MUSEO CIVICO DI STORIA NATURALE
Ferrara - Italy

The ecological station of the territory is a structure inside the museum which was officially opened in 1987. It directs three main areas of ecological research.


- research on the communities of invertebrates of Ferrara and neighbouring areas;
- direct observation of animal communities in humid areas;
- publish the "Quaderni della Stazione di Ecologia" (Notes of the ecological station): see Publishing


The station also operates as a laboratory for all of the museum's activities and maintains its collections by providing instruments that are used to collect and assess microscopic organisms and process data (dissection microscopes, microphotography and electronic microscopes, computers). There are instruments for the storage which maintain the climatically controlled conditions that ensure safe treatment of the specimens to be stuffed (freezers, suction hood etc.).



For further information on all the activities you can contact Carla Corazza, c.corazza@comune.fe.it



Research on the communities of terrestrial invertebrates

The main area of ecological research is related to the non- aquatic communities of invertebrates of the humid areas of the lower Pianura Padana. These animals are sistematically sampled to:

- assess the variety of species of some of these enviroments that are universally known as tanks of biological diversity

- evaluate the capacity of the reaction that the communities have on these environments sensitive to weather perturbations, whether they are caused by man or not, and consequently to determine methods for indicating environmental quality

- understand more completely about the mechanisms which determine the ratios among the different groups of animals



The humid areas in the lower Pianura Padana which at the present time are being studied, are located along the course of the Reno river in the province of Ferrara and Bologna ( Panfilia wood, hunting and faunal farm L'Ercolana, hunting and faunal farm la Comune) and a humid area inside the Mesola wood, the Elciola swamp (other areas of the Boscone, which cannot be considered as humid areas, are being studied).

Observation of the Animal Communities in Humid Environments It is the function of the ecological station, which was inaugurated at the end of the year 1993, to be a "virtual window" for scientists to see how ecological research in the sector of animal communities in humid areas develops. The laboratory focuses its efforts on the habitats of western and eastern Europe and on the problems relevant to the study of the communities of the terrestrial invertebrates; it led to the publishing of some special issues of "notes" and to the organization of two courses for the identification of the invertebrates in 1999 and 2001.