Welcome to my website! I am an evolutionary biologist currently based at University of Cyprus. My main research interests leverage macroecology and genomic tools to detect patterns of phenotypic variation and infer evolutionary processes in wild animal populations, such as the genetic basis of traits, local adaptation and introgressive hybridization in birds.

About me:
I graduated in 2016 with a B.A. (Hons) in Natural Sciences at La Sapienza University of Rome, after which I moved to the UK where I started a Master of Research in Tropical Forest Ecology at Imperial College London (Silwood Park). Supervised by Dr. Joe Tobias, for my thesis I studied the territorial interactions of two sympatric Warbling Antbirds in the Peruvian Amazon: the Peruvian Warbling Antbird (Hypocnemis peruviana) and the Yellow-breasted Warbling Antbird (H. subflava).

After completion of the MRes in 2018, I moved to the Behavioural Ecology and Evolution lab at University of Cyprus for my PhD, where under the supervision of Dr. Alexander Kirschel, I studied the genetic and environmental drivers of song variation in a species complex whose songs are innate: the Pogoniulus tinkerbirds. Specifically, the aim was to understand what environmental factors affect variation of song pitch and pace as well as identify genomic regions that underpin such characters in tinkerbirds.

Our goal in the lab is also to understand the role that phenotypic traits play in species recognition among related species. We study the interactions of the Yellow (P. chrysoconus) and Red-fronted tinkerbird (P. pusillus) that meet at several contact zones across the African continent. Different subspecies meet at each contact zone and the outcome of their interactions varies among contact zones, ranging from no interbreeding to rampant hybridisation. Given this exceptional opportunity, we aim to quantify the extent to which song and feather colour divergence mediate hybridisation and speciation across the continent using advanced genomic and statistical methods.