Silvana Munzi

research interests

• Natural Science in the Early Modern period;
• Symbioses and their ability to cope with environmental stress;
• Lichen response to nitrogen atmospheric pollution.

Projects

Coordination

• 2014 July - 2019 July – “The secret of a winning strategy: common mechanisms in different symbioses” (Secret Mechanisms IF/00964/2013) funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation);
• 2012 April-2014 March - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship "Role of enzymatic activity in lichen tolerance under nitrogen stress" (EU FP7 PIEF-GA-2011-301785) funded by the European Commission.

Participation

• 2019-2024 - ERC project “Making the Earth Global: Early Modern Nautical Rutters and the Construction of a Global Concept of the Earth” (grant agreement No 833438).
• 2019-2021 – Supervisor of the Marie Curie project “Med-N-Change-Assessing the interactive effects of N addition and climate change on soil processes through the biological soil crust in Mediterranean ecosystems” (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, No 793965).
• 2016-2018 - ChangeTracker-Tracking climate change in drylands based on ecological indicators. Science and Technology Foundation (PTDC/AAG-GLO/0045/2014).
• 2015-2018 - Strengthening Portuguese research and innovation capacities in the field of excess reactive nitrogen (NitroPortugal), TWINNING project (TWINN 692331).

Publications (selection)

1. Munzi S., Cruz C., Branquinho C., Cai G., Faleri C., Parrotta L., Bini L., Gagliardi A., Leithg I.D., Sheppard L.J., 2020. "More tolerant than expected: Taking into account the ability of Cladonia portentosa to cope with increased nitrogen availability in environmental policy". Ecological Indicators, 119: 106817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106817
2. Sutton M.A., van Dijk N., Levy P.E., Jones M.R., Leith I.D., Sheppard L.J., Leeson S., Tang Y.S., Stephens A., Braban C.F., Dragosits U., Howard C.M., Vieno M., Fowler D., Corbett P., Naikoo M.I., Munzi S., Ellis C.J., Chatterjee S., Steadman C.E., Móring A., Wolseley P.A., 2020. "Alkaline Air: changing perspectives on nitrogen and air pollution in an ammonia-rich world". Philosophical Transactions A, 378: 20190315. http://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2019.0315
3. Munzi S., Cruz C., Corrêa A., 2019. When the exception becomes the rule: an integrative approach to symbiosis. Science of the Total Environment, 672: 855-861. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.038
4. Munzi S., Branquinho C., Cruz C., Máguas C., Leith I., Sheppard L., Sutton M., 2019. "δ15N in lichens reflects the isotopic signature of ammonia source". Science of the Total Environment, 653: 698-704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.010
5. Munzi S., Cruz C., Maia R., Máguas C., Perestrello-Ramos M.M., Branquinho C., 2017. "Intra- and inter-specific variations in chitin in lichens along a N-deposition gradient". Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 24(36): 28065-28071.
6. Dias T., Crous C.J., Liberati D., Munzi S., Gouveia C., Ulm F., Afonso A.C., Ochoa-Hueso R., Manrique E., Sheppard L., Martins-Loução M.A., Bernardes da Silva A., Cruz C., 2017. "Alleviating nitrogen limitation in Mediterranean shrubland leads to ecological degradation". Land Degradation & Development, 28(8): 2482-2492. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2784
7. Ochoa-Hueso* R., Munzi* S., et al., 2017. "Ecological impacts of atmospheric pollution and interactions with climate change in terrestrial ecosystems of the Mediterranean Basin: Current research and future directions". Environmental Pollution, 227: 194-206. (* first authors)
8. Munzi S., Sheppard L.J., Leith I.D., Cruz C., Branquinho C., Bini L., Gagliardi A., Cai G., Parrotta L., 2017. "The cost of surviving nitrogen excess: energy and protein demand in the lichen Cladonia portentosa as revealed by proteomic analysis". Planta, 245(4): 819-833.
9. Munzi S., Branquinho C., Cruz C., Loppi S., 2013. "Nitrogen tolerance in the lichen Xanthoria parietina: the sensitive side of a resistant species". Functional Plant Biology, 40: 237–243.
10. Munzi S., Loppi S., Cruz C., Branquinho C., 2011. "Do lichens have “memory” of their native nitrogen environment?". Planta, 233: 333-342.