EASIN Editorial Board - European Commission

EASIN Editorial Board Members

Margarita ARIANOUTSOU

Margarita Arianoutsou is an Professor of Ecology in the Department of Ecology and Systematics of the Faculty of Biology of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

She has a considerable experience in the research field of Ecology and Management of Mediterranean ecosystems in which she is actively engaged for the last 25 years. She has been elected and acted twice as the Secretary of the International Society of Mediterranean Ecologists (ISOMED) between 1987-1991 and from 2000 onwards. She has been a member of the working group established to support the Hellenic National Committee for the Implementation of UN Convention to Combat Desertification.Among other activities and commitments, she is a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Centre of Forest Fires. She has participated in more than 50 International Symposia - Conferences. She has published more than 60 scientific articles and she has edited 4 books published by (Dr Junk) Kluwer, Plenum Press and Millpress. She has supervised 10 Ph. D theses and more than 20 First Diploma Theses. She is actively involved in Environmental Education and Awareness Campaigns, for which she has also published a book.

Margarita was responsible for the revision of the information on terrestrial plant species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for terrestrial plants.

Thierry BACKELJAU

Thierry Backeljau is senior lecturer in genetics at the University of Antwerp and is head of the Operational Directorate Taxonomy and Phylogeny at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels.

He has a broad interest in invertebrate taxonomy, phylogeny and population genetics, with a particular focus on terrestrial gastropods.

As such, he has been President of Unitas Malacologica, and he is member of the editorial boards of, amongst others, “Journal of Molluscan Studies”, “Malacologia”, and “Iberus”, and he is subject editor for Gastropoda for “ZooKeys”. Thierry has supervised 20 PhD- and >40 MSc-theses, and he was member of >65 PhD juries (own PhD students not included) in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the UK. He is (co-) author of >200 papers in impact factor journals, >55 papers in peer-reviewed journals without impact factor, and 39 popular science papers. He acts as reviewer for >70 scientific journals and for >20 research fund organizations in Australia, Austria, Belgium, EC, Israel, South-Africa, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK, and the USA.

Thierry has revised the EASIN list of the terrestrial snails and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for terrestrial snails.

Michel BARICHE

Michel Bariche is an Associate Professor of Biology at the American University of Beirut and curator of the Fishes and aquatic Invertebrates collections at the AUB Natural History Museum (Lebanon).

He earned a DEA in Animal and Plant Systematics at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle and a doctorate in Ichthyology from the Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II). His research interests revolve around studying biological invasions in fishes and his professional experience includes tertiary-level teaching, project management, curation of preserved collections, scientific consultations, and awareness raising activities on social media. He also served as a regional expert for several UN entities and international organizations.

Michel is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for marine fishes (Actinopterygii and Elasmobranchii).

Ioannis BAZOS

Ioannis Bazos is a botanist, Phd, member of the Department of Ecology and Systematics (Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian Univeristy of Athens).

His research activities concern the study of flora, vegetation and phytogeography of Greece. He has been involved in research projects related to the alien flora of Greece and Europe. He also deals with monitoring, management and protection of rare and threatened plant species and habitats of Community interest (EU Directive 92/43). He is member of the board oh the Hellenic Botanical Society.

Ioannis was responsible for the revision of the information on terrestrial plant species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for terrestrial plants.

Assunta BERTACCINI

Assunta Bertaccini is a Plant Pathology professor at the Alma Mater University of Bologna, Italy.

She carried out several stages at the Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, USDA, Beltsville, MD, USA. She is Member of the Società Italiana di Patologia Vegetale, American Phytopathological Society, International Organization for Mycoplasmology, and International Society for Horticultural Science. Invited speaker at many national and international meetings and seminars, member of scientific committees of several meetings on biotechnology and virology/phytoplasmology, referee for numerous scientific international journals. Her awards: Premio internazionale di enologia e viticoltura Giuseppe Morsiani for distinguished research in viticulture and Emmy Klienenberger-Nobel award for distinguished research in mycoplasmology. Responsible of the Phytobacteriology laboratory at the DipSA, University of Bologna she is leading a team of about 20 persons working on several aspects of plant bacteriology. Her major research efforts were devoted to study infections associated phytoplasmas and bacteria in plants applying microscopy and molecular tools to detect and characterize them. She is team leader of the Spiroplasma /Phytoplasma /Mesoplasma /Entomoplasma” working group of International Research Programme on Comparative Mycoplasmology (IRPC) and member of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) Subcommittee on Taxonomy of Mollicutes.

