WHO WE ARE
A team of professionals who have decided to undertake a new challenge: scientific research for the protection of threatened species and their habitats
OUR RESEARCHERS.
Ornella Abollino
BIOMONITORING PROJECT RESEARCHER
THE PAST.
Graduated in Chemistry and obtained the title of PhD in Chemical Sciences in 1992. After having carried out research activities at the Istituto Piante da Legno e l'Ambiente (IPLA) of Turin, she was University Researcher and Associate Professor at the 'University of Turin where, from 2019 to date, she has been serving as Full Professor in the disciplinary scientific sector of Analytical Chemistry. It belongs to the Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and is a professor in the degree courses of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology and Herbal Techniques
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THE PRESENT.
Her main research activities concern the development of procedures for the determination and speciation of trace elements by means of spectroscopy and voltammetry; the characterization of food supplements and medicinal and food plants from the point of view of the content of potentially toxic elements; the study of biogeochemical cycles of metals in marine and lake ecosystems; the characterization of atmospheric particulate matter in anthropized (Piedmont) and remote (Arctic) areas; the study of soils contaminated by potentially toxic elements and the development of procedures for their remediation; the chemometric treatment of the results obtained in the researches described above. Since 2022 she has been collaborating with the Zoom Foundation as part of the doctoral thesis of Dr. Laura Favilli carried out in the PhD course in Sustainable Development and Cooperation for biomonitoring studies of inorganic species for the purpose of characterizing ecosystems
Laura Favilli
PhD STUDENT BIMONITORING PROJECT
THE PAST.
Graduated from the Master's Degree in Environmental Chemistry at the University of Turin in 2021. Her previous research works focused on soil pollution monitoring and innovative methods for the requalification of polluted areas.
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THE PRESENT.
She is currently a PhD student at the Zoom Foundation and follows the PhD course in Sustainable Development and Cooperation (SUSTNET) Her doctoral project is an integral part of the Foundation's "Bio-monitoring" project which monitors environmental conditions and tests innovative solutions with the aim of controlling and reducing environmental contamination and increasing the well-being of flora and fauna. The study funded by the Zoom Foundation, in particular, deals with carrying out a survey on the possibility of monitoring the pollution of mineral and potentially toxic elements. The project plans to test the potential of some plants and some animals housed in zoos as bioindicators, i.e. whether the analysis of some of their tissues (feathers, fur, etc.) can be indicators of the surrounding environmental condition. The study has currently begun in the Madagascar habitat of the biopark, in the island of lemurs and in the island of flamingos, and foresees the collaboration with PBZT Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Tsimbazaza (http://pbzt.recherches.gov.mg/ ), a partner zoological park located in Antananarivo in Madagascar. The data collected in the two areas will be treated with statistical techniques separately and the information obtained from these processes will be compared for the two sites.
Agnese Giacomino
BIOMONITORING PROJECT RESEARCHER
THE PAST.
Graduated in Chemistry in 2003 at the University of Turin, she is currently Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies of the University of Turin.
THE PRESENT.
Her research activity is mainly focused on the study of the behavior of metals in various environmental, food and pharmaceutical matrices by means of spectroscopic and voltammetric techniques; use of chemometric pattern recognition techniques for data processing; development of new procedures for remediation of contaminated soils; study of the interaction between trace metals and plants; characterization of food matrices based on the inorganic and redox profile to guarantee the genuineness and quality of the products; development of new analytical methods for the characterization of new materials.​ ​ Since 2022 she has been collaborating with the Zoom Foundation as a researcher for the Biomonitorando project, dealing with researching data that can provide information on the different types of pollution and how they impact animal and plant species. At the moment she deals with the characterization of animal and vegetable matrices, analysis of pollution and interactions with animal and vegetable species, study of the behavior of metals in various natural matrices such as soil, sediments, water and development of procedures for the on-site determination and speciation of trace metals and organic pollutants.
Umberto Maritano
BEEZOOM PROJECT RESEARCHER
THE PAST.
Graduated in Natural Sciences and Environmental Biology in Turin, freelancer in the field of biodiversity conservation, he has been dealing with Diptera Syrphidae since 2017, both as bioindicators of the state of health of ecosystems and as pollinators.
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THE PRESENT.
Since July 2021 he has been collaborating with the Zoom Foundation as a researcher for the Bee Zoom project, dealing with the qualitative and quantitative census of diptera sirfidi both in the research area outside the park and inside the park. He also collaborates with other researchers for a scientific research project to test Apoidea-Horphid-Lepidoptera coupled transects along an experimental transect of the Zoom Foundation, in particular on the species of Diptera hoverflies (about 30 species detected) to detect their preferences regarding the plants visited during the pollination process. The goal is to understand which native floral species best support the potential hoverfly community of the area, in order to encourage good practices for the conservation of these delicate insect communities.
Giovanni Quintavalle Pastorino
ANIMAL WELFARE PROJECT RESEARCHER
THE PAST.
Graduated in Biological Sciences in Genoa, his research interests range from behavior to personality, sociability and communication (intraspecific and interspecific).
From 2004 to 2014 I contributed to the conduct of the avian malaria survey at ZSL London Zoo, and worked for two years in Prof. Preziosi's laboratory at the University of Manchester on insect behaviour.
He later completed his Masters of Tropical Medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
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THE PRESENT.
