NRRP intervention area: Mission 4 – Education and Research
Component: 2 - From research to business
Investment: 1.4 – Strengthening research structures and creating “R&D national champions” on some Key Enabling Technologies
Duration: the project will end on 31/12/2025
Total project funding: €320,026,665.79
Proposer: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
Conservation, restoration, monitoring and enhancement of Mediterranean and Italian organic biodiversity
The National Biodiversity Centre aims to take effective action to quantify, monitor, and preserve biodiversity by creating an extended national network of universities, research centres, associations, and other private and social stakeholders, while promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity-based resources and creating new employment opportunities.
Project structure and participation
Foundation Composition
Universities and research institutes
- Politecnico di Milano
- Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
- Sapienza Università di Roma
- Università degli Studi del Molise
- Università degli Studi della Tuscia
- Università del Salento
- Università degli Studi di Firenze
- Università degli Studi di Genova
- Università degli Studi di Milano – Bicocca
- Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
- Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
- Università degli Studi di Padova
- Università degli Studi di Palermo
- Università degli Studi di Pavia
- Università degli Studi di Sassari
- Università degli Studi di Salerno
- Università degli Studi di Siena
- Università degli Studi di Udine
- Università degli Studi di Verona
- Università degli Studi Roma Tre
- Università degli Studi di Torino
- Università Politecnica delle Marche
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Ente di Ricerca Scientifica ed Alta Formazione (Scientific Research and Higher Education Organisation)
- Water Research Institute - CNR-IRSA
- Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale - OGS (National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics)
- Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research - ISPRA
- Anton Dohrn Zoological Station - SZN
Private actors
- CINECA
- CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change)
- CORILA
- CIMA Research Foundation - International Centre for Environmental Monitoring
- Edmund Mach Foundation of San Michele all'Adige
- IMC Foundation International Marine Centre (NPO)
- Ri.med Foundation
- Humanitas University
- Italian Institute of Technology
- Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
- Aboca SPA Società Agricola
- Dompé farmaceutici
- ENEL
- FS Urban Systems
- Infrastrutture SpA
- Innomed srl
- Novamont SpA
- ENI
Areas of action
- Spoke 1 - Mapping and monitoring actions to preserve marine ecosystem biodiversity and functioning (leader: Università degli Studi di Palermo)
- Spoke 2 - Solutions to reverse marine biodiversity loss and manage marine resources sustainably (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Spoke 3 - Assessing and monitoring terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity and its evolution: from taxonomy to genomics and citizen science (leader: Università degli Studi di Siena)
- Spoke 4 - Ecosystem functions, services and solutions (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Spoke 5 – Urban biodiversity (leader: Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca)
- Spoke 6 - Biodiversity and human wellbeing (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Spoke 7 - Biodiversity and society: communication, education and social impact (leader: Università degli Studi di Padova)
- Spoke 8 - Biodiversity Open Innovation and the Development of Key Enabling Technologies (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
The University of Bologna participates in spoke 2 and 4.
Project team
University of Bologna participants
Scientific coordinator
Professor Alessandro Chiarucci
Teaching and research staff
- Iris Aloisi
- Elena Biagi
- Alessio Bonaldo
- Giovanni Burgio
- Monica Caffara
- Marco Candela
- Alessia Cariani
- Federico Casolari
- Roberto Cazzolla Gatti
- Alessandro Chiarucci
- Silvana Di Sabatino
- Enrico Dinelli
- Elena Fabbri
- Giuseppe Falini
- Fabio Fava
- Simona Fermani
- Marialetizia Fioravanti
- Ornella Francioso
- Marta Galloni
- Stefano Goffredo
- Luca Lambertini
- Laura Sandra Leo
- Andrea Luchetti
- Donata Luiselli
- Federico Magnani
- Giulio Malorgio
- Maurizio Mancini
- Liliana Milani
- Oliviero Mordenti
- Luca Mulazzani
- Marco Musiani
- Salvatore Pascale
- Marco Passamonti
- Laura Pezzolesi
- Duccio Rocchini
- Stefania Sarno
- Giovanni Valdrè
- Livia Vittori Antisari
- Alessandra Zambonelli
- Giulio Zanaroli
Staff hired with project funds
Researchers
- Enrico Baglione
- Elisa Benini
- Pietro Milanesi
- Federico Puliga
- Miriam Ruocco
- Riccardo Testolin
- Enrico Volpe
Staff with a research fellowship
- Valentina Crobe
- Alex Cussigh
- Lucia Foresto
- Chiara Marchini
- Eliana Musmeci
- Elena Pedone
- Marilin Profita
- Mara Simonazzi
PhD students
- Jacopo Iaria
- Daniela Leuzzi
- Simona Rinaldi
- Irene Sicignano
- Martina Spiga
Departments involved
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences - BiGeA
- Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician" - CHIM
- Department of Cultural Heritage - DBC
- Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering - DICAM
- Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi" - DIFA
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences – DIMEVET
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences – DISTAL
- Department of Economics - DSE
- Department of Legal Studies - DSG
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology - FaBiT
The work carried out to date by the university research teams in Bologna in this project includes:
- the first analytical study of plant species richness within the Natura 2000 network at the European scale, to quantify their level of coverage of plant biodiversity at the member state and biogeographical region levels
- research laboratories for the study of plant and animal biodiversity have been implemented, with the acquisition and use of advanced microscopy, biological, and digital analysis equipment
- a mission to Panarea, Sicily, to study the seabed and monitor the effects of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms and how microplastics, in turn, affect ocean acidification and marine biology
- a literature review on the identification of key marine ecosystem services in the Mediterranean area and related economic valuation techniques in order to integrate the value of marine ecosystem services into maritime spatial planning
What activities are in progress?
- Prof. Alessandro Chiarucci, from BIGEA, with Prof. Carlo Rondinini from the University of La Sapienza in Rome, are coordinating one of the five activities of Spoke 4, dedicated to the planning and management of protected areas
- A collaboration, named Ecodipa-net, is underway with research groups from 18 universities and national institutions to study in a coordinated way the ecological dynamics within Italian national and regional parks, to quantify their conservation effectiveness in recent decades
- Ecological studies on mammals within national park territories are ongoing, using real-time data collected through continuously operating camera traps.
- A study, in collaboration with the University of L'Aquila, on pyrophilous fungi in burnt areas has been started, including the description and characterisation of two new species
- Work has begun to analyse distribution data for all vascular plant species and terrestrial vertebrates to produce a national biodiversity distribution map: the ultimate aim is to identify potential areas for expansion of protected areas needed to meet the targets of 30% protected area and 10% strictly protected area