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People

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Me.Ri.S. activities are carried out by a team of young people, a huge passion for the sea joins them.

Primo Piano Jessica Alessi_credit Vanessa Alessi.JPG
Jessica Alessi
 
Scientific Director
Valentina Cafaro
Scientific Collaborator 
 

From 2007 to 2019 she carried out research on cetaceans at the University of Genoa. She obtained her PhD in Marine Science (University of Genoa) in 2013. Jessica has participated in numerous national and international projects including two projects of the Life Nature program funded by the European Union ("Arion" and "Whalesafe"). Specialist in  population studies (abundance, distribution, movements, social structure), interactions with human activities (fishing and boating) and cetaceans conservation through multiple approaches (photo identification and bioacustics). She is a contract lecturer at the University of Genoa for the teaching of Biology and Monitoring of Cetaceans. She is co-founder and President of Me.Ri.S. Since 2016 Jessica coordinates the research activities of the association.

She holds a master's degree in Nature Conservation in 2014 at the University of Tuscia, with a study on the populations of bottlenose dolphins and seabirds in the north-central Tyrrhenian Sea . She has participated in numerous research surveys in the Tyrrhenian Sea. In 2018 She received her PhD in Ecology and Management of Environmental Resources, at the University of Tuscia. Valentina is a specialist in the analysis of acoustic data relating to cetaceans and to environmental noise. She has a great passion for the sea and diving.

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Alessandra Vanacore
Scientific collaborator

Biological Sciences graduate at the University of Bologna with a thesis on the population of bottlenose dolphins in the Sicilian Channel, she’s now about to graduate form the MSc. degree “Marine Biology and Ecology” at the University of Genoa. She carried out her internships for the bachelor (2017) and master’s thesis (2020) with Me.Ri.S. Since then, she collaborates passionately to research and dissemination activities. 

Ricerca sui cetacei
Fabrizio
Collaborator

With a great passion for the sea he is engaged in dissemination and in organizing events. Fabrizio collaborates to sea surveys with great passion.

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Kiki
Mascot

She has been sailing since she was 3 months old, skilled cetacean sniffer and perfect sailor!

Scientific publication

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Alessi, J., Bruccoleri, F. & Cafaro, V. (2019). How citizens can encourage scientific research: the case study of bottlenose dolphins monitoring. Ocean and Coastal Management, 167 (1): 9-19. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.09.018.
 
 C. Vischioni, J. Alessi, C. Fiori, A. Mandich, D. Angeletti, B. Violi. Flusso genico e diversità genetica di Stenella striata (Stenella coeruleoalba) nelle aree atlantica e mediterranea. (2018). Biol. Mar. Mediterr. In press.
 
 Rimel Benmessaoud, M Cherif, Jessica Alessi, et al, and N Aloui-Bejaoui. (2017). Bottlenose dolphin's interactions with aquaculture farm in the eastern of Tunisia: A preliminary study. Bull. Inst. Natn. Scien. Tech. Mer de Salammbô, Vol. 44: 39-48.
 
J. Alessi, M. Arculeo, S. Airoldi, A. Arcangeli, M. Azzolin, F. Bruccoleri, G. Buffa, G. Buscaino, V. Cafaro, I. Campana, G.A. de Lucia, F. Filiciotto, S. Formante, A.M. Gattoni, C. Giacoma, G. Gnone, R. Grammauta, S. Mazzola, C. Monaco, B. Mussi, S. Nuti, D.S. Pace, S. Panigada, E. Papale, G. Pellegrino, L. Ravagnan, F. Salvioli, L.M. Tringali, M. Wurtz, A. Mazzola, A. Mandich. (2017). Establishment of a national network for cetacean monitoring within the marine strategy. Biol. Mar. Mediterr. 24 (1): 156-158
 
 C. Vischioni, J. Alessi, C. Fiori, A. Mandich, D. Angeletti, B. Violi. Flusso genico e diversità genetica di Stenella striata (Stenella coeruleoalba) nelle aree atlantica e mediterranea. (2018).  49° Congresso della Società Italiana di Biologia Marina (Cesenatico, 4 - 8 giugno 2018). TALK
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Alessi J, Bruccoleri F, Dara M, Cafaro V. Evaluating the influence of professional fishery in the distribution of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, Montagu 1821) and seabirds in the Sicilian Channel EGU General Assembly 2018 (European Geoscience Union), Wien (8-13 April 2018). POSTER
 
Alessi J, Dara M, Bruccoleri F, Cafaro V. Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the Sicilian Channel (Mediterranean Sea): occurrence, social structure and interaction with fishery. 32th Annual Conference “European Cetacean Society” (ECS), La Spezia (6-10 April 2018). POSTER
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Davide Ascheri, Alberta Mandich, Barbara Nani, Jessica Alessi. Inter-annual variability of the distribution of fin whale (Baleanoptera physalus) and sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Western Mediterranean Sea: 12 years of data. 32th Annual Conference “European Cetacean Society” (ECS), La Spezia (6-10 April 2018). POSTER
 
Valentina Cafaro, Fabrizio Bruccoleri, Alberta Mandich, Jessica Alessi. First knowledge about the presence and distribution of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in an understudied area of the Sicily Channel (Mediterranean Sea). 45th Annual Symposium of the European Association for Aquatic Mammals., Genoa, Italy, 8th – 11th March, 2017.

Valentina Cafaro, Fabrizio Bruccoleri, Jessica Alessi. Citizen Science: an instrument to gain information on cetacean presence and distribution in understudied areas. 30th Annual Conference of European Cetacean Society, Funchal, Madeira; 03/2016.
 
Rimel Benmessaoud, Jessica Alessi, Nejla Bejaoui. Analyse de la structure sociale de la population de Tursiops truncatus de la région Nord-Est de la Tunisie. Troisiéme Conférence Biennale sur la Conservation des Cétacés dans les Pays du Sud de la Méditerranée (CSMC3), Jouneih-Liban; 10/2014
 
 
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