My name is Riccardo Scodeller and I am a new doctoral student under the co-supervision of Ass. Prof. Tiina Tosens and Prof. Ülo Niinemets. I come from the north-eastern region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Italy, where I completed my academic education in Natural Sciences and Global Change Ecology at the University of Trieste. My BSc’s and MSc’s thesis projects titles where “Multitemporal analysis of vegetation dynamics in terraced landscapes” and “Conservation education: evaluation of environmental education in a zoo”, respectively. After my graduation I did some fieldwork on the Red-billed chough conservation project at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (Jersey), and for the last two years I worked as a science teacher in a secondary school.
Here at the Estonian University of Life Sciences I will be working on the topic “Physiological and structural trade-offs underlying the global variation of mesophyll conductance”, where I will expand the existing database by gathering anatomical and physiological data from plant groups of interest in the efforts of determining which factors affect mesophyll conductance and photosynthesis in higher plants.
I am grateful for this opportunity to develop new skills in microscopy and physiological analysis, deepen my understanding of scientific methodology and network while meeting new and interesting people!
Ülo Niinemets’ Lab 