EASIN - European Alien Species Information Network

European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN) Team
Celia López Cañizares *

Celia got her Licenciatura (long cycle degree) in Biology at the University of Granada (Spain) in 2015.

Her areas of interest are plant ecology, science promotion and environmental education. She gained experience through different projects in Spain, Estonia and Azores Islands (Portugal). In the Azores, she has been involved in different actions related to Azorean forests ecology, population relationships with local biodiversity and citizen science. She is now developing her PhD thesis on stakeholders’ perspectives on invasive alien species and the usefulness of communication tools at the University of Murcia (Spain).

Celia joined the Joint Research Center in 2018 as a trainee and continued as an external consultant. Here, she is working on citizen science and the development of the communication strategy of EASIN.

Karolina Czechowska *

Karolina received her Bachelor degree in Biology/Ecology from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 2017 and her Erasmus Mundus Joint International Master in Marine Biological Resources in 2019.

Her interests span marine ecology, conservation and science communication. She participated in different research and conservation projects, including in the Canary Islands (Spain) and in Costa Rica. There, she worked surveying and conserving local marine wildlife, as well as promoting awareness and educating various groups (i.e. fishers, tourists, students). In addition, she enlarged her experience in science communciation and gained an insight into the policy side behind nature conservation while interning at the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species (UN CMS/ Bonn Convention).

Karolina is an EASIN trainee since September 2021. She is supporting the work in EASIN-Lit and Species Catalogue related to horizon scanning for new emerging invasive alien species (IAS) and to the IAS impacts on different sectors.

Kostas Tsiamis *

Kostas Tsiamis (M.Sc., Ph.D.) is a biologist, specialized in marine biology and oceanography.

His research focuses on marine alien species, including biology, ecology, taxonomy and systematics, with emphasis on marine plants (seaweeds and seagrasses); pollution impacts and coastal management are also included among his fields of interest.

He has a broad experience in marine biodiversity surveys, carried out in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, as well as in laboratory analyses. He has participated in >25 international and national research projects and is (co)author of >30 publications in peer-review international journals.

Kostas is a member of the scientific team of EASIN since February 2015.

Ioannis Giovos *

Ioannis (MSc) is a marine biologist with a background on conservation of Mediterranean endangered marine megafauna species. His research focuses on citizen science, the use of social media in science and the monitoring of alien and rare elasmobranch species in the Mediterranean Sea.

He is experienced in citizen science, data validation, building community around alien species themes, and monitoring surveys of invasive species. He has been involved in several project Universities and NGOs' projects regarding marine conservation, and he is also part of the CIESM Task Force for Sharks and Rays. Ioannis has published about 20 articles in peer-review international journals and presented more than 20 scientific communications in international conferences.

Ioannis joined EASIN Team in February 2018 and his main activities involve science communication, outreach communication strategy and community building.

Ettore Fedele *

Ettore has a background in conservation ecology, with an MSc in Conservation and Management of Protected Areas from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. His main interests include terrestrial ecology, biological monitoring and ecosystem services, having chosen to focus his master’s research project on mega-herbivores impacts on the ecosystem.

His professional experience includes working as a volunteer at Mankwe Wildlife Reserve (South Africa) where he was involved in anti-poaching and wildlife management activities, and as a researcher in the Greater Kruger National Park, where he analyzed the effects of African elephants on biodiversity. He has also worked at Royal Botanic Gardens – Kew, where his duties included the production of plant species checklists and distribution maps. All these undertakings required extensive use of R, ArcGIS and management of large datasets.

Ettore joined the EASIN Team in September 2017 and his main tasks concern the assessment of invasive alien species impacts, aiming at investigating the applicability of a recently developed index for measuring socio-economic IAS impacts of in Europe.

Ioana Matei *

Ioana has a background in environmental science, with a BSc in Ecology and a MSc in Environmental Impact Assessment from Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania. Her main interests include aquatic ecology, biological monitoring and biological invasions, having chosen to focus her degree research project on alien invasive species.

Following graduation (2014), she has worked in environmental consulting, framing and elaborating environmental studies and reports (SEA, EIA, AA, biodiversity monitoring reports), on various projects ranging from wind farms to management of Natura 2000 sites or coastal erosion. She also has good experience in field surveys, both on terrestrial and aquatic species (expecially on benthic communities and birds).

Ioana joined the EASIN team in January 2017 and her main tasks concerned the citizen science section of the project, aiming at developing a data validation method for the EASIN smartphone app.

Bart Steen *

Bart has a BSc in Biology from the University of Utrecht, and undertook an Erasmus exchange in Helsinki, where he studied the ecology and biota of boreal ecosystems. The main focus of his bachelor degree was on Ecology.

He did his Master’s at Wageningen University, with again heavy emphasis in Ecology. He carried out a manipulative field study in South Africa, a correlative one in Canada and a modelling study using the MaxEnt and ArcGIS software in Sweden.

His professional ecological experience includes working as a volunteer at Wetlands International for two months, where he again used MaxEnt to model habitat suitability for Arctic bird species, and six months working on ecosystem services at the Wageningen University & Research Centre as a research assistant. Both of these undertakings required extensive use of ArcGIS and management of large datasets.

Bart joined the EASIN team as trainee in June 2016. His main activities involve the assessment of the cumulative impact of invasive freshwater species and the modelling of their potential distribution.

Anna Maria ADDAMO *

Anna M. Addamo (PhD.) is a biologist specialized in marine and evolutionary biology.

Her research focuses on molecular ecology of coral reefs, including corals population genetics, phylogeography, taxonomy and systematics (mainly cold water corals). Biological monitoring, marine conservation and fisheries management are also included in her interests.

She also has strong experience in field surveys - carried out in Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea and Pacific Ocean - investigating benthic community composition and structure of coral reefs, with emphasis in MPAs ecosystems.

She has been working as a Trainee at the Water Resource Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC), and she joined the EASIN Team in September 2015. Her role was to contribute to the enrichment of EASIN-Lit database and to review the scientific and grey literature aiming to update the occurrences and geo-referenced spatial data of IAS.

* Former member of the Team
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Celia López Cañizares *

Karolina Czechowska *

Kostas Tsiamis *

Ioannis Giovos *

Ettore Fedele *

Ioana Matei *

Bart Steen *

Anna Maria ADDAMO *