Andrew is a population biologist in the School of the Environment. A broad goal of his research is to understand the effect of environmental variability on the stability of ecological communities. At the same time, in order to deliver on this broader goal, he is working to scale up understanding from simple tractable systems to the more complex dynamics of real world-systems.
Before joining UQ, he was a Marie Curie fellow working with Jonathan Levine and Alex Hall at ETH Zurich (2018-2020), a postdoctoral fellow in Daniel Stouffer's lab at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand (2017-2018), and a CEHG (Centre for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics) postdoctoral fellow in Tad Fukami's lab at Stanford University, USA (2015-2017). He did his PhD (2011-2015) with David Keith in the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW Australia.
Valerio's current research is focused on coastal conservation and restoration. His work supports the Nature Repair Market (NRM) established by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment, and Water (DCCEEW) and encompasses facilitating expert collaboration, developing best-practice guidelines for biodiversity assessment, and informing evidence-based policy for coastal restoration. He is also involved in the development of methods to assess biodiversity gains through time on oyster reef restoration projects using environmental DNA.
Originally from Ticino, an Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, Valerio had formerly a background in neuroengineering and molecular biology. He completed his BSc in Biology at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland, and his MSc in Biology (with a focus on neuroscience) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland. Despite growing up in the middle of the Alps, he has always had a fascination with marine life, which brought him to the University of Queensland to undertake his Master’s thesis as part of the Sensory Neurobiology group, studying the visual system of surgeonfish. Valerio completed his PhD as part of the Marine Sensory Ecology Lab at the University of Queensland, where he researched the development of colour vision and colouration in a coral reef fish family, applying cutting-edge technology such as CRISPR-Cas9 and single cell RNA sequencing, while also using behaviour paradigms, calibrated photography, phylogenetic comparative methods and bioinformatics.
I have a keen interest in the evolutionary relationships that underpin symbioses, particularly those involved in plant disease. There are countless examples of how diseases have impacted different crops throughout history, and this is an ongoing issue that deleteriously impacts food security. My research involves developing a better understanding of the epidemiology of plant diseases and pests, and delivering improved diagnostics and field management. Working with collaborators and international experts, my work involves research on a broad range of plants that are affected by bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, nematodes and arthropod pests. I have a strong interest in the biotic factors that govern soil health and the methods by which we can promote the development of beneficial microbial communities.
