I am a terrestrial ecologist interested in evaluating the impact of human activities on ecosystems. During my PhD (2013-2017, Aarhus University, Denmark), I worked within the framework of sustainable agriculture and contributed to developing the artificial caterpillar method to quantify invertebrate and vertebrate predation rates in different habitats, including agroecosystems. My research focuses on key ecological processes such as pollination, herbivory, seed predation, scavenging, and decomposition, which contribute to ecosystem services and disservices.

As certain landscape types or habitat modifications may not benefit all ecological processes, I am also interested in testing standardised approaches for simultaneously monitoring multiple ecological processes. My research background includes studying the effects of urbanisation on animal communities and investigating the impact of oil pollution on arthropod biodiversity and associated ecological processes. I have also undertaken long research stays as a visiting PhD student in Argentina (INTA Manfredi) and as a postdoctoral researcher in Israel (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and Portugal (University of the Azores, Terceira Island).

Since May 2022, I have been a postdoctoral researcher in the Functional Agrobiodiversity group. My current interests include investigating the influence of natural field margins on both arthropod and plant communities and promoting non-lethal methods to study arthropods. Additionally, I co-lead the Global Assessment of Predation Rates project (https://marcoferrante.wixsite.com/marcoferrante), where we employ a standardised approach to record predation rates in natural and cultivated habitats worldwide (over 40 collaborators and 120 study sites).