He is a professor of zoology, Università del Salento, associate of the Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council, and president of the scientific advisory board of the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, Naples. He is a member of the European Academies Scientific Advisory Council as representative of the Accademia dei Lincei for the preparation of documents entitled: “Marine Sustainability in an age of changing oceans and seas” and “Future of the Ocean: impact of human activities on marine systems” (for the G7 Meeting, Tokyo). He is feature writer for La Stampa, Il Secolo XIX, Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia, and collaborator on Le Scienze and Internazionale. He has authored Ecologia della Bellezza, Ecologia ed Evoluzione della Religione, Economia senza Natura, and La grande truffa. He is vice president of Marevivo, member of the scientific advisory board for WWF Italia and Pro Natura. He was awarded the Grand Medaille Albert 1er for Oceanography by the Institute Océanographique de Paris in 2005 and the Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, for the section Physical, and Natural Sciences, in 2017.
