MONICA
GAGLIANO
Not All Those Who Wander Are LosT
NEWS & EVENTS.
If you would like to invite me to speak, get in touch here...
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT IT...
“Those who wish to see how a shamanic approach can help advance the scientific understanding of plants need to read this wonderful book. Monica Gagliano opens up new frontiers and her methods deserve broad attention.”
— Jeremy Narby, PhD, author of The Cosmic Serpent
Available in English, French, Spanish, Dutch
and Italian
2025
May 1-31 Scholar-in-residence | Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, Center for the Study of World
Religions, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, USA
2024
NOV 3-6 Invited Speaker | Ecological Entanglements across Collections, Kunsthistorischen Instituts in
Florenz, Berlin, Germany
SEPT 16-21 Invited Speaker | More Than Human Rights Conference, Sarayaku Nation, Ecuador
maY 28 Invited Speaker | Kinship in Transformation: Interspecies Love, Istituto Svizzero, Rome, Italy
maY 15 Invited Speaker | Human Entities: Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Lisbon, Portugal
2023
DEC 11-16 Invited Speaker | 1st Simposio Psiconauta: Utopia Y Enebriedad, Conguillo, Chile
NOV 9 Invited Speaker | Metamorphosis Forum, Rockefeller University, NY, USA
mar 25 Invited Speaker | 14th symposium of the Swiss Ethnobiology Network, Lucerne, Switzerland
mar 15-17 Invited Speaker | Pathways to Planetary Health: the Common Good, Garrison Institute, NY, USA
2022
May 23-26 Keynote Speaker | ESPD55 @ St. Giles House, Dorset, UK
2021
NOV 26 Speaker | TED X Sydney @ The Opera House, Sydney, Australia
OCT 14 Guest lecturer | Power||Energy, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, USA
ABOUT ME.
My research explores the ecological processes that allow organisms to sense and adapt to the dynamic conditions of their environment, enabling them to thrive.
In collaboration with various disciplines across the Sciences and the Humanities, my research aims at expanding our perception of animals, plants and more generally Nature. In the process of learning how to do this, I have pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics and extended the concept of cognition to plants, re-igniting the discourse on plant subjectivity, sentience and ethical standing.
I am Research Associate Professor (adjunct) in evolutionary ecology in Australia and Free-roaming Explorer, bridging Western and Indigenous Science
to develop innovative strategies for restoring planetary health.
other Curious things...
The soul has an absolute and unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment
~ Thomas Moore
My Musical
Adventures
available on
available on
MORE HERE: https://soundcloud.com/monica-gagliano
more coming soon...
thank you for your patience
My artistic
explorations
CONTACT.
my publications.
also available on ResearchGate...
Other Ecologies.
Smuts B, Franks B, Gagliano M & C Webb (2024) The connection we share: animal spirituality and the science of sacred encounters. In Animals and Religion. Edited by Dave Aftandilian, Barbara Ambros & Aaron S. Gross. London: Routledge.
Benessia A & M Gagliano (2023) Bodies of knowledge and wisdom: science as collaboration between beings. Animot: The Other Philosophy 13: 23-36. Abstract available here https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/animot/article/view/7470
Franks B, Gagliano M, Smuts B & C Webb (2023) Looking up to animals and other beings: what the fishes taught us. In Animal Dignity: Philosophical Reflections on Non-Human Existence. Edited by Melanie Challenger. London: Bloomsbury.
