Meet The Editor – Dr. Valentina Costa | IABO Hub

PeerJ launched the IABO Hub – the publishing home of the International Association for Biological Oceanography – in October 2022. Hubs are a new, sustainable Open Access solution for societies and research associations, and the Hub Editorial Team are an integral part of the process. As members of the partner society, the Hub Editorial Team are perfectly placed to assess abstracts submitted to their Hub for suitability to their own community.

Today we meet IABO Hub Editor Dr. Valentina Costa from Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Napoli, Italy to learn more about her research interests.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your general research interests?

My research activity is focused on the study of the ecology of seagrass marine ecosystems. The main purpose of my research is to answer ecological questions by applying an integrated approach based on three main keywords: map, protect and restore.

To map and protect any ecosystem, knowledge represents the starting point, and how different environmental variables can affect the ecosystem itself is also necessary. During my PhD, I worked on evaluating the effects of environmental gradients (acidification and confinement) on seagrass detritus decomposition dynamics and the colonization by marine invertebrates of the detritus itself. After that, I focused my research on the effects of ocean acidification on seagrasses also using experimental approaches and mesocosm studies.

More recently, my interest has been more focused on the keyword restore. One approach to ecosystem restoration is the transplanting of organisms from non-impacted areas to areas that need to be reforested. For this reason, part of my research activity is focused on the evaluation of transplantation techniques used for marine seagrass restoration activities.

What originally drew you to this area of research?

During my bachelor’s course in Biology at the University of Palermo (Italy), I took a class that was focused on the ecology of coastal ecosystems. Among those we studied in the class, the seagrass ecosystem caught immediately my full attention.

What are you working on currently? Do you have anything interesting in the pipeline?

Apart from the ecology of seagrass marine ecosystems, I am also very interested in open-source and low-cost technologies (e.g. Arduino) and how these can be applied to help the studies of marine ecosystems.

What most excites you about the new IABO Hub?

Being part of the Hub Editorial Team and collaborating with PeerJ, it’s a new opportunity for me and this is really exciting.

What areas of Biological Oceanography research are particularly exciting at the moment, and what would you like to see submitted to the IABO Hub?

Following the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the status and the innovation in conservation and restoration practices should be more addressed in this decade.

*****

The IABO Hub Special Issue “The State of Active Seagrass Conservation and Restoration” is currently open for submissions. To be considered, submit your abstract to the Hub Editorial Team via the IABO Hub (https://peerj.com/hubs/iabo/submit) and include “Submitting to the Seagrass Special Issue” in the Note to Editor section. Abstracts will be assessed by the Hub Editorial Team, and approved abstracts will be invited to submit a full manuscript to PeerJ Life & Environment.

Full scope and topics list can be found on the Special Issue homepage.

All manuscript accepted through the IABO Hub receive a 10% discount on the PeerJ APC, which can be used to reduce the cost of your own article or donated to the Hub Cooperative Publishing Fund to assist researchers within your community without funding.

*****

Would your society or research associations be interested in their own PeerJ Hub? If so, please send an enquiry to communities@peerj.com and we can let you know more about the concept.