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Ferdinando Boero is May’s featured Faculty Member of the Month. He shares with us two of the most influential people for his research, Charles Darwin and Frank Zappa.

He is Professor of Zoology at the University of Salento and a Member of F1000 Prime Ecology Faculty since 2009. Due to his research interest in marine biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and Marine Protected Areas, Ferdinando is involved with many environmental institutes and organisations, including being an associate for the Institute of Marine Science of the National Research Council; Vice-chair of the Steering Committee of the European Marine Board; and member of the European Academies Scientific Advisory Council for whom he contributed written documents for the Berling and Tokyo G7 meeting.

Many congratulations on being awarded the 2017 Medal for Physical and Natural Sciences by the Italian National Academy of Sciences. Can you tell us a little bit about your work that led to this prize?

The Medal is a commission that is presented to researchers working in physics and/or natural sciences since 1868. I was awarded the medal for decades spent researching the link between various aspects of biology, from developmental biology (the life cycles of jellyfish) to ecosystem functioning.

I like taking a holistic/integrative approach to my research, or rather an ecosystem-based approached might be a more appropriate term. This is in opposition to an approach based on reductionism, with over specialised approaches that restricts aspects of a single reality.

Reductionism is still rampant in science. But the times they are a-changing! The 20th century was characterized by increasingly deeper analyses, the 21st century must be dedicated to breaking the walls that separate disciplines to reach a synthesis.

What triggered your interest in this field of research? You can describe a key influencer, moment or role model that inspired you.

I wrote my thesis on a tuna trap, a special net with which fishermen caught many fish species, not only tuna. I lived for three years in close contact with the group of fishermen that operated the trap, near Genova. I worked with them for a whole day, once a week. I learnt more from the fishermen than I did in the classroom or in the laboratory. So, I decided that I wanted to become a marine biologist.

Equally influential to my time with the fishermen is Charles Darwin. Nobody changed our way of seeing the world more than him. He was a naturalist and I wanted to be like him. Darwin collected sparse evidences and assembled them, seeing what the others (besides Alfred Russel Wallace) had in front of their eyes without seeing it.

Can you tell us about your jellyfish discovery, Phialella zappai, and why you chose to name it after the musician Frank Zappa?

In 1965, I saw The Beatles in concert. In 1966, I saw the Rolling Stones, but then I discovered Frank Zappa and my music taste changed. Zappa’s music, similar to my research approach, is holistic. His music covers all kinds of music, from stupid love songs (e.g. Fountain of Love) to extremely difficult pieces (e.g. the Black Page, or G-spot Tornado, or Zomby Woof).

Zappa spoke about the ‘big note’, and about conceptual continuity. There is one music and all types of music are linked. It is the same with science. Each discipline is an instrument. Each scientist plays his or her discipline. Now, what do you get from listening to a piece of orchestral music played by each instrument in isolation? You lose the BIG note, the conceptual continuity. Play your instrument but do not forget that you are part of an orchestra, the orchestra of science.

I enjoy the sound of the Frank Zappa’s music, but also the concepts behind it, including humour. His music is complex, difficult to play, but it sounds nice to my ears. I decided that I wanted to meet Zappa, so I elaborated a plan.

In 1983, I applied for a grant to work at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. At that time, the lab was under UC Berkeley. I thought I would surely find a new jellyfish species there and I will write to Zappa that I want to name one after him, and he will surely like the idea.

Once I discovered several new species of jellyfish, I wrote to Zappa. He answered with a letter: “There is nothing I’d like better than having a jellyfish with my name. Come to Los Angeles and show me the jellies.” I named the jellyfish Phialella zappai after him. We then went on to become friends, meeting several times, in the US and in Europe.

Frank gave his last rock concert in Genova (my hometown) in the same building where I saw the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And he came bearing a gift – he performed a song called ‘Lonesome Cowboy Nando’. A song about the jellyfish and myself, which he recorded as part of the album ‘You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6’. I dedicated a jellyfish to him in turn he dedicated a song to me. We had been friends for 10 years.

What do you like about working on F1000Prime?

I enjoy reading the articles. Mostly about jellyfish, but I like to broaden out and read about other topics. I review articles about transdisciplinary research and find reviewing to be a useful way to formalize my thoughts.

I write the reviews for my pleasure and try to put some humour in them too. If other people like them, it is a bonus. From the feedback that I’ve received, apparently F1000 readers like them. And it is always nice to receive approval from your peers. We are a social species and the relationship with other specimens is important. To see that my reviews go in the most viewed section is rewarding, and gratifying just like when I receive a medal.

I would like to close with two music quotes from Frank Zappa:

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”

“Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty.  Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best.”