Webb C, Franks B, Gagliano M & B Smuts (2023) Un-tabooing empathy: the benefits of empathic science with nonhuman research participants. In Conversations on Empathy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Imagination and Radical Othering. Edited by Francesca Mezzenzana & Daniela Peluso. London: Routledge. Available here https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003189978-15
Krattenmacher J, Casal P, Dutkiewicz J, Huchard E, Sanders E, Treich N, Wadiwel D, Williams A, Bègue L, Cardilini APA, Dhont K, Dugnoille J, Espinosa R, Gagliano M, Lairon D, Maheta M, Mendez L, Nowicki P, Quinn TP, Razum O, Ripple WJ, Rothgerber H & R Twine (2023) Universities should lead on the plant-based dietary transition. Lancet Planetary Health 7(5): e354-e355. Available here https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00082-7
Franks B, Webb C, Gagliano M & B Smuts (2020). Conventional science will not do justice to nonhuman interests: a fresh approach is required. Commentary on Treves et al. on 'Just Preservation.' Animal Sentience, 27(17): 1-5. Available here https://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol4/iss27/17/
Gagliano M & I Vargas Roncancio (2020) Commentary on Vettese et al. ‘The Great Fish Pain Debate.’ Issues in Science and Technology 36 (4).Available here https://issues.org/debating-fish-pain-forum/
Stephens A, Taket A & M Gagliano (2018) Ecological justice for Nature in critical systems thinking. Systems Research & Behavioral Science SRES 2532. Available here https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2532
Gagliano M (2018). Planetary health: are we part of the problem or part of the solution? Challenges 9(2): 38. Available here https://doi.org/10.3390/challe9020038
Gibson P & M Gagliano (2017) The feminist plant: changing relations with the water lily. Ethics and the Environment 22:125-147. Available here http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/ethicsenviro.22.2.06
Gagliano M (2016). What would the Babel Fish say? Animal Sentience: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Animal Feeling 1(3): 20. Available here http://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/
Pelizzon A & M Gagliano (2015) The sentience of plants: toward a new regime of plant rights, or the intersection of animal rights and rights of nature? Australian Animal Protection Law Journal 11: 5-13.
Gagliano M (2013) Persons as plants: ecopsychology and the return to the dream of Nature. Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language 5(2):1-11. In the special issue on ‘Ecological Creativity’ and available here http://ro.ecu.edu.au/landscapes/vol5/iss2/14
Plant COgnition.
Plant cognition is a new and exciting field of research directed at experimentally testing the cognitive abilities of plants, including perception, learning processes, memory and consciousness.The emerging framework holds considerable implications for the way we perceive plants as it redefines the traditionally held boundary between animals and plants.
Chiolerio A, Gagliano M, Pilia S, Pilia P, Vitiello G, Dehshibi MM & A Adamatzky (2023) Bioelectrical synchronisation of spruce trees during a solar eclipse. BioRxiv preprint. Available here https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.24.563666
Gagliano M, Ryan JC & P Vieira (2023). Introduction: on becoming plant minded. The Ethnobotanical Assembly 9. Available here https://www.tea-assembly.com/issues/9/on-becoming-plant-minded
Parise AG, Gubert GF, Whalan S & M Gagliano (2023) Ariadne’s thread and the extension of cognition: A common but overlooked phenomenon in nature? Frontiers in ecology and evolution 10: 1069349. Available here https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.1069349
Parise AG, de Toledo GRA, Oliveira TFDC, Souza GM, Castiello U, Gagliano, M & M Marder (2022) Do plants pay attention? A possible phenomenological-empirical approach. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 173: 11-23. Available here https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2022.05.008
Onzik K & M Gagliano (2022) Feeling Around for the Apparatus: A radicley empirical plant science. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience 8 (1): 1–19. Available here https://doi.org/10.28968/cftt.v8i1.34774
Parise AG, Gagliano M & GM Souza (2020) Extended cognition in plants: is it possible? Plant Signalling and Behavior 1710661
https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2019.1710661
Calvo P, Gagliano M , Souza GM & A Trewavas (2020) Plants are intelligent, and here is how. Annals of Botany 125: 11–28. Available here https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcz155
