Zoologist researcher with the Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Rome, La Sapienza, where he teaches conservation biology on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. He studied ecology of European mammalians; since 2000, his focus of interest is determining global priorities for the conservation of biodiversity. He is currently coordinator of the research program on Global Mammal Assessment, which assesses the risk of extinction of marine and terrestrial mammals for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.