata alla Zoologia
Research topics

1) Ecology and Distribution of Amphibians and Reptiles
2) Ecological Niche and Spatial Connectivity Modeling
3) Conservation of Italian Amphibian and Reptile Species

The research aims to gather basic information on the ecology and distribution of Italian amphibians and reptiles, useful for implementing species management and conservation projects, using ecological suitability and spatial connectivity models.

Publications

Bütikofer, L., Anderson, K., Bebber, D. P., Bennie, J. J., Early, R. I., & Maclean, I. M. D. (2020). The problem of scale in predicting biological responses to climate. Global Change Biology, 26(12), 6657–6666. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15358


Falaschi, M., Mangiacotti, M., Sacchi, R., Scali, S., & Razzetti, E. (2018). Electric circuit theory applied to alien invasions: A connectivity model predicting the balkan frog expansion in Northern Italy. Acta Herpetologica, 13(1), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-20871


Mangiacotti, M., Scali, S., Sacchi, R., Bassu, L., Nulchis, V., & Corti, C. (2013). Assessing the Spatial Scale Effect of Anthropogenic Factors on Species Distribution. PLoS ONE, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067573


Yang, W., Feiner, N., Salvi, D., Laakkonen, H., Jablonski, D., Pinho, C., Carretero, M. A., Sacchi, R., Zuffi, M. A. L., Scali, S., Plavos, K., Pafilis, P., Poulakakis, N., Lymberakis, P., Jandzik, D., Schulte, U., Aubret, F., Badiane, A., de Lanuza, G. P. i., … Uller, T. (2022). Population Genomics of Wall Lizards Reflects the Dynamic History of the Mediterranean Basin. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab311


Zuffi, M. A. L., Coladonato, A. J., Lombardo, G., Torroni, A., Boschetti, M., Scali, S., Mangiacotti, M., & Sacchi, R. (2022). The Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus campestris, unexpected presence on Gorgona Island (Tuscan Archipelago). Acta Herpetologica, 17(2), 135–145. https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-12388