Dr. Francesco Ferretti

FACULTY AFFILIATE   |   Global Change Center

Fish and Wildlife Conservation

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ferretti@vt.edu

Dr. Ferretti is interested in characterizing the history of human impact in the ocean, to understand how this impact has altered marine ecosystems, and to develop solutions for a sustainable use of marine resources. His research spans from macro-ecology to applied management and conservation (especially sharks and their relatives). Ferretti’s work focuses on dynamics from single species to whole ecosystems, and revolves around three main scientific approaches: 1) inferring ecological processes from limited and disparate data; 2) filling the data gap characterizing many ecological systems by exploiting unconventional sources of information; and 3) using data science methods, big data, and new technology to address pressing ecological issues and develop ocean solutions.

The guiding principle of Dr. Ferretti’s research is using all possible sources of information to address challenging ecological questions, especially in the ocean where data are limited and expensive. This often entails data mining and archival digging, historical investigations, and the analysis of unconventional data. He exploits meta-analysis, Bayesian methods, and hierarchical modeling for integrating numerous and heterogeneous data sources; he also uses tools in computer and data science to acquire, manage and process this information.