Education and career
Gatti earned a bachelor's degree in biology (2006) and a master's degree in environmental and evolutionary biology (2008) at the University of Bari, Italy. He completed a II Level master's degree in international policies and global environmental protection (2009) at the University of Tuscia and received a diploma from the School in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany with training in Peyresq, Alpes de Haute-Provence, France.
He earned a Ph.D. in forest ecology (2013) at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo (Italy), studying the tropical forests of Africa and their biodiversity. As a post-doc, Gatti conducted research studies in tropical ecology and biodiversity at the Impacts on Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Terrestrial Ecosystems Division (IAFENT) of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy). Then, he joined the Research Consortium "Digamma" to develop a stereoscopic system called "Tredimed" designed for 3D analysis of biological and medical samples.
From 2015 to 2021, he served as an associate professor and the head and scientific coordinator of the MSc program in biodiversity at the Biological Institute of the Tomsk State University in Russia. In parallel to his professorship in Russia, he worked for several international research institutes and universities. In 2018–2019, he was a research associate at the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources of the Purdue University in the US and a visiting professor at the University of Beijing in China to teach a class in Biodiversity. In 2020–2021, he was a senior research fellow of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Austria, and in 2021 he worked briefly as an associate professor at the Polytechnic of Rouen in France.
He is currently a member of the CEM (Commission on Ecosystem Management), the SSC (Species Survival Commission) and the WCPA (World Commission on Protected Areas) of the IUCN (The International Union for Conservation of Nature). Gatti also served as a scientific advisor for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Italy and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).
Research and works
Besides his empirical studies (he has been conducting field research on Mediterranean marine and terrestrial species of Europe, on tropical forests of Africa, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Australia, on high-mountain and freshwater ecosystems of Russia and China, and on forest diversity of the United States), he is best known for arguing that biodiversity is an autocatalytic ecological and evolutionary process [3] and for providing evidence of non-primate animal self-awareness (for instance, studying dog and wolf's cognition with a novel "Sniff-test" [4] that widens the theory behind the mirror test [5] [6] ). Moreover, he proposed that "life begets life" [7] and that the diversity of species on Earth is generating itself by niche emergence. [8]
In the early years of his research, he also suggested several novel hypotheses and theories in ecology and evolution such as the endogenosymbiotic origin of biodiversity, [9] [10] the canopy height-biodiversity relationship [11] (proposing the existence of a Species-Volume Relationship in ecology), the coexistence of species through the "avoidance of competition", [12] and the fractal nature of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient. [13]
Working on evolutionary theory, he strongly advocates against considering competition as the main driver of evolution and endorses a reconsideration of the importance of cooperative/mutualistic relationships to explain the existence of biological diversity. In 2011, he proposed the "Biodiversity-related Niches Differentiation Theory (BNDT)" [14] in which he argued that the number of niches in an ecosystem depends on the number of species present in a particular moment and that the species themselves allow the enhancement of niches in terms of space and number. He found that using a three-dimensional model as an ecological hypervolume and testing the theory on different ecosystems it is possible to demonstrate that each species plays a fundamental role in facilitating the colonization by other species by simply modifying the environment and exponentially increasing the available niches. The BNDT stresses the evidence that the process of niche differentiation is strictly addressed by species. This approach has various consequences, first in the reconsideration of the patterns of species coexistence and second in terms of a better understanding of the actual importance of cooperation and competition in the evolution of biological diversity. [15] More recently, he published a scientific paper on the evolution of cooperation [16] in which he argued that the assumption of the 5 main rules for the evolution of cooperation that payoffs are known by the parties and do not change during the time is a limitation because following each rule blindly, there is a risk for individuals to get stuck in an unfavourable situation. Therefore, he proposed that individuals in nature employ a multi-armed bandit (MAB) model, the ε-greedy algorithm, to opt for the best choice most of the time and cooperation evolves as a process nested in the hierarchical levels that exist among the five rules. This reinforcement learning model provides a powerful tool to better understand and even probabilistically quantify the chances of cooperation evolution.
