Full Professor Andrea Pilastro was awarded his PhD in 1992 and since then he has not experienced any significant career interruptions. He has held post-doc fellowships from 1992 to 1998, when he took a position at the Department of Biology, University of Padova (UNIPD), Italy, as Senior Lecture, Associate Professor (2005-2010), and finally as Full Professor (2010-present). Service roles included chairing the PhD School’s in Biosciences, Univ. Padova (2014-2017) and coordinating the curriculum in Evolutionary Biology of the PhD School in Biosciences (2011-present). External service roles include membership of Editorial Boards (Anim. Behav.: 2011-2013; Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.: 2014-present). He has been member of PhD assessment committees for the University of Turin, Florence, Ferrara (Ita), Aarhus (DK), Vienna (Aut), ANU (Aus), Oxford (UK). AP teaches evolutionary biology, animal behaviour and conservation biology. Invited keynote and speaker addresses and articles AP has presented a number of invited talks at conferences (e.g. Genotype by Environment Interactions, Exeter) and Universities (e.g. University of Vienna, Austria; University of Copenhagen and of Aarhus, DK; CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Argentina; KLIVV, Vienna; University of Bern, CH; University of Krakow, PL). His research has received considerable coverage on radio, newspapers & magazines. Advancement of knowledge AP and colleagues have provided key contributions to the literature on sexual selection, evolutionary ecology and reproductive biology using a diverse range of organisms, including fishes and birds. For example, his work on guppies and other poeciliid fishes has been published in some of the most prestigious biological journals (including Nature, PNAS, Nat Comm), providing key insights into the evolution of male ornaments and the interplay between pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection. His theory (along with A. Berglund and A. Bisazza) on the dual function of male ornaments (Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 1996 58: 385-399, 654 citations on Google Scholar), for example, is presented in Futuyma’s Evolutionary Biology textbook as one of the main theories explaining the evolution of male ornaments (3rd ed., p. 593). He has developed with several colleagues (A. Bisazza, M. Rasotto) a series of techniques to male sperm allocation and to disentangle the influence of pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection on male reproductive fitness. Using guppies, Pilastro’s groups has also provided the first demonstration of the role of the ovarian fluid in the cryptic female choice for unrelated females, investigated the relationship between female condition and the effect of OF on sperm velocity and highlighted the cryptic female choice for MHC similarity in the guppy. AP has also been working on the evolution of female brood desertion in the rock sparrow and on the evolution of female ornaments through male choice. In the last years, my research has been mainly focusing on the effect of climate warming on reproduction and sexual selection using guppies, rock sparrows and lesser kestrels as model species, both in the field and in the lab. AP has published 130 papers, with more than 9700 citations and H-index = 58 (Google Scholar).

Curriculum PDF File

For most of my career I have been studying reproductive strategies in vertebrates, in particular sexual selection mechanisms and processes occurring before and after mating and how they are aligned with natural selection (i.e. they concur to population viability). These themes are increasingly relevant in the current biodiversity crisis and my present research is specifically aimed at investigating how climate warming, in particular heatwaves, modifies animals' reproductive strategies and the consequences these changes may have on their populations. These research projects are in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Biology and from other Universities and research centers in Italy and abroad. We are studying two bird populations breeding in nest boxes: a large lesser kestrel breeding colony in Matera (where heatwaves are becoming so intense to put the population at risk) and a population of rock sparrows on the Alps, where climate warming is positively affecting survival and reproductive success. Finally, we are investigating how heatwaves may affect sexual selection dynamics in a small tropical fish, the guppy.

Master's theses are available on sexual selection and reproduction conducted on Rock Sparrows (Petronia petronia) and Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni). The aim of these studies is to evaluate the role of selective episodes related to reproduction in relation to climate change. These research projects are based on behavioral experiments, morphological and physiological measurements. Male reproductive success is ultimately estimated through DNA-based paternity analysis. The thesis may involve fieldwork at various research stations (Matera, Sestriere, Spain) and laboratory work (video analysis, molecular analysis, etc.). Fieldwork takes place from late May to mid-July (Matera and Spain) and from late May to late August (Sestriere).

Last update: 03/10/2025