Today, he oversees doctoral, masters and graduate projects in EU and US zoos, seeking to improve animal welfare, husbandry and human-animal interactions while conducting research.
He has just finished his postdoctoral research on big cats with Manchester Metropolitan and the University of Veterinary Medicine in Milan.
Since 2022 he has been collaborating as a feline research expert in a multi-zoo project on felines and their sociality, which the Zoom Foundation has launched and coordinates in various European zoos. Furthermore, the Zoom Foundation is the promoter of specific research on the behavioral dynamics of groups of sisters and brothers in tigers and lions and their individuality.
Lia Laffi
ANIMAL WELFARE PROJECT
THE PAST.
Graduated in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Bologna in 2023, in collaboration with the University of Turin she carried out a period of data collection in the Maromizaha forest (Madagascar) and carried out a bioacoustics thesis on the development of the Indri indri song, only singing lemur. He subsequently completed an internship at the Sapienza University of Rome, where he studied the locomotor rhythms of the main gaits of horses (walk, trot and gallop).
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THE PRESENT.
She is currently a doctoral student at the University of Turin and is following the doctoral course in Biological Sciences and Applied Biotechnologies. The doctorate is supported by the Zoom Foundation and the ERC project “The Origins of Human Rhythm”. His research project deals with studying rhythmicity in animal behavior to understand the origin of rhythm in ours and other species. The two main areas of investigation are vocal communication and movement in singing primates, such as lemurs and gibbons. In collaboration with the Zoom Foundation, it is carrying out a study on the siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) housed in the park, focusing on the analysis of the songs and the two main forms of locomotion exhibited by this species, bipedalism and brachiation.
Monica Vercelli
FILONE ANIMAL WELFARE
IL PASSATO.
Laureata in Agroecologia, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari, è ricercatrice indipendente, PhD, collaboratrice dell’Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, della Federazione Apicoltori del Mediterraneo e del Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari dell’Università degli Studi di Torino.
Professoressa a contratto di Lotta Biologica all’Università del Piemonte Orientale e di Biodiversità e gestione degli insetti pronubi dell’Università degli Studi di Torino.
Ha svolto attività di ricerca sulle seguenti tematiche: ape da miele e api selvatiche; apicoltura del Mediterraneo, flora apistica, impollinazione; conservazione della biodiversità; monitoraggio; patologia apistica; miele e altri prodotti dell’alveare; melissopalinologia e analisi sensoriale del miele; uso sostenibile dei prodotti fitosanitari; gestione dell’azienda apistica e risultati economici; servizi ecosistemici e infrastrutture ecologiche; climate change; studi di genere.
Membro dell’International Honey Commission, dell’Albo degli Esperti in Analisi Sensoriale del miele e dell’Albo degli Esperti in Melissopalinologia, del comitato scientifico del Centro Interdisciplinare di Ricerche e Studi delle Donne e di Genere dell’Università di Torino. Autrice di pubblicazioni scientifiche e capitoli di monografie e relatrice di tesi.
Esperta di cooperazione internazionale in diversi progetti di apicoltura e studi di genere, prende parte a numerose missioni che prevedono sviluppo locale, scambi di ricerca e corsi teorico-pratici in Africa e Medio Oriente.
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IL PRESENTE.
Dal 2021 è consulente della Fondazione come ricercatrice per il progetto Bee Zoom, occupandosi del censimento qualitativo e quantitativo degli apoidei sia nell’area di ricerca esterna al parco sia internamente al parco. Inoltre collabora insieme ad altri ricercatori per un progetto di ricerca scientifica per testare transetti accoppiati apoidei-sirfidi-lepidotteri lungo il transetto sperimentale della Fondazione per rilevare le loro preferenze riguardo le piante visitate durante il processo di impollinazione. L'obiettivo è quello di comprendere quali specie floreali autoctone supportano meglio gli apoidei e gli altri impollinatori della zona, ai fini di incentivare le buone pratiche per la conservazione di queste delicate cenosi di insetti.
Dal 2022 è consulente della Fondazione come ricercatrice per il progetto “Beekeeping Botswana” fornendo protocolli di ricerca e svolgendo analisi al fine di sviluppare l’apicoltura locale in termini di allevamento, produzione, qualità, conservazione.
Stefano Bigiani
ANIMAL WELFARE COLLABORATOR RESEARCHER
THE PAST.
Born in Carpi on 21 April 1993. Always passionate about animals and nature, he obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2016. Subsequently he specialized in Marine Biology at the University of Pisa, where he graduated with top marks, 110 cum laude in 2019. After his university studies, he began a collaboration as an independent researcher at the Zoomarine zoo, where he conducted various research on dolphin behavior which was published in international journals and presented in national and international conferences. One of these studies earned him, in 2024, the prestigious "Young Researcher" award awarded by the SIE (Italian Society of Ethology). In the following years, he continued to work as an independent researcher in various Italian and foreign zoological structures, dealing with numerous animal species. In 2020, he became a consultant for the ethological part, research and evaluation of animal welfare at the Abruzzo Zoo
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THE PRESENT.
Since 2022, he has taken on the role of biologist consultant at the Zoo al Maglio in Switzerland, where he dealt with various aspects related to zoo management, welfare, animal training and exhibit design.
In 2023, he formalized a collaboration agreement as a researcher with the ZOOM Foundation, together with which he deals with the development and implementation of research projects in both the ethological and environmental fields and analysis of the data collected.