She is EFSA consultant. She mentored 10 PhD, 9 Plant Pathology and about 100 undergraduate and master thesis. She is author or coauthor in more than 800 publications, books and book chapters. During 2009-2013 she was Chair of COST action FA0807 "Integrated management of phytoplasma epidemics in different crop systems". She founded in 2007 and is leading the International Phytoplasmologist Working Group (IPWG) (http://www.ipwgnet.org/). She is organizing the group meetings every 4 years and collaborating in formal or informal manner with a high number of colleagues from about 40 Countries worldwide.

Assunta is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the plant pathogenic Bacteria.

Giuseppe BRUNDU

Giuseppe Brundu (Ph.D.) is an agronomist and botanist working at the Department of Agriculture of University of Sassari, Italy.

During the last 15 years he has been dealing with inventories of non-native plant species in Mediterranean countries, with special concern to islands. He is one of the promoters of the series of conferences EMAPi (Ecology and Management of Alien Plant invasions) and has collaborated with the EPPO, the EEA and the DG ENV of European Commission on national lists, risk assessment, ecology and management of plant invasions.

Giuseppe is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for terrestrial plants.

Melih Ertan ÇINAR

Melih Ertan ÇINAR (M.Sc., Ph.D.) is a marine biologist and has a 25- year experience in the fields of marine biology and ecology.

His main area of expertise is the taxonomy of polychaetes (Annelida: Polychaeta), called as marine bristle worms. His research interests also include marine alien species, benthic species assemblages, biotic indices, pollution and fouling. He has been working as a Professor in the Department of Hydrobiology of Ege University (Turkey) and has coordinated many national and international projects regarding marine biodiversity, pollution monitoring and benthic species assemblages. He is (co)author of > 120 publications (80 in peer-reviewed international journals).

Melih Ertan is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Annelida

Fabio CROCETTA

Fabio was born in 1983 in Naples (Italy), and he is a marine biologist and zoologist.

His Ph.D. focused on a multidisciplinary approach to the study of marine biodiversity (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn - Italy), to which he has always been attracted.

Fabio has worked in different projects related to Eastern Atlantic/Mediterranean marine biota, he is mostly interested in Mollusca, particularly in cataloging their biodiversity and updating their taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution. He is author of >35 peer-reviewed publications (24 ISI) (April 2014).

Fabio has worked as a trainee at the Water Resources Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC), where he was a member of the scientific team of EASIN. His role was to provide scientific support to the developing of EASIN, especially on the quality assurance of the EASIN Catalogue of alien species.

Giovanna CURTO

Giovanna Curto is a nematologist with over 20 years of professional experience on entomopathogenic and phytoparasitic nematodes, particularly those regulated by EU and/or present in the EPPO lists.

She is responsible for the Nematology Laboratory of the Emilia-Romagna Plant Protection Service, regional level of Italian National Plant Protection Organization. She is expert in surveys on quarantine nematodes in agriculture and forestry, nematode control by means of biofumigation, nematicidal plants, natural and chemical substances, insect biocontrol by entomopathogenic nematodes, project planning and development, organization and coordination of experimental trials, working group coordination. She has participated in many related projects and has collaborated with European Institutions. For 6 years she was a contractor professor at University of Bologna teaching Agricultural Nematology in the Courses for the Master Degree in Medicine of Plants; last year she taught the same subject in the International Course for the Postgraduate Specialization in "Integrated Pest management of Mediterranean Fruit Trees" at CIHEAM - International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies of Bari (Italy). She participated to two European COST Actions on entomopathogenic nematodes, and since 2007 she has been appointed by the Italian NPPO as Italian member of the EPPO Panel of Diagnostics in Nematology. Currently she is a member of the Management Committee of Italian Society of Nematology.

