ECOLOGY
Research activities are focused on the identification of tools and technical solutions for the assessment and mitigation of the environmental impacts of human activities. The research has a strong interdisciplinary approach, with scientific collaborations at national and international level, and is aimed at identifying practical applications, as evidenced by numerous private and public funding.
The research activities essentially concern two main themes:
River Ecology and Ecohydraulics: Evaluation, monitoring and mitigation of the impact on river ecosystems of water withdrawals from watercourses; design and evaluation of the effectiveness of fish passages for restoring river continuity at dams and weirs; monitoring by telemetric techniques (radiotracking, Rfid-tags) of the ecological needs and movements of native and invasive fish species; experimental studies for the analysis of fish swimming behaviour at varying hydrodynamic conditions.
Environmental management systems and performance indicators: implementation of Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001-EMAS) aimed at assessing and reducing the environmental impact of human activities; definition and assessment of environmental performance indicators for specific sectors (industrial production, tertiary sector, public bodies, etc.); carbon footprint of organisations and products; multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and metrics for assessing the sustainability of water resources use.
Among the main research projects: coordination of the European project H2020-Excellent Science-Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions-ETN RIBES (River flow regulation, fish BEhaviour and Status) aimed at developing innovative solutions to mitigate the impact of infrastructures that fragment river habitats and prevent fish migration; partnership in 2 LIFE Nature and Biodiversity projects aimed at the study and conservation of native fish species (LIFE20 NAT/IT/001341 - LIFEGrayMarble - Conservation and management of marble trout and adriatic grayling in the Dora Baltea catchment; LIFE21 NAT/IT/101074559 - LIFE Minnow - Small fish, small streams, big challenges: conservation of endangered species in tributaries of the upper Po river)
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