Plants, invasions, islands, and humans.
Since my undergrad studies, I attempted to link plant ecology and biogeography with anthropogenic factors. This interest culminated in investigating the distribution of humans themselves during my PhD. In parallel, I kept working on plants, focusing on non-native species. Currently, my research areas are biological invasions and human geography.
Research interests
Biological Invasions
Biological invasions are a major threat to biodiversity worldwide. Exploring non-native plant distributions and their impacts can help conservation bodies in the decision-making process. I am particularly interested in coastal ecosystems, whether lacustrine, riparian or insular, and the effect of disturbances originated by water bodies on the alien flora. In other words, I work where the land meets the water.
Biological invasions are a major threat to biodiversity worldwide. Exploring non-native plant distributions and their impacts can help conservation bodies in the decision-making process. I am particularly interested in coastal ecosystems, whether lacustrine, riparian or insular, and the effect of disturbances originated by water bodies on the alien flora. In other words, I work where the land meets the water.
Human Biogeography
While we investigated the insular distribution of virtually every known taxon, we know surprisingly little about the island biogeography of modern humans. I focus on contrasting human and non-human insular population patterns and exploring the interplay between biology and culture, geography and history in defining how humans inhabit islands.
Publications
The Loss (and Gain) of Defensive Adaptations in Island Plants and Animals: A Comparative Review
Riccardo Ciarle, Kevin C. Burns, Fabio Mologni
Xoaquin Moreira, Luis Abdala-Roberts, Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Herbivore Interactions on Islands, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2024, pp. 69--93
Time since first naturalization is key to explaining non-native plant invasions on islands
Fabio Mologni, Peter J. Bellingham, Ewen K. Cameron, Anthony E. Wright
Journal of Biogeography, 2024
Flower size evolution in the Southwest Pacific
Riccardo Ciarle, K. C. Burns, Fabio Mologni
bioRxiv, 2024
The island biogeography of human population size
Fabio Mologni, Kevin C. Burns
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 290, 2023, p. 20222084
Fabio Mologni, Chandra E Moffat, Jason Pither
Environmental Evidence, vol. 12, 2023 Dec, p. 31
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Projects
BioMonI is a large, collaborative project aiming to build a global long-term monitoring of island biodiversity. The role of my working group is to develop future scenarios of island conservation within the Nature Futures Framework.
Systematic mapping of the individual and cumulative impacts of invasive plant species
Systematically compile and map evidence on the impacts of non-native invasive plant species
Plant Invasions on Northern New Zealand Offshore Island
Goal: to investigate relationships between non-native and island characteristics and the interplay with plant traits and life histories. The aim is to provide management strategies to conservation bodies.
The Island Biogeography of Humans
We know how most species are distributed across islands, yet we know surprisingly little about humans. The goal of this project is to investigate how we occupy islands, both at a global and regional scale.
Landscape Ecology and Plant Invasions in the Serio River Basin (Italy)
I investigated changes in land use and cover through time and quantified non-native plant species distributions to identify threats to ecosystems of high naturalistic value.
Teaching
Lecturer (University of British Columbia)
Teaching conservation biology to fourth-year students. They learn what the main threats to biodiversity are, their impacts, and the main management and mitigation strategies.
Guest Lecturer (University of British Columbia)
Teaching Invasion Ecology to students from a variety of backgrounds. I delivered an overview of the topic, tailored to each distinct class.
New Zealand flora and fauna (2021)
Course coordinator (Victoria University of Wellington)
Field-based introductory course on New Zealand Flora and Fauna. Students learn how to identify and describe common plants and birds, observe and recognize patterns, and produce and test hypotheses.
Island Ecology & Evolution (2021)
Course coordinator (Victoria University of Wellington)
A course focused on the basic principles of island ecology, biogeography, conservation and evolution.
Teaching Assistant (Victoria University of Wellington)
Plant biology, Plants and algae: function and diversity, New Zealand flora and fauna, Ecology and environment, Island ecology and evolution, Landscape architecture sites and systems.