Giovanna was responsible for the revision of the information on nematode species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for nematode species.

Marco FAASSE

Marco Faasse has a long experience in the study of diversity and distribution of marine invertebrates.

He currently works as a marine ecologist for eCOAST, mainly involved in monitoring projects to assess the impact of human activities on the marine environment. Furthermore, he is an associate researcher of Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden. Marco Faasse is particularly interested in introductions of alien species, and published about many new arrivals to Europe and transfers to different areas. As a consequence of his ecological work, he acquired a broad knowledge of different marine invertebrate groups, with afocus on Bryozoa and Amphipoda.

Marco is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Bryozoa (Animalia)

Jean-Lou JUSTINE

Jean-Lou Justine is a Professor at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History) in Paris, France.

His research mainly deals with animal parasitology, especially the groups of flatworms (Platyhelminthes) and roundworms (Nematoda). He is a specialist of systematics, taxonomy, cell ultrastructure and molecular phylogeny, and the Editor-in-Chief of the open-access journal Parasite. He is Deputy-Director of ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité - Institute of Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity) which groups more than 100 researchers from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Sorbonne Université (SU), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE).

Jean-Lou is also interested in invasive alien species in Europe and other parts of the world, especially terrestrial Platyhelminthes, and, as such, is a member of the European Alien Species Editorial Board.

Gergely KIRÁLY

Gergely Király is a forest engineer interested with about 25 years of experience in various fields of botany; actually working as assistant professor at the Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection of the University of West Hungary in Sopron (NW Hungary).

He is expert in taxonomy, chorology and floristics of the Central European flora, respectively, in vegetation ecology of forest communities, forest management and nature conservation. He was participated to several national and European projects on alien plant species and Red Lists of threatened vascular plants. He is the editor of the „New field Flora of Hungary” (2009-2011), the coordinator of the mapping project on the Hungarian vascular plants (2000-2010), the collaborator of the Committee for Mapping the Flora of Europe for Hungary (2008-); and the author of more than 150 publications, see http://www.nyme.hu/index.php/24589/?&L=1.

Gergely is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the freshwater Tracheophyta.

Martin LANGER

Martin Langer is a professor of Micropaleontology at the University of Bonn, Germany.

His research focusses on the species richness, faunal structure and evolutionary biogeography of modern and fossil foraminifera, a group of marine protists that figure prominently in ecological studies of marine communities around the world. This interest involves the study of the ecology, the global carbonate production, the molecular genetic heredity and biology of fossil and living species. His current research includes the analyses of global biogeographic patterns and faunal exchange mechanisms and studies on the biogeography, range expansion and hotspots of diversity of foraminifera in tropical oceans in time and space. He has developed species distribution models to project future species distributions conveyed by the ongoing warming of the planet and is interested in the impact of invasive species along the range expansion front. Martin Langer has published more than 70 papers, monographs and books, and is Editor for the ”Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie”.

Martin is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Foraminifera (Chromista).

Ya'arit LEVITT BARMATS

Ya’arit Levitt Barmats is a PhD student at the Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and the Crustacea collection manager at The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University.

Her research is focusing on the taxonomy and ecology of Decapod crustaceans from the infraorder Caridea in Israel, under the supervision of Dr. Noa Shenkar. Her work includes faunistic surveys, description of new species to science and first records to the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts of Israel using both molecular and morphological tools, and constructing an up-to-date museum collection. In addition, she is monitoring the spread of non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean Sea and the freshwater system of Israel.

Ya’arit is a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Arthropoda.

Vadim PANOV

Vadim Panov (Ph.D.) has a background in aquatic ecology.

He has been conducting his studies of benthic, littoral and plankton communities primarily in inland waters and estuaries. For the last 20 years he has been working in the area of biological invasions, and had participated in several initiatives in expert networking in invasive species-related research, information exchange and management, including EU-funded projects in this area (ALARM, DAISIE, EnviroGRIDS). He is also the Finland-based publisher (Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre – REABIC), and managing editor of three thematic international open access scientific journals on biological invasions. These journals, namely AquaticInvasions, BioInvasions Records and Management of Biological Invasions, have been established by the European scientists as the targeted cost-effective tools to support open information systems on invasive species with primary geo-referenced species record data and with other relevant information needed for management of these species.

