Valentina Marconi
Postgraduate Research Assistant
Curriculum Vitae
-
2014 – present: Postgraduate Research Assistant, Indicators and Assessments Unit, Institute of Zoology.
-
2014: Research Intern, Living Planet Index, Institute of Zoology.
-
2011 – 2013: Postgraduate Research Assistant, University of Turin.
-
2009: Herpetology keeper, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
-
2005 - 2007: MSc in Animal Behaviour, University of Turin.
Research interests
As a Postgraduate Research Assistant in the Indicators and Assessments Unit at the Institute of Zoology, I work on the upkeep and development of a large global database of animal populations, the Living Planet Index (LPI) Database (www.livingplanetindex.org). The LPI is an indicator of biodiversity based on abundance trends of vertebrate species from around the world. It is a great tool for communicating global biodiversity trends to a wide audience and it can be disaggregated at the regional or national level to provide policy-makers with information on local trends. Over the past few years I have been mainly working on developing national biodiversity indicators applying the LPI methodology, in particular for Canada (https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environment...). In 2016, I also contributed to the production of WWF’s Living Planet Report, a synthesis of trends in global biodiversity and the human activities affecting it, which is published every two years and reaches millions of people around the world. I am particularly interested in unveiling the links between animal population trends and environmental and socio-economic factors, and in exploring art as a way to engage a wider audience in science.
Recent publications
- McRae L., Freeman R. & Marconi V. 'The Living Planet Index' in: Living Planet Report 2016: Risk and resilience in a new era (ed. Oerlemans N). WWF International, Gland, Switzerland (2016).
- Deinet S., Zöckler C., Jacoby D., Tresize E., Marconi V., McRae L., Svobods M., & Barry T. The Arctic Species Trend Index: Migratory Birds Index. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Akureyri, Iceland (2015).
- Donno D.; Beccaro G.L.; Mellano M.G.; Cerutti A.K.; Marconi V.; Bounous G. Botanicals in Ribes nigrum bud-preparations: an analytical fingerprinting to evaluate the bioactive contribution to total phytocomplex, Pharmaceutical biology, Volume 51, Issue 10 (2013).
- Donno D., Marconi V., Mellano M.G., Beccaro G.L. Fragola e piccoli frutti in Valle d'Aosta: sviluppo, sperimentazione e realtà produttive, L'Informatore agricolo, pp. 30-32,Volume 1 (2012).
- Castellano S., Zanollo V., Marconi V., Berto G. The mechanisms of sexual selection in a lek-breeding anuran, Hyla intermedia, Animal Behaviour Volume 77, Issue 1 (2009).
- Castellano S., Marconi V., Zanollo V., Berto G. Alternative mating tactics in the Italian treefrog, Hyla intermedia. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Volume 63, Number 8 (2009).