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Alessia Farina

Research Fellow
Scientific Tutor: Carmelo Rapisarda
Contacts

Office: via Santa Sofia n. 100, stanza 316
Email: alessia.farina@unict.it
Phone: 095 7147357

2019-2022: PhD course in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, University of Catania (international and grant financed by the National Operative Program (PON) “Research and Innovation” 2014-2020, line “Innovative doctorates with industrial characterization”). Research project: “Interactions between insect vectors – host plants – phytopathogenic microorganisms – natural enemies in Hemiptera Aleyrodidae, vectors of phytopathogenic viruses, to strengthen eco-compatible control of important diseases in horticultural crops”.

July - September 2019: Erasmus Outgoing Visiting Student, Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Bilbao (Spain); local supervisors: Prof. Ferdinando Villa and Dr Stefano Balbi. Research activities for master’s thesis preparation: “Applications of the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) platform”.

2017-2019: Master’s Degree in Safeguarding the Territory, the Environment and the Landscape (LM-75), University of Catania; supervisor: Prof. Giovanni Signorello. Degree thesis: “Assessing and mapping ecosystem services. A case study based on ARIES”. Final mark: 110/110 and praise.

2014-2017: Bachelor’s Degree in Planning and Protection of the Territory and the Landscape (L-21), University of Catania; supervisor: Prof. Giovanni Signorello. Degree thesis: “Strumenti per la valutazione e la mappatura dei servizi ecosistemici: SolVES”. Final mark: 110/110 and praise.

  1. Barbera, A. C., Leonardi, G., Caruso, C., & Farina, A. (2021). Bioformulati a base di micorrize arbuscolari negli agroecosistemi erbacei mediterranei. Mensile Agrisicilia.
  2. Rizzo, D., Suma, P., Rossi, E., Farina, P., Da Lio, D., Bartolini, L., Salemi, C., Farina, A. & Rapisarda, C. (2021). First record of Aleurocanthus camelliae Kanmiya & Kasai, 2011 (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) from Italy, on ornamental Camellia spp. plants. EPPO Bulletin.
  3. Farina, A., Barbera, A. C., Leonardi, G., Massimino Cocuzza, G. E., Suma, P., & Rapisarda, C. (2022). Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae): What Relationships with and Morpho-Physiological Effects on the Plants It Develops on?. Insects, 13(4), 351.
  4. Farina, A., Cocuzza, G.E.M., Suma, P. & Rapisarda, C. (2023). Can Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae) Mitigate the Damage Caused to Plants by Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)? Insects, 14(2), 164.
  5. Farina, A., Rapisarda, C., Fiallo-Olivé, E., & Navas-Castillo, J. (2023). Tomato Leaf Curl New Delhi Virus Spain Strain Is Not Transmitted by Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Is Inefficiently Transmitted by Bemisia tabaci Mediterranean between Zucchini and the Wild Cucurbit Ecballium elaterium. Insects, 14(4), 384.
  6. Milenovic, M., Massimino Cocuzza, G. E., Suma, P., & Farina, A. (2023). Geographic distribution of Bemisia tabaci species in Sicily and patterns in facultative endosymbiont community composition. Journal of Applied Entomology, 147(10), 908-915.

Conference proceedings

  1. Farina, A. (Oral presentation). Host plants preference and feeding behavior of plant sap-sucking insects, vectors of important diseases in agricultural crops. 2nd Joint Meeting of Agriculture-oriented PhD Programs UniCT, UniFG and UniUD, 14-16 September 2020, online.
  2. Farina, A. (Oral presentation). Sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), and its predator Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae): what relationships and combined effects on the "plant system" they develop on?. 3rd Joint Meeting of Agriculture-oriented PhD Programs UniCT, UniFG and UniUD, 11-15 October 2021, Giovinazzo (Italy).
  3. Farina, A., Massimino Cocuzza, G. E., Suma, P., Rapisarda, C. (Oral presentation). Effects of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae) on morpho-physiological traits of plants. XXVII Italian National Congress of Entomology (CNIE), Session V, Agricultural Entomology, 12-16 June 2023, Palermo (Italy).
  4. Rapisarda, C., Farina, A., Massimino Cocuzza, G. E., Suma, P. (Poster). The European “Virtigation” project: an opportunity to learn more about whiteflies harmful to vegetable crops and update strategies for their control. XXVII Italian National Congress of Entomology (CNIE), Session V, Agricultural Entomology, 12-16 June 2023, Palermo (Italy).
  5. Farina, A., Rapisarda, C., Navas-Castillo, J., Fiallo-Olivé, E. (Poster). The begomovirus Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus-Spain strain is not transmitted by Trialeurodes vaporariorum and is poorly transmitted by Bemisia tabaci-Mediterranean between zucchini and Ecballium elaterium. 7th National Congress of the Italian Society for Virology, 25-27 June 2023, Brescia (Italy).
  6. Farina, A., Massimino Cocuzza, G. E., Suma, P., Rapisarda, C. (Poster). A step to deeper understand the combined impact of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae) on host plant traits. XII European Congress of Entomology - ECE 2023, 16-20 October, Crete (Greece).