Vadim has collaborated with EASIN from the very start of this initiative and, specifically, he was co-responsible for the revision of the freshwater species of the EASIN Catalogue. Vadim Panov is an assigned EASIN Editorial Board member for freshwater zooplankton taxa.

Stefano PIRAINO

Stefano Piraino (Ph.D. Mar. Environ. Sciences) is Associate Professor of Zoology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Salento, Lecce.

He acted/acts as Scientific Coordinator or WP leader of several national and international (EU-funded) research projects on the biology, ecology, taxonomy and systematics of cnidarians and more generally on evolutionary developmental biology of basal metazoans. Current interests deal with jellyfish outbreaks and marine bioinvasions, jellyfish ecology, taxonomy and systematics, and the molecular mechanisms of life cycle reversal and cell transdifferentation by NGS approaches. Co-Founder and Past-President of the International Hydrozoan Society, member of the Board of the Italian Union of Zoologists, member of the Steering Committee of the new EuroMarine Consortium (www.euromarineconsortium.eu). He acted as Guest Editor of symposium volumes in Biological Invasions, Marine Ecology, Scientia Marina.

Stefano is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Cnidaria.

Wolfgang RABITSCH

Wolfgang Rabitsch (Ph. D.) is senior expert on species conservation, non-indigenous species and the impact of climate change on biodiversity at the Department of Biodiversity & Nature Conservation at the Environment Agency Austria in Vienna with a special interest in insects.

He is lecturer at the University of Vienna. He has worked on an inventory of the endemic species of Austria, contributed to DAISIE and NOBANIS, to the development of a risk assessment and early warning tool for invasive alien species in Germany and Austria (GABLIS), and to the development of alien species indicators (SEBI). He further contributes to the European Topic Centre on Biodiversity, the national Article 17 Habitat Directive report, the national 5th CBD report and the new Austrian Biodiversity Strategy 2020. He has written more than 170 publications, see http://homepage.univie.ac.at/wolfgang.rabitsch/refs.html

Wolfgang has contributed to the revision of the information on arthropod species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for arthropod species.

Alain ROQUES

Alain Roques (D.Sc., Ph.D.) is a forest entomologist with 31 years of experience on the biology, ecology and behavior of forest insects.

During the last 10 years, his research activity turned towards biological invasions and the effect of global warming on the populations of terrestrial invertebrates. He has participated in most of the recent EU-funded projects dealing with biological invasions such as ALARM, DAISIE, PRATIQUE, ISEFOR, and REPHRAME. He especially coordinated the inventory of alien terrestrial invertebrates realized in DAISIE. Then, he was the main editor of the book ‘Alien terrestrial arthropods of Europe’, published in 2010, which provided the first comprehensive review of the fauna of alien terrestrial arthropods having colonized the European continent and its associated islands. The book summarizes the present knowledge of the arthropod invasion process from temporal trends and biogeographic patterns to pathways and vectors, invaded habitats, and ecological and economic impacts.

Alain was responsible for the revision of the information on terrestrial arthropod species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for terrestrial arthropod species.

Riccardo SCALERA

Riccardo Scalera is a naturalist with over 16 years of professional experience in the field of conservation biology, wildlife management and vertebrate ecology, associated with a good expertise on European environmental policy and legislation, particularly focusing on nature protection and biodiversity (e.g. Habitats and Birds directives, CITES and related Wildlife Trade regulations, etc.) and relevant financial programs (i.e. LIFE).

