Federica Usai

Graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of Cagliari, she obtained her Ph.D. in Epidemiology and control of zoonoses in 2011 from the University of Bologna. Her main research interests include: the study of the ecology and epidemiology of parasites, particularly infection dynamics and regulatory phenomena using statistical and mathematical models; the ecological role of parasites in stabilizing host populations and as indicators of ecosystem health; the study of biodiversity in parasitic biocenoses as an essential element of the trophic networks they belong to. She has also worked on medical and veterinary entomology, investigating the existence of density-dependent phenomena in larval outbreaks of Aedes albopictus and how these potentially influence the effectiveness of larvicidal treatments.