Marta Maria Grazia Puglisi
CURRENT POSITION
Full Professor SSD BIOS-01/B (Systematic Botany)
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
- July 1994: PhD in Environmental Sciences I - Phytogeography of Mediterranean territories (University of Catania)
- 1990: Qualification as a professional Biologist
- March 1989: Degree in Biological Sciences (University of Catania)
- July 1983: High School Diploma, Classical High School (Milan)
ACADEMIC CAREER
- 1/10/2024 to date: Full Professor SSD BIOS-01/B (University of Catania)
- 02/01/2018-09/30/2024: Associate Professor SSD BIO/02 (University of Catania)
- 10/1/2007-01/31/2018: University Researcher SSD BIO/02 (University of Catania)
- 1999-2003: Research Fellow SSD BIO/02 (University of Catania)
- 1996-1997: Post-doctorate (University of Catania)
INSTITUTIONAL OFFICES
- December 2018 to date: President of the Master's Degree Course in "Environmental Biology" (University of Catania)
- November 2018 to date: Director of the Plant Biology Section (Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Catania)
- November 2016-October 2020: Member of the Board of the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Catania
- November 2014-November 2018: Vice President of the Degree Course in "Environmental and Natural Sciences" (University of Catania)
- November 2014-November 2018: Vice President of the Master's Degree Course in "Environmental Biology" (University of Catania)
- AA 2010-2011: Member of the Teaching Commission of the Faculty of MM., FF., NN. Sciences (University of Catania)
- AA 2009-2010: Member of the Board of the Department of Botany (University of Catania)
ROLES IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH BODIES
- 2024 to date: Member of the Board of Directors of the Working Group for Bryology of the Italian Botanical Society
- 2018-2023: Coordinator of the Working Group for Bryology of the Italian Botanical Society
- 2016 to date: Member of the “Commission on Bryophytes” of OPTIMA (Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area)
- 1999-2017: Member of the Board of Directors of the Working Group for Bryology Italian Botanical Society for Bryology
- Founding member of the Working Group for Bryology of the Italian Botanical Society
EDITORIAL AND REVIEW ACTIVITY
- Subject Editor of the Scopus indexed journal “Italian Botanist”
- Member of the Editorial Committee of the Scopus indexed journal “Plant Sociology”
- Guest Editor of the Special Issue "Diversity, Distribution and Conservation of Bryophytes" on the journal Plants
- Referee for numerous indexed scientific journals, including Cryptogamie Bryologie, Plant Biosystems, Plant Ecology & Diversity, Italian Botanist, Turkish Journal of Botany, Botanica Serbica, Flora Mediterranea, Plant Sociology, Journal of Vegetation Science, Basic and Applied Ecology, Hacquetia, Biodiversity and Conservation
SPEAKER AT CONFERENCES
Speaker at numerous international and national conferences from 1998 to today
PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEES OF CONFERENCES
- Member of the Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee of the XV International Seminar Biodiversity Management and Conservation “Plant ecology and conservation in the Mediterranean area” (Linguaglossa (CT), June 6-10, 2023)
- Organizer of the Scientific Meeting “News on Bryological Research in Italy” (online, June 30, 2023)
- Organizer and chairperson of the Symposium “Biodiversity and Conservation of Bryophytes” within the 116th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society and VII International Plant Science Conference (IPSC) (online, September 8-10, 2021)
- Organizer of the Scientific Meeting “New knowledge on Bryological Research in Italy" (online, June 24, 2021)
- Member of the Scientific Committee of the 116th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society and VII International Plant Science Conference (IPSC) (online, September 8-10, 2021)
- Organizer and moderator (together with S. Martellos) of the Bryology and Lichenology Symposium “Terrestrial Cryptogams: Biodiversity and Conservation” in the context of the 115th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society (online, 9-11 September 2020)
- Member of the Scientific Committee of the 115th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society (online, 9-11 September 2020)
- Organizer and President of the Scientific Meeting “Bryophytes in basic and applied research” of the Working Group for Bryology of the S.B.I. (Rome, June 2019)
- Member of the Scientific Committee of the 52nd SISV Congress “Role and Opportunities of Vegetation Science in a Global Changing World” (Catania 5-7 April 2018)
- Member of the Organizing Committee of the Social Excursion of the Working Group for Bryology of the S.B.I. (Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, July 2018)
- Member of the Scientific Committee and organizer of the Social Excursion of the Working Group for Bryology
The research activity is focused on the study of bryophytes, investigated in the taxonomic, floristic, conservationist, ecological and vegetational fields. The research has allowed to extend the knowledge on bryophytes of the Mediterranean area (Italy, Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Macedonia, Albania), focusing on environments of naturalistic value and conservationist interest such as caves, badlands, gypsum, fumarolic stations, desert areas, temporary ponds, protected areas, Habitats of Directive 92/43/EEC. The floristic-taxonomic scientific papers are numerous with the finding of several rare, critical species, including new national or European records, for which the taxonomic relationships with related species are also discussed, eg Riella notarisii, Myurella sibirica, Asterella africana, very rare species in Europe and the Mediterranean region, Crossidium geheebii and Pseudocrossidium replicatum, new species for the bryoflora of Europe. The intense collaborative activity with Italian and foreign bryologists is showed by the publication of several scientific papers, many of which are under the first name and coordinated by me, including the two recent red lists of Italian bryophytes.
The research activity has also concerned the bryosociological sector with the publication of papers resulting from investigations conducted in Italy and in other countries of the Mediterranean area. A synthesis work on Italian bryophyte vegetation has concerned all the syntaxa known for the Country, critically revised from a nomenclatural and syntaxonomic point of view. For this sector, the undersigned represents a point of reference at Italian and Mediterranean level. Finally, a group of papers has had as its object the analysis of life forms and life strategies of species and communities, which play an important role in the establishment, restoration and maintenance of habitats. These works, coordinated by me, represent the only ones conducted in Italy in this specific research field.