Daniele D'Agostino

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Daniele D'Agostino is a post-doc in marine ecology. He holds a BSc from the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ (Italy); a 2-years MRes from Polytechnic University of Marche (Italy), and a PhD from the University of Nottingham (UK).

Daniele D'Agostino is currently doing a post-doc at New York University – Abu Dhabi under the supervision of Prof. John Burt. Here he is using the Arabian Gulf – the world’s warmest sea – as a ‘natural laboratory’ to understand how marine organisms respond to and cope with extreme environmental conditions and to provide insights into the potential impacts of future climate change on marine systems across the tropics. Particularly, he is interested in the effect of increased temperature and salinity, coupled with reduced dissolved oxygen, on the physiology of fish, corals, and seagrasses, and the behavior of fish.

During his PhD, Daniele investigated the behavioral, life-history, and demographic traits that may allow coral reef fishes to cope with extreme environments (thesis: ‘Coping with extreme environments. Phenotypic responses of coral reef fishes to extreme and novel environments’). This research theme was part of a multi-institute and multi-national collaboration, most notably David Feary from MRAG marine consultancy in London, John Burt and his team from the New York University Abu-Dhabi, and Carlos Jimenez and Louis Hadjioannou from Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre in Cyprus.

Previous to his PhD, Daniele worked as a Research Technician in Andrew MacColl’s lab (UoN) on a project revolving around the evolution and adaptive radiation of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).