Research
I am fascinated by the diversity of nature and I’m passionate about the maintenance of which. I’m completing my Master’s thesis on the incorporation of animal welfare into invasive species management practices. The pond slider is a turtle species native to Northern America which nowadays can be found everywhere on the globe except for Antarctica and some oceanic islands. In many places in Europe, it has become an invasive alien species affecting not only the native European pond turtle by competition but whole ecosystems due to its omnivorous diet. In Southwestern and Central European countries such as France or Italy, those turtles are being managed with methods such as trapping and keeping in captivity. My Master’s project aims to incorporate the risk of impacts on animal well-being into management recommendations for invasive pond sliders to help making their management more humane. Also, the protocol we develop may help other managers to take animal welfare into account.
This project is supervised by PD Dr. Stefano Canessa and is carried out in collaboration with management actors in Central Italy.
