Dr. Giorgio Mancinelli has been Researcher of the University of Salento since 2004.
The general approach of dr. Mancinelli models and deals with issues of broad theoretical and conceptual and is pluralistic: the research has been and is still made in the laboratory and in the field, in natural aquatic systems (marine, brackish, lentic and lotic) and ground-based, focusing on ecological scales that extend from the individual to the population level, communities' and the ecosystem. Furthermore, they were acquired and used a broad spectrum of analytical methods, including, inter alia, the use of radioisotopes in laboratory systems, the analysis of stable isotopes, chromatographic methods using HPLC for the determination of molecular indices of activity fungal, the acquisition and analysis of near-infrared spectral signatures.
The research of dr. Mancinelli focused on the study of the processes involved in the metabolism of plant debris, and then click trophic systems based on organic detritus. These systems, due to their unique structural characteristics and dynamics, are ideal subjects for study of the relationship between structure and ecological function. A significant fraction of these studies were conducted at the Section of Ecology, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University 'La Sapienza' University in Rome as part of EEC projects, CNR, MURST-COFIN, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Education. In addition, specific research has been conducted jointly with research bodies, both national (ICRAM, CNR-IRSA, CNR-ISEC) and foreign (University of Barcelona). In such areas, the dr. Mancinelli has had the dual opportunity to further aspects of the metabolism of plant debris and extend their research to issues related to the interaction between macrofauna and (1) nutrient dynamics and (2) macroalgae in brackish and marine environments, respectively.
In addition, the dr. Mancinelli has collaborated with the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, conducting studies on community sorgentizie environments Apennines. Also continues to work with the Section of Ecology, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University 'La Sapienza' University of Rome, focusing on the analysis of the structural characteristics of food webs and competition phenomena of inter-and intra-specific populations isopods structured according to the size in scavenging community land.