Riccardo has been working for several public institutions and private companies based in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK and New Zealand, including some international organizations, i.e. the European Commission (and relevant agencies, i.e. JRC, EEA), the Council of Europe, and IUCN International, WWF-European Policy Programme.At the national level Riccardo has been working with the Ministry of the Environment in both Italy and Denmark. In Italy, other clients include the Ministry of Agriculture, the University of Rome, the Institute for Environmental Research and Protection (ISPRA), and the Rome zoo. Riccardo has published several papers focusing on invasive alien species and other biological conservation issues, plus monographs and reports, and about 100 articles on popular magazines. Environmental communication is another core expertise of Riccardo, who besides the long journalistic experience and the communication activities carried out (e.g. information campaigns for the Rome zoo), since 2007 is coordinating an international team of experts to support the selection of LIFE+ Information and Communication projects on behalf of the EC - DG ENV. Furthermore, since 2009 he is programme officer of the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group and co-editor of Aliens: the Invasive Species Bulletin.

The key role of Riccardo in relation to the development of the EASIN Catalogue was the revision of the information on mammals, amphibians and reptiles, and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for mammals, amphibians and reptiles.

Noa SHENKAR

Noa Shenkar is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and a curator of the marine invertebrate collection at The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and National Research Center, Tel Aviv University.

Dr. Shenkar specialty is ascidian (Phylum: Chordata, Class: Ascidiacea) ecology and taxonomy. The majority of her field work is conducted in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and involves the early detection and monitoring of invasive species.

Noa is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the class Ascidiacea

Ioan SÎRBU

Ioan Sîrbu (Ph.D.) is a zoologist and ecologist, Associate Professor at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Sciences, division of Environmental Sciences; he teaches and has a broad research interest in Communities Ecology, Ecological Modeling and others, with a particular focus on freshwater molluscs.

He spent the last 20 years studying the changes of the Romanian freshwater habitats and molluscs' communities, in relation to human pressure. He is (co-) author of more than 80 scientific, didactical and popularisation papers, among them 9 books and 46 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals. He was involved in more than 20 scientific and development grants and projects, aiming the conservation state monitoring of invertebrate species of community interest, ecological and human impact assessments of several freshwater ecological systems, establishing management plans for different areas of conservation in Romania, ecological data processing and others. He is founding member of two regional non-governmental organizations for ecological development, animal protection and a shelter for abandoned animals. He was also involved in many projects of ecological education, mountain ecology and training camps for youth.

Ioan is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for freshwater Mollusca.

Elena TRICARICO

Elena has received a strong training in ecological and ethological methods at the University of Florence (Italy), where she studied and took her Master and PhD on Ethology and Animal Ecology, working mostly on aquatic invertebrates.

Since a Master student, she deals with the biological invasions problem, particularly in freshwater ecosystems, through different perspectives, from behavioural ecology to management aspects. Elena participated to several national and European projects (such as DAISIE, IMPASSE) on alien species, and she recently started to work on the predictive aspects of this problem, especially in relation to the climate change. Her main fields of research range from biological invasions to social behaviour in invertebrates, leading her to travel around Europe, USA and Africa, and to establish many fruitful collaborations. Currently, she has a post-doc position at the University of Florence and is involved in the COST Action TD1209 (Alien Challenge).

Elena was co-responsible for the revision of the freshwater fauna species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for freshwater fauna species.

Konstantinos 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.

Andrea VANNINI

Andrea Vannini is a mycologist and plant pathology scientist mainly involved in studies on protection of natural and semi-natural terrestrial ecosystems.

He is currently employed at the DIBAF-University of Tuscia in Italy where he coordinates the Laboratory of Mycology and Forest Pathology. His research interest focuses on alien invasive fungal and oomycetes and the impact they have on biodiversity, ecosystems functionality and sustainability. He belongs to several EU and Global scientists networks within IUFRO and COST initiatives and has participate to a number of EU research project dealing with Invasive organisms (PATHOAK, FORTHREATS, BACCARA, ISEFOR). He is author of more than 140 publications and chapters in books.

Andrea was responsible for the revision of the information on fungi of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for fungi species.

Argyro ZENETOS

Argyro Zenetos is currently a research Director at the Institute of Biological Resources and Inland Waters in the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), with a 29 year experience in the systematics and biodiversity of benthic macrofauna, environmental impact studies and development of ecological indicators.