Marder M & M Gagliano (2019) El curioso caso de la Mimosa pudica: cosas que aprende una planta. La Maleta de Portbou. Available here https://lamaletadeportbou.com/articulos/el-curioso-caso-de-la-mimosa-pudica/
Gagliano M & M Marder (2019) What a plant learns: the curious case of Mimosa pudica. Botany ONE Blog. Published August 2019 and freely available here https://www.botany.one/2019/08/what-a-plant-learns-the-curious-case-of-mimosa-pudica/
Gagliano M, Abramson CI & M Depczynski (2018) Plants learn and remember: lets get used to it. Oecologia 186: 29-31. Available here https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-017-4029-7
Gagliano M (2017) The mind of plants: thinking the unthinkable. Communicative and Integrative Biology e1288333. Available here http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19420889.2017.1288333
Gagliano M, Vyazovskiy VV, Borbély AA, Grimonprez M & M Depczynski (2016) Learning by association in plants. Scientific Reports 6: 38427. Freely available here http://www.nature.com/articles/srep38427 (with video abstract here)
Gagliano M & M Marder (2016) Learning. In Grafts: writings on plants. Edited by Michael Marder. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota University Press (available here https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/grafts)
Gagliano M & M Marder (2016) Revolution. In Grafts: writings on plants. Edited by Michael Marder. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota University Press (available here https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/grafts)
Gagliano M & M Grimonprez (2015) Breaking the silence – language and the making of meaning in plants. Ecopsychology 7: 143-152. Freely available here http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/eco.2015.002
Gagliano M (2015) In a green frame of mind: perspectives on the behavioural ecology and cognitive nature of plants. AoB Plants 7: plu075. Freely available here http://aobpla.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/plu075.full.pdf+html
Gagliano M & M Marder (2015) Plants can learn: it's a no-brainer! LA Review Books Blog. Published March 2015 and freely available here http://philosoplant.lareviewofbooks.org/?p=96
Gagliano M, Renton M, Depczynski M & S Mancuso (2014) Experience teaches plants to learn faster and forget slower in environments where it matters. Oecologia 175:63-72. (DOI 10.1007/s00442-013-2873-7)
Gagliano M & M Marder (2014) What plant revolution would you opt for? LA Review Books Blog. Published November 2014 and available here http://philosoplant.lareviewofbooks.org/?p=82
Gagliano M (2013) Seeing green: the re-discovery of plants and Nature’s wisdom. Societies 3 (1): 147-157. In the special issue 'Rethinking the Vegetal: Emerging Perspectives on Plants and Society' and available here http://www.mdpi.com/journal/societies/
The Green Thread: Dialogue with the Vegetal World. Edited by P Vieira, M Gagliano and J Ryan. Lexignton Books 2015 (available here)
The Mind of Plants: Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence. Edited by J Ryan, P Vieira, and M Gagliano. Synergetic Press 2021 (available here)
The novel concepts and perspectives emerging from this research on vegetal life are galvanising a truly interdisciplinary dialogue across an array of academic disciplines, including science, philosophy, environmental law, literature and of course...the Arts!
Plant COmmunication.
Plant bioacoustic is a newly-emerged field of plant communication. Plants produce sound waves in the lower end of the audio range as well as an overabundance of ultrasonic sounds. By capturing the signals emitted by plants under different environmental conditions, I am exploring the ecological significance of these sounds to communication among plants and between plants and other organisms.
Scaccabarozzi D, Lunau K, Guzzetti L, Cozzolino S, Dyer AG, Tommasi N, Biella P, Galimberti A, Labra M, Bruni I, Pecoraro L, Pattarini G, Brundrett M & M Gagliano (2023) Mimicking orchids lure bees from afar with exaggerated ultraviolet signals. Ecology and Evolution 13(1): e9759. Available here https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9759
Gagliano M, Grimonprez M, Depczynski M & M Renton (2017) Tuned in: plant roots use sound to locate water. Oecologia 184:151-160. Available here https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00442-017-3862-z (including video here)
Marder M & M Gagliano (2016) Bioacoustics. In Grafts: writings on plants. Edited by Michael Marder. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota University Press (available here: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/grafts)
Gagliano M & M Renton (2013) Love thy neighbour: facilitation through an alternative signalling modality in plants. BMC Ecology 13:19. Freely available here http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6785/13/19.
