Graduated in Biology at the University of Siena in 1991 and PhD awarded in Agricultural Biology at the University of Pisa in 1995. Since 2001 I am a researcher at the University of Siena. My research concerns reproductive biology of higher plants and particularly the relationships between plants and animals during pollination. Most of these relationships are based on mutualism, since animals are rewarded with pollen and nectar while they perform pollination. My studies aims to discover how diversity of rewards may affect the relationships with pollinators in the present days and during evolution.
Biology of Plant Reproduction
Reproductive Ecology of Higher Plants
Plant-animal interactions and evolution
Nectar chemistry and ecology
Assessment of Honey Quality
Ettore Pacini
Massimo Guarnieri
Daniele Nocentini
Since 2001 he holds teaching activities concerning botany for BSc and MSc courses of the Faculty of Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of Siena. In 2009 he was invited professor at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP, Instituto di Biociencias, Campus de Botucatu, Brazil) for an intensive course on Nectar Biology for the post-graduated program in Biological Sciences. In the Academic Year 2012-2013 he teaches Plant Biology for the BSc course in Biological Sciences and Evolution of Land Plants for the MSc course in Biodiversity and Nature Conservation.
Nepi M., Soligo C., Nocentini D., Abate M., Guarnieri M., Cai G., Bini L., Puglia M., Bianchi L., Pacini E. Amino acids and protein profile in floral nectar: much more than a simple reward. Flora 207, 475-481 (2012).
Nocentini D., Pacini E., Guarnieri M., Nepi M. Flower morphology, nectar traits and pollinators of Cerinthe Major (Boraginaceae-Lithospermeae). Flora 207, 186-196 (2012).
Stahl J.M., Nepi M., Galetto L., Rodrigues Machado S., Guimaraes E. (2012). Functional aspects of floral nectar secretion of Ananas ananassoides, an ornithophilous bromeliad from the Brazilian savanna. Ann. Bot. 109, 1243-1252 (2012).
von Aderkas P., Nepi M., Marlies R., Buffi F., Guarnieri M., Coulter A., Gill K., Lan P., Rzemieniak S., Pacini E. Post-pollination prefertilization drops affect germination rates of heterospecific pollen in larch and Douglas-fir. Sex. Plant Repr. 25, 215-225 (2012).
Firon N., Nepi M., Pacini E. Water status and associated processes marks critical stages in pollen development and functioning. Ann. Bot. 109, 1201 - 1213 (2012).
Stpiczynska M., Nepi M., Zych M. Secretion and composition of nectar and the structure of perigonal nectaries in Fritillaria meleagris L. (Liliaceae). Plant Syst. Evol. 298, 997 – 1013 (2012).
Nepi M., Bini L., Bianchi L., Puglia M., Abate M., Cai G. Xylan-degrading enzymes in male and female flower nectar of Cucurbita pepo. Ann. Bot. 108, 521-527 (2011).
Nepi M., Selvi F., Pacini E. Variation in nectar sugar profile of Anchusa and allied genera (Boraginaceae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 162, 616-627 (2010).
Nepi M., von Aderkas P., Wagner R., Mugnaini S., Coulter A., Pacini E. Nectar and pollination drop: how different are they? Ann. Bot. 104, 205-219 (2009).
Nepi M., Stpiczynska M. The complexity of nectar: secretion and resorption dynamically regulate nectar features. Naturwissenschaften 95, 177-184 (2008).