Agostina Tabilio Di Camillo

Agostina is a PhD student jointly based in the Stygobiology Laboratory of Prof. Diana M. P. Galassi at the University of L’Aquila (Italy) and the Groundwater Ecology Laboratory of Dr. Tiziana Di Lorenzo at the IRET-CNR in Florence (Italy). Her research focuses on groundwater copepods, investigating their functional ecology with an emphasis on their distinctive morphometric and locomotor-behavioral adaptations. By comparing these traits with those of surface freshwater copepods, she seeks to uncover the ecological strategies that enable their survival in hypogean environments.
Supported by the WAC student grant, Agostina integrates field collections from diverse groundwater habitats—caves, springs, and hyporheic zones—with laboratory experiments to study the unique adaptations of these organisms to life in darkness. Employing advanced techniques such as morphometric analysis, behavioral tracking, and fluorescence-based respirometry, her work sheds light on their ecological roles and the essential services they provide to groundwater ecosystems, including sediment remixing and carbon cycling.