Lucia DI IORIO
RESEARCH
My research revolves around Sundscape Oceanography and Ecoacoustics for the study of the dynamics of marine environments in the face of global changes at relevant spatial and temporal scales. I listen to marine ecosystems to unveil the relationships between habitats & organisms and the ever-changing environmental conditions they are facing. I decompose and quantify the different components of marine soundscapes to quantify biotic and abiotic phenomena as well as anthropogenic pressures. I develop interdisciplinary research integrating oceanography, ecology, geoscience and acoustic cues to better understand ecological and oceanographical processes and responses of ecosystems to environmental variations.
I mainly work on coastal environments focussing on ecologically relevant and vulnerable ecosystems such as seagrasses, marine forests or coralligenous reefs, but also at geological hotspots and more remote offshore environments using a combination of static and mobile devices.
Ongoing Projects
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The TREC expedition, Traversing European Coastlines, lead by EMBL Heidelberg explores the biodiversity and molecular adaptability of microorganisms, model species and their habitats along land-sea gradients. Mobile labs and the Tara schooner are deployed across European seas. Plug-in projects of TREC are also part of the HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-03 project BIOcean5D with the aim of holistically exploring marine biodiversity at molecular and organismal levels – from viruses to mammals – across the 5 dimensions of space, time and human environmental pressures, enabling ecosystem-based management and long-term preservation. We are responsible of the ecoacoustics tasks and will assess the acoustic biogeography and noise pollution of marine forests. We will investigate habitat-environment relationships using soundscapes and simultaneously collected data from other involved researchers of various European institutions. |
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GLUBS, The Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds is an interational effort initated by members of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment and in particular M. Parsons (AIMS, Australia) to gather on a single platform worldwide collections of aquatic sounds.The proposed platform will provide a eference library of known and unknown biological sound sources; a data repository portal; a training platform for artificial intelligence algorithms for signal detection and classification; an interface for developing species distribution maps, based on sound; and a citizen science-based application so people who love the ocean can participate in this project. A grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation (USA) has been granted to UPVD (L. Di Iorio) and WHOI (A. Mooney) to start building a multidisciplinary, web-based, open-access global reference platform of underwater sounds. |
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GOFORSOUND is a joint project between L. Di Iorio (CEFREM) and L. Bramanti (LECOB) co-funded by the Fondation Prince Albert de Monaco II on the use of passive acoustics for the study of the functional role of gorgonian forests. These animal forests are biodiversity hotspots of the Mediterranean sea and highly vulnerable to heat waves induces by climate change. The project is mainly carries out in marine protected areas: Parco Nazionale delle 5 Terre, Réserve Marine de Cerbère Banyuls, Parc National de Port-Cros. |
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TOURIMPACT aims to assess the impact of recreational, noisy activities on the reproductive behaviour of key Mediterranean fish species such as the dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus) and the brown meagre (Sciaena umbra) by studying the acoustic courtship behaviour at reproductive sites. This project involves marine protected areas: Réserve Marine de Cerbère Banyuls, Parc Naturel Marin du Golfe du Lion, Parco Nazionale delle 5 Terre, AMP Tavolara Punta Coda-Cavallo. |
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DEEPLIFE is a collaborative project between Under the Pole and an international consortium of scientists lead by L. Hedouin (CRIOBE) and L. Bramanti (LECOB). The aim is to explore mesophotic (30-200m) animal forests and their functional role in sustaining marine ecosystems. Animal forests are composed of long-lived engineering species, which provide habitat and shelter to myriads of species as welle as numerous ecosystem services. Nevertheless, they remain largely unexplored. In the ecoacoustic tasks we use the acoustic footprints of animal forests to explore their functional role and responses to environmental stressors. |
TREC/BIOCEAN5D
Current PhD students
2023-2026 Marine ETHEVE: Dynamics of marine forest soundscapes in the face of environmental change. ED 305, UPVD. Co-dircted with Francois Bourrin & Philippe Lenfant (CEFREM)
2019-2024 Xavier RAICK: Les paysages acoustiques des environnements marins coralliens avec perspectives de conservation. ED Liège University (B). Co-directed with Eric Parmentier (ULiège)
2021-2024 Miriam FERRETTI: Ecosystem assessment of the environmental impact of light pollution and urbanization on Mediterranean coastal habitats. ED Universty of Pisa (I). Directed by Elena Maggi (UPisa) & Francesca Rossi (SZN). LDI supervises the passive acosutics part of the PhD.
Publications
The list of publications can be accessed here.
Selected publications
Di Iorio L, Audax M, Deter J, Holon F, Lossent J, Gervaise C, Boissery P. 2021. Biogeography of acoustic biodiversity of NW Mediterranean coralligenous reefs. Scientific Reports 11:16991. Nature Publishing Group
Mooney, T.A., Di Iorio, L., Lammers, M., Lin, T.-H., Nedelec, S.L., Parsons, M., Radford, C., Urban, E., Stanley, J., 2020. Listening forward: approaching marine biodiversity assessments using acoustic methods. R. Soc. Open Sci. 7, 201287. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201287
Parsons, M.J.G., Lin, T.-H., Mooney, T.A., Erbe, C., Juanes, F., Lammers, M., Li, S., Linke, S., Looby, A., Nedelec, S.L., Van Opzeeland, I., Radford, C., Rice, A.N., Sayigh, L., Stanley, J., Urban, E. & Di Iorio, L. (2022). Sounding the Call for a Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds. Front. Ecol. Evol., 10, 39.
Raick X, Di Iorio L, Lecchini D, Gervaise C, Hédouin L, Consortium U the P, Pérez-Rosals G, Rouzé H, Bertucci F, Parmentier É. (2023). Fish sounds of photic and mesophotic coral reefs: variation with depth and type of island. Coral Reefs. 42, 285–297.
Desiderà, E., Guidetti, P., Panzalis, P., Navone, A., Valentini-Poirrier, C.-A., Boissery, P., … Di Iorio, L. (2019). Acoustic fish communities: sound diversity of rocky habitats reflects fish species diversity and beyond? Marine Ecology Progress Series, 608, 183–197. http://doi.org/10.3354/meps12812
Di Iorio, L., Raick, X., Parmentier, E., Boissery, P., Valentini-Poirier, C. A., & Gervaise, C. (2018). ‘Posidonia meadows calling’: a ubiquitous fish sound with monitoring potential. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 4(3), 248–263. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.72
Mathias D, Gervaise C, Di Iorio L. (2016). Wind dependence of ambient noise in a biologically rich coastal area. J Acoust Soc Am., 139 (2), 839-850. http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4941917