Her main area of research since 1997 has been the study of marine alien species. She is the coordinator of the Hellenic network on Aquatic Invasive Species (ELNAIS) (http://services.ath.hcmr.gr), consultant to UNEP MAP RAC/SPA for the development of MAMIAS (a Mediterranean alien species database) and National expert in ESENIAS and COST 1209 (Aliens Challenge). Argyro is responsible for marine alien species in EEA and has developed a HCMR/EEA Pan-European database. She was also a member of the SEBI2010 expert group on “trends in invasive alien species".

Argyro was responsible for the revision of the information on marine species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for marine molluscs and fishes.

Andreas ZIKOS

Andreas is a biologist (MSc), working for the Terrestrial Ecology group of the University of Athens since 2005.

His research interests concern the flora and vegetation of Greece. He has participated in research projects related to the alien flora of Greece and Europe. He has also been involved in the monitoring of habitat types and protected plant species in several Natura 2000 Sites of Greece.

Andreas was responsible for the revision of the information on terrestrial plant species of the EASIN Catalogue and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for terrestrial plants.

Florina STANESCU

Florina is an associate researcher in the Department of Natural Sciences at Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania.

She has been working with amphibians for about 10 years and followed them around the globe - Europe, South-America and Southern Asia.

Her research revolves around understanding the biological and ecological processes shaping life history and population resilience to various environmental stressors (e.g. climate change, habitat loss, and invasive species).

Ellie Dyer

Ellie Dyer (PhD) is an invasion ecologist and conservation biologist, with 10 years’ experience studying alien bird species. She is currently based at University College London in the group of Professor Tim Blackburn.

Her research interests concern topics in biodiversity and macroecology; specifically, the distribution of introduced and invasive species, but also large-scale patterns in the abundance and distribution of animals more generally. Her recent work has been on the spatial ecology of invasions, particularly focusing on patterns of richness, range size and spread.

She designed and created the Global Avian Invasions Atlas (GAVIA) database (www.nature.com/articles/sdata201741), a novel, spatially referenced, global data set on the distributions of alien birds. She has since used GAVIA to examine the spatial and temporal dynamics of alien bird distributions, and has published 16 peer-reviewed articles on the topic, including in the journals Nature, PLoS Biology and PNAS.

Ellie was responsible for the revision of the information on alien bird species of the EASIN Catalogue, and is currently a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for birds.

Péter Borza

Péter Borza (PhD) is a biologist working as a research fellow at the Danube Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest.

He wrote his PhD thesis about the distribution of non-indigenous peracarid crustaceans (amphipods, isopods, and mysids) in Hungary. He was involved in the international team of the Joint Danube Survey 3 (2013) as a crustacean expert, and continues to be active in international research initiatives in the Danube region. While maintaining a strong interest in taxonomy and faunistics, his research focuses more-and-more on revealing the ecological impacts of invasive species.

Péter is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for freshwater peracarids.

Martina Carrete

Martina Carrete is a Researcher at the University Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain). She has experience in endangered and invasive species, with broad interest in their ecology, evolution and conservation.

She is author of more than 85 papers in impact factor journals, 20 book chapters and 14 popular science papers. She has been or is supervisor of 7 PhD students on ecology, demography and population structure of invasive species. She acts as reviewer of more than 30 journals included in JCR and more than 10 PhD juries. She has been or participated in more than 20 research projects, including an European COST action on invasive parakeets across Europe.

Margarita is responsible for the revision of the information on avian species of the EASIN Catalogue and provides updates for new alien species.

Marco Lezzi

Marco Lezzi is a marine biologist, Phd, currently working at the Oceanographic Unit Daphne of the Regional Agency for Environmental Prevention and Energy of Emilia-Romagna (ARPAE).

His Ph.D. focused on ecological studies of marine bioinvasions at the University of Salento where he also specialized in the taxonomy of polychaetes.

He currently works as a marine biologist for the Regional Environmental Agency of Emilia-Romagna where he is mainly involved as benthologist in monitoring activities. Marco is particularly interested in monitoring introductions of alien species in the field of the implementation of the Marine Strategy Directive. Moreover, Marco is particularly interested in the taxonomy of polychaetes, for which he described several species from the Italian coasts. As a consequence of his experience as benthologist, he acquired a broad knowledge of different marine invertebrate groups.

