Research: Centers

Research Center for the Lake of Varese (CRLV)

The Research Center for the Lake of Varese (CRLV) serves as the local focal point for facilitating research on the Lake of Varese in key areas such as water quality, fisheries management, recreational guidelines and environmental education.

Past research specifically focused on the temporal dynamic of the planktonic communities following strategies undertaken to reduce the lake trophic level. More recently, the staff activities are devoted to the study of engaged fish species and to the evaluation of the possible strategies for controlling the internal phosphorous load and the summer anoxia. Studies focused on the control of alloctonous species are in progress, as well as studies on autoctonous fish species of commercial and recreational interest, including a study on Perca fluviatillis, (an important species for the lake in danger due to the unbalanced environmental conditions, including predation and food chain disruption aspects). Additionally, research has focused on recruitment and pursuing a molecular approach of finding descriptors of nutritional status and welfare. With this methodology, more than a thousand Expressed Sequence Tags (EST) have been deposited in NCBI-Data Base, representing a powerful tool to facilitate functional genomic approaches.

The CRLV is represented by an interdisciplinary team of academic and non-academic experts in the fields of biology, zoology, ecology and environmental chemistry that operate in close connection with local governmental and non-governmental agencies. CRLV is a non-profit organization financed by private donors, national and regional research grants, now administered by the Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Sciences at the University of Insubria.