Gagliano M (2013) Green symphonies: a call for studies on acoustic communication in plants. Behavioral Ecology 24(4): 789-796. Freely available here http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/4/789.full
Gagliano M (2013) The flowering of plant bioacoustics: how and why. Behavioral Ecology 24 (4): 800-801. Freely available here http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/4/800.2.full
Marder M & M Gagliano (2013) How do plants sound? Columbia University Press Blog. Published June 2013 and available here http://www.cupblog.org/?p=10609
Gagliano M, Renton M, Duvdevani N, Timmins M & S Mancuso (2012) Acoustic and magnetic communication in plants: is it possible? Plant Signalling and Behavior 7: 1346-1348.
Gagliano M, Renton M, Duvdevani N, Timmins M & S Mancuso (2012) Out of sight but not out of mind: alternative means of communication in plants. PLoS ONE 7(5), e37382. Freely available here http://www.plosone.org/article/
Gagliano M, Mancuso S & D Robert (2012) Towards understanding plant bioacoustics. Trends in Plant Science 17: 323–32
Gagliano M (2012) Green Symphonies. Australasian Science. Published September 2012
Gagliano M (2012) Heard it on the grapevine: the mysterious chatter of plants. The Conversation. Published 12 April 2012 and available here http://theconversation.edu.au/heard-it-on-the-grapevine
The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy and Literature.
Edited by M Gagliano, J Ryan and P Vieira. University of Minnesota Press 2017 (available here)
** This book commences a dialogue between philosophy, science, literature and cinema dealing with plants. The aim of the edited collection is to develop a better understanding of plant life through critical awareness, conceptual rigor, and interdisciplinary thinking. Envisioned as a ground-breaking work that will bridge a number of fields, The Language of Plants will (1) allot to literature, cinema and the arts a special role in the integration of the scientific and philosophical research on plants at the experiential level, (2) promote the freedom of imagination necessary for the rethinking of vegetal life and, thereby, (3) inspire further philosophical and scientific investigations. The book will not only seek to consolidate the nascent paradigm shift in the human conceptualisation of vegetation, but it will also join ongoing discussions of plant ethics **
Marine Ecology.
Bradley M, Dubuc A, Piggott CVH, Sambrook K, Hoey AS, Depczynski M, Langlois TJ, Gagliano M, Wilson SK, Cure K, Holmes TH, Moore GI, Travers M, Baker R, Nagelkerken I & M Sheaves (2024). The fish–mangrove link is context dependent: Tidal regime and reef proximity determine the ecological role of tropical mangroves. Fish and Fisheries 25: 523-541. Available here https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12822
Piggott C, Depczynski M, Gagliano M & T Langlois (2020). Remote video methods for studying juvenile fish populations in challenging environments. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 532: 151454. Available here https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2020.151454
Gagliano M, Depczynski M & U Siebeck (2015). Facing the environment: onset and development of UV markings in young fish. Sci. Rep. 5:13193. Available here http://www.nature.com/articles/srep13193
Depczynski M & M Gagliano (2013). Natural-born con artists and counterfeiters: Who is being deceived here? Communicative and Integrative Biology 6(4):e24586. Available here https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/cib.24586
Gagliano M & M Depczynski (2013). Spot the difference: mimicry in a coral reef fish. PloS ONE 8: e55938. Available here http://www.plosone.org/article/
Herwig JN, Depczynski M, Roberts JD, Semmens JM, Gagliano M & AJ Heyward (2012) Using age-based life history data to investigate the life cycle and vulnerability of Octopus cyanea. PloS ONE 7: e43679. Available here http://www.plosone.org/article/
Simpson SD, Munday PL, Wittenrich ML, Manassa R, Dixson D, Gagliano M & HY Yan (2011) Ocean acidification erodes crucial auditory behaviour in a marine fish. Biol. Lett. 7: 917-920
Baumann H & M Gagliano (2011) Changing otolith:fish size ratios during settlement in two tropical damselfishes. Helgoland Mar. Res 65: 425-429
Munday P, Gagliano M, Donelson J, Dixson D & S Thorrold (2011) Ocean acidification does not affect the early life history development of a tropical marine fish. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 423: 211-221
Gagliano M, Lema K, Depczynski M & S Whalan (2011) Use it and lose it: lipofuscin accumulation in the brain of a coral reef fish. J. Fish Biol. 78:659–666.