Marco is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Annelida

Agnese Marchini

Agnese Marchini is Associate Professor of Ecology at the University of Pavia, Italy.

She mainly works on marine invertebrates from man-modified habitats (ports, marinas, lagoons) and has gained a vast experience on nonindigenous species occurring in the fouling communities of the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Macaronesia and North-Eastern Atlantic, with special focus on peracarid crustaceans. She is Associate Editor of three International Journals and has served as a reviewer for over 40 international journals, as well as for national and international funding programs. She is member of several scientific boards, including the Working Group on Invasive Alien Species (WGIAS) of the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment (DG Environment); the “Allochtonous species group” of the Italian Society of Marine Biology (SIBM), where she has been coordinator of the Horizon Scanning Exercise on marine alien species for Italy. Agnese Marchini has authored or co-authored 60 peer-reviewed articles and four book chapters; her researches have been presented at 70 scientific conferences.

Her research is covered by several national and international newspapers and she also writes educational articles for Italian magazines and blogs.

Agnese is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for the marine Arthropoda

Anna Occhipinti

Anna Occhipinti is Full Professor of Ecology at the University of Pavia, Italy. Trained as a field ecologist especially in marine and brackish water environment, she has a widely recognized experience on invasive species ecology. Since the eighties she has been working on the structure and dynamics of macrobenthic communities with particular regard to introduced species and their relationship with the environment. She has developed ecological indicators for benthos in the framework of the EU Water Directive 2000/60, and has deepened her knowledge on the taxonomy and ecology of marine Bryozoa, highlighting their importance as ecological indicators.

She founded in 1999 the “Allochthonous Species Group” of the Italian Society of Marine Biology (SIBM), continuously holding the position of coordinator. This network is instrumental in maintaining and promoting the highly diverse and specialized competences from the Italian scattered, yet vivacious, organizational landscape. Since 2000, on behalf of SIBM, she has participated in the Working Group on Introduction and Transfer of Marine Organisms of ICES, presenting each year the "National Report" for Italy.

She has been collaborating with the main international organizations dealing with the issue of “Alien Species” both in the Mediterranean (Mediterranean Science Commission - CIESM, Mediterranean Action Plan – UNEP RAC/SPA) and in a wider context (ICES – WGITMO Working Group on Introduction and Transfer of Marine Organisms, WGBOSV Working Group on Ballast and Other Ship Vectors, IUCN – International Union for Nature Conservation; ERNAIS - European Research Network on Aquatic Invasive Species, MARBEF – Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning).

She authored or co-authored more than 240 papers in national and international journals.

Anna is member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for marine Bryozoa.

Ernesto Azzurro

Ernesto Azzurro is Senior Researcher at the CNR-IRBIM of Ancona, Italy. He has a broad experience on invasion biology and ecology and he is currently engaged in European and Mediterranean projects aimed at investigating and managing climate-related impacts in coastal marine environments. He has been elected twice as Chair of the Committee C6 Coastal Systems and Marine Policy of the CIESM - International Commission for the Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea. Member of the CIESM exotic fish task force and of the Italian commission for introduced species in aquaculture. His scientific production presents an interdisciplinary spectrum of studies spanning from theoretical to applied aspects of marine bioinvasions, with a special focus on Mediterranean fishes. He also served as a regional expert for UN bodies such as FAO, GFCM, UNEP/MAP and other international organizations.

Ernesto is a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for marine fish.

Joachim Langeneck

Joachim Langeneck has a research fellowship at the Department of Biology of the University of Pisa (Italy), where he earned both his MSc and his PhD.

He is primarily specialised in taxonomy and ecology of polychaete worms, and discussed his master thesis on cryptic speciation in the polychaete Syllis gracilis and his doctorate dissertation on phylogeny and diversity of the family Paraonidae. His research also deals with marine bioinvasions, focusing chiefly on human-impacted environments, such as ports, artificial canals and shipwrecks.

Joachin is a member of the EASIN Editorial Board, assigned for marine Annelida.