Luca Appolloni is a Marine Ecology Researcher.

In 2016, he obtained his PhD in Marine, Earth and Climate Sciences from University of Naples Parthenope. During this period, with the aim of mapping and protecting marine habitats and applying innovative tools for coastal zone management, he specialized in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and heuristic algorithms for habitat conservation. He also carried out an extended period of study and research abroad at The University of Queensland. During the same period, he developed and applied the Systematic Cost Assessment approach to the Gulf of Naples (the focus area of his doctoral research). This approach was later included in the European Marine Spatial Planning platform as a useful method for estimating the use value of marine territories, complementing the well-known Systematic Conservation Assessment, which remains the primary framework through which conservation principles are implemented in the planning of Marine Protected Areas.

After completing his PhD, he devoted his research to the study of marine communities and their environments in order to assess the effects of human activities and the effectiveness of marine reserves in preserving resources for future generations. Although he has worked on many types of marine communities — ranging from meiofauna to macrobenthos in soft-bottom habitats, from communities associated with Posidonia oceanica meadows to those characterizing coralligenous habitats and rhodolith beds — he has specialized in the analysis of fish communities dominated by demersal species. In particular, as a Scientific Diving Operator, he is an expert in Visual Census techniques and has extensively investigated the effects of various anthropogenic impacts on the beta diversity of fish communities associated with both photophilic and sciaphilic hard bottoms, as well as Posidonia oceanica meadows.

He is involved in national and international research projects in collaboration with University of Trieste, IFREMER, and the Italian National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA). During four Antarctic expeditions, he managed sampling campaigns, from implementing the experimental design to developing the tools required for field sampling activities.

More recently, his research activities have continued to focus on the study of communities characterized by demersal species, mainly targeted by small-scale coastal fisheries within Marine Protected Areas, as well as on the distribution of small pelagic populations exploited by commercial fisheries, with particular emphasis on the European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus. Within these research lines, he is developing data-mining protocols necessary for the assessment of fishing effort and applying Species Distribution Models (SDMs) to estimate fish stock abundance, with the aim of implementing targeted conservation measures that ensure the sustainable exploitation of marine resources by local communities and future generations.

In recent years, he has also participated in habitat restoration studies, mainly focused on Cystoseira forests and populations of Ostrea edulis, for which he carried out underwater monitoring activities.