Supervisors: Prof. Giovanni Benelli and Dr. Alessandro Cini
Research field: Entomology
Research interests: insect, behavior, chemical communication, anthropogenic stressor
DAFE – University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto n°80, 56124 – Pisa – (IT)
livia.defazi@phd.unipi.it
Livia De Fazi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE) at the University of Pisa with a research project on the behavioral effects of anthropogenic stressors on insect social and trophic interactions. In 2020 he gained a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Roma Tor Vergata. During her master’s internship in behavioral biology at the University of Florence, she focused on the effects of biopesticides on survival, behavior, and cognition of social Hymenoptera, exploring the effects these substances may have on chemical communication. Subsequently, she won a position as research assistant at the University of Florence founded by the project “Control of invasive alien species – GC-MS analysis of V. crabro and V. velutina nests for species identification”, exploiting the species-specific chemical signature to identify nests of the invasive hornet species.
She was always fascinated by the invisible communication between species and individuals and how chemicals influence behavior and interactions between them. With her Ph.D. project, she wants to translate her interest in chemical communication and behavior into an applied context, like the use of semiochemicals for pest control. Given the susceptibility of this type of communication, she wants to explore the effects that some major anthropogenic stressors, like ozone and biopesticides, may have on insect community and trophic interactions focusing first on behavioral responses and then deeping the chemicals involved in intra- and interspecific interactions.