In 2013, he wrote the novel-essay "The paradox of civilization" (in Italian: "Il paradosso della civiltà"). The book is inspired by his journeys in tropical areas, the encounters with African Pygmies and the life in the wild and narrates the abuses of civilised societies over the environment and indigenous people. [17]
In 2017, for the centenary of the "biodiversity" concept proposal, he published a comprehensive review on open questions and some answers about biodiversity to address the future of the research on this topic. [18]
In 2018, in a paper entitled "Is Gaia alive? The future of a symbiotic planet" [19] – published in the scientific journal "Futures" – he described different situations according to which "Gaia", the Earth, would be able to reproduce and to transfer her planetary genome to other uninhabited or inhabited planets. Prof. Cazzolla Gatti argued that our species could act as a germinal cell carrying a specific planetary genome, but it is unlikely for Homo sapiens sapiens to reproduce (or survive disconnected from Earth) on another Gaian system. In what is considered a breakthrough in astrobiology, [20] the Italian scientist hypothesised that human beings will reproduce Earth's biosphere in the universe. However, he clarified that, as a spermatozoon, which loses its flagellum and acrosome while entering into the egg of another body, therefore changing its identity, a human being can be considered just as a carrier of its body's (i.e., Gaia's) genetic information, not of himself: a means more than an aim. [21]
He worked on several aspects of theoretical, conservation, and climate change biology such as the emergence of ecological and economic niches, [22] a new index to estimate and compare biodiversity with a single universal metric, [23] the effects of climate change in accelerating the upward shift of the treeline in the Altai Mountains during the last-century [24] and in inducing the melting of the Maliy Aktru glacier (Altai Mountains, Russia) as revealed studying a primary ecological succession, [25] and the role of Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) in the storage, emission and deposition of carbon in lakes and rivers of the River Ob flood plain, western Siberia. [26]
He also developed interests in the ability to learn from the environment of invertebrates and how predation changes the behaviour of some species of terrestrial isopods. [27]
In 2019 and 2020, he coordinated two studies on environmental sustainability [28] [29] that show how the certifications of palm oil are not reducing deforestation in Southeast Asia, taking place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat, and this could represent a catastrophe for the biodiversity of this region. [30]
In 2020 and 2021, after the first COVID-19 global outbreak, he published several studies on the relationships between the environment and the pandemic, suggesting that coronavirus outbreak is a symptom of Gaia's sickness, [31] discussing the global consequences for wildlife conservation after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, [32] providing evidence to the fact that SARS-CoV-2 did not emerge from a lab but from wildlife exploitation, [33] and proving—by the use of artificial intelligence—that prolonged exposure to air pollution is associated with SARS-CoV-2 mortality and infectivity. [34] Then, employing AI again, he was able to disentangle the main factors associated with cancer death in Italy [35] and discovered that environmental pollution ranks as first for many tumor types. [36]
In 2022, he led an international research, showing that our planet might be hosting approximately 9,000 tree species yet to be discovered. A third of these are rare species with a population that is restricted both in terms of numbers and areas. This was one of the main results of the first-ever estimate of tree species richness at the global level published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Science of the United States (PNAS). [37] [38] [39]
Ecology is the study of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history.
This is an index of conservation topics. It is an alphabetical index of articles relating to conservation biology and conservation of the natural environment.
Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecology, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, epidemiology, public health, and home economics, among others.
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management.
Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape. The goal of urban ecology is to achieve a balance between human culture and the natural environment.
This glossary of ecology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts in ecology and related fields. For more specific definitions from other glossaries related to ecology, see Glossary of biology, Glossary of evolutionary biology, and Glossary of environmental science.
Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology.
Applied ecology is a sub-field within ecology that considers the application of the science of ecology to real-world questions. It is also described as a scientific field that focuses on the application of concepts, theories, models, or methods of fundamental ecology to environmental problems.
Charles Sutherland Elton was an English zoologist and animal ecologist. He is associated with the development of population and community ecology, including studies of invasive organisms.
Ecology is a new science and considered as an important branch of biological science, having only become prominent during the second half of the 20th century. Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy, particularly from ethics and politics.
A functional group is merely a set of species, or collection of organisms, that share alike characteristics within a community. Ideally, the lifeforms would perform equivalent tasks based on domain forces, rather than a common ancestor or evolutionary relationship. This could potentially lead to analogous structures that overrule the possibility of homology. More specifically, these beings produce resembling effects to external factors of an inhabiting system. Due to the fact that a majority of these creatures share an ecological niche, it is practical to assume they require similar structures in order to achieve the greatest amount of fitness. This refers to such as the ability to successfully reproduce to create offspring, and furthermore sustain life by avoiding alike predators and sharing meals.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ecology:
George David Tilman, ForMemRS, is an American ecologist. He is Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in Ecology at the University of Minnesota, as well as an instructor in Conservation Biology; Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior; and Microbial Ecology. He is director of the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve long-term ecological research station. Tilman is also a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.
Richard J. Hobbs FAA, is a distinguished professor, ARC Australian Laureate Fellow and ecologist at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a Highly-Cited author who has written extensively in the areas of vegetation dynamics and management, ecosystem fragmentation, ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration, landscape ecology, and conservation biology. Current research focuses on managing ecosystems in a rapidly changing world.
This is a list of topics in biodiversity.
Kirk O. Winemiller is an American ecologist, known for research on community ecology, life history theory, food webs, aquatic ecosystems, tropical ecology and fish biology. A strong interest of his has been convergent evolution and patterns, causes and consequences of biological diversity, particularly with respect to fishes. His research also has addressed the influence of hydrology on the ecological dynamics of fluvial ecosystems and applications of this knowledge for managing aquatic biodiversity and freshwater resources in the United States and other regions of the world. He currently is a University Distinguished Professor and Regents Professor at Texas A&M University and an Elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, American Fisheries Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Rodolfo Dirzo is a professor, conservationist, and tropical ecologist. He is a Bing Professor in environmental science at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. His research interests mainly focus on plant-animal interactions, evolutionary ecology, and defaunation in the tropics of Latin America, Africa, and the Central Pacific. He was a member of the Committee on A Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards, co-authoring the framework in 2012, and continues to educate local communities and young people about science and environmental issues.
Shahid Naeem is an ecologist and conservation biologist and is a Lenfest Distinguished professor and chair in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University. Naeem is the author of Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, and Human Well-Being, and has published over 100 scientific articles.
Robert Mitchell Pringle is an American biologist and conservationist.
Duccio Rocchini is an Italian professor. Since 2019, he has been serving as a full professor at the University of Bologna and holds an honorary professorship at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
