The Department of Life Sciences (DSV) at the University of Trieste is a partner in a project that uses cutting-edge technology to reconstruct the environmental evolution of the Venice lagoon through the analysis of historical and contemporary macroalgae. 

Coordinated by Professor Stefano Loppi of the University of Siena in an Italian first, the initiative involves use of a new high-precision X-ray instrument, recently acquired with NRRP funds by the University of Siena. The instrument allows metal content in samples to be detected without damaging them.

The University of Trieste working group is made up of Professors Annalisa Falace (Environmental and Applied Botany) and Stefano Martellos (Systematic Botany), with the collaboration of PhD students Alessandra Metalli and Linda Seggi (PhD programme in Environment and Life). 

The UniTS team's activity focuses on three main areas: collecting the macroalgae currently present in the lagoon (already carried out in June), providing specialist expertise in algae taxonomy and biology, and scientifically enhancing particularly historical museum collections.

The study will focus on over 200 algae samples dating back to the 1930s, kept in the Vatova-Schiffner algae collection at the Natural History Museum of Venice under the care of Raffaella Trabucco, which will be compared with current specimens collected by the Trieste research group.

‘This is the first time in Italy that this technology has been applied to herbarium samples of macroalgae,’ emphasises Professor Stefano Martellos. ‘The analyses are completely non-invasive and allow unique and irreplaceable museum collections to be preserved, expanding their research potential.’

‘Macroalgae are excellent bioindicators,’ adds Martellos, ‘and analysing their chemical composition over a period of almost a century allows us to accurately reconstruct the impact of human activity on the lagoon ecosystem, providing valuable data for more informed environmental management.’

‘The potential is enormous,’ comments Professor Loppi, project coordinator. ‘We can rewrite the environmental history of these areas, making a scientific heritage that has been little explored until now accessible to the public.’

The project will be completed by the end of the year and the results will be presented at two important international scientific events: the 9th International Plant Science Conference and the 3rd Conference of the International Association for Biomonitoring of Environmental Pollution.