Institute of Ecosystem Study

The headquarters of ISE in Verbania in 1938

The headquarters of ISE today

The Institute of Ecosystem Study (Italian: Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, abbreviated ISE) is one of the institutes of the Italian National Research Council (CNR).

Research topics

Research at ISE is mostly on environmental issues, especially on:

• impact of global change,
• conservation and recovery of ecosystems,
• freshwater ecology,
• soil functioning,
• biology and technology of photosyntethic microorganisms,
• applied ecology and biological pest control.

Organisation and units

The four units of ISE are:

• The headquarters in Verbania Pallanza, mostly dealing with limnology.
• The unit in Firenze, in the research area of Sesto Fiorentino, deals with population dynamics, in waters and soils.
• The unit in Pisa works on chemical, biochemical and physical aspects determining soil quality.
• The unit in Sassari, in the research area of Li Punti, works on integrated pest management.

History

The headquarters of ISE in Verbania Pallanza started working as a research center in 1938 on Lake Maggiore, as the Italian Institute of Hydrobiology, as a will of Rosa Curioni in memory of her husband, the limnologist Marco De Marchi, to whom the Institute was dedicated.

During the Second World War life in the Institutes was difficult, due to economic shortages and lack of communication. Nevertheless, important scientists were based here during that time: Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Vittorio Tonolli^[1] and Giuseppe Ramazzotti. In 1944 the genetics section started working on Drosophila. After the war, research in the Institutes became more focused on freshwater ecology. Several limnologists passed through the Institute, most notably: Ramon Margalef, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, Richard Vollenweider, Charles Goldman, Robert G. Wetzel^[2] and W. Thomas Edmondson.^[3]

The Institute entered CNR in 1977, and in 2002 ISE started its existence, with the inclusion of the units in Firenze, Pisa and Sassari.^[4]

Publications

The Journal of Limnology is the official international journal of the ISE headquarters in Verbania. It publishes papers on limnology. It started in 1999 as a continuation of the Memorie dell’Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia (1942–1998). It is currently published by PAGEPress,^[5] is completely free to read and to publish, and is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).^[6]

Tropical Zoology is the official international journal of the unit in Firenze. It publishes papers on zoology in tropical areas. It started in 1988 as a continuation of the Monitore Zoologico Italiano (1966–1987). It is currently published by Taylor&Francis.^[7]

In the last thirty years the researchers of ISE published more than 2,000 scientific papers, resulting in more than 40,000 citations.^[8]

References

1. "Notable Limnologists: Vittorio Tonolli (1913-1967)". limnology.org. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
2. "Notable Limnologists: Robert G. Wetzel (1936-2005)". limnology.org. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
3. "SILNEWS 31". limnology.org. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
4. "ISE history". Retrieved 2015-07-29.
5. "News | Recent Articles | PAGEPress Publications - scholarly open access journals | PGP". pagepress.org. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
6. DOAJ. "Directory of Open Access Journals". doaj.org. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
7. Taylor & Francis. "Homepage - Taylor & Francis". taylorandfrancis.com. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
8. "Google Scholar". Retrieved 2015-07-29.

External links

• ISE official webpage
• CNR official webpage
• Journal of Limnology official webpage
• Tropical official webpage
• Lehman, 2000. "We learned how to live in Pallanza". Journal of Limnology 59: 1-3
• Google Scholar profile of ISE