Botté E, Negri A, Codi King S, Gagliano M, Smith-Keune C, & DR Jerry (2010) Are damsels in distress? Combined effects of chlorpyrifos and temperature stress on the tropical damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus from the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A Mol. Integr. Physiol. 157: S16.
Gagliano M, McCormick MI, Moore J & M Depczynski (2010) The basics of acidification: baseline variability of pH on Australian coral reefs. Mar. Biol. 157:1849–1856.
Wilson SK et al (2010) Critical knowledge gaps in current understanding of climate change impacts on coral reef fishes. J. Exp. Biol. 213:894-900. In the special issue 'Survival in a Changing World' available online at http://jeb.biologists.org/content/vol213/issue6/
Gagliano M, Dunlap WC, de Nys R & M Depczynski (2009) Ockham’s Razor gone blunt: coenzyme Q adaptation and redox balance in tropical reef fishes. Biol. Lett. 5:360–363.
Gagliano M & MI McCormick (2009) Hormonally-mediated maternal effects shape offspring survival potential in stressful environments. Oecologia 160:657-665.
McCormick MI & M Gagliano (2009) Carry-over effects: the importance of a good start. 11th Int Coral Reef Symp
Gagliano M (2008) On the spot: the absence of predators reveals eyespot plasticity in a marine fish. Behav. Ecol.19:733-739.
Gagliano M, Depczynski M, Simpson SD & J Moore (2008) Dispersal without errors: symmetrical ears tune into the right frequency for survival. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 275:527-534.
Gagliano M, McCormick MI & MG Meekan (2007) Survival against the odds: ontogenetic changes in selective pressure mediate growth-mortality trade-offs in a marine fish. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 274:1575-1582.
Gagliano M, McCormick M & MG Meekan (2007) Temperature-induced shifts in selective pressure at a critical developmental transition. Oecologia 152:219-225.
Gagliano, M & MI McCormick (2007) Maternal condition influences phenotypic selection on offspring. J. Anim. Ecol. 76:174-182.
Depczynski M & M Gagliano (2007) Andaman blennies bathe in the tropical sun rather than in the water. Coral Reefs 26:677.
Gagliano M & MI McCormick (2007) Compensating in the wild: is flexible growth the key to early juvenile survival? Oikos 116:111-120.
Gagliano M, Kowalewsky S & MI McCormick (2006) An alternative method for the preservation of tropical fish larvae. J. Fish Biol. 68:634-639.
Bay, LK, Buechler K, Gagliano M & MJ Caley (2006) Intraspecific variation in the pelagic larval duration of tropical reef fishes. J. Fish Biol. 68:1206-1214.
Gristina M, Fiorentino F, Garofalo G, Gagliano M, Morizzo G & S Cusumano (2006) Protection effects on European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas Fabricius, 1787) in the Isole Egadi Marine Reserve. Biol. Mar. Med. 12:404-409.
Gagliano M & MI McCormick (2004) Feeding history influences otolith shape in tropical fish. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 278: 291-296.
Gristina M & M Gagliano (2004). Performance of traditional rush and modern plastic traps on the capture of Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) in laboratory tanks. Fish. Res. 66: 235-239.
Gagliano M, Fiorentino F & S Ragonese (2002) New record of Caulerpa racemosa in the south-western Sicilian waters. Naturalista sicil. 26 (3-4):155-159.
Gagliano M, Gancedo U, Coca J & AG Ramos (2002) Real time remote sensing monitoring of the western Mediterranean. Biol. Mar. Med. 9:870-873.
Gagliano M, Tuya F, Martin-Garcia J & O Ayza-Mascarell (2002) Experimental evaluation on fish assemblages associated with artificial structures: a preliminary study. Biol. Mar. Med. 9:754-757.
