Daniele Tacchio

SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION

since 2024 Master of Science | NTNU Trondheim | Norway 
2023 Bachelor of Science | University of Perugia | Italy

APPLIED TECHNIQUES

RESEARCH INTEREST

My interest in insects’ behaviour has started during my bachelor’s degree in Italy at the university of Perugia. I mainly worked with soldier flies and, more specifically, I tested, through an electroantennographic investigation (EAG) on the antennal flagellum, the olfactory abilities of male and female antennae of H. illucens. The antennae where exposed to substances produced by conspecifics of the same and opposite sex and thus potentially involved in mating behaviour. During my master at NTNU I will conduct behavioural experiments to unravel the role of geomagnetic field in Monarch butterflies’ orientation. More specifically, I aim to understand if butterflies use the geomagnetic field in combination with skylight based compass cues such as sun azimuth or polarized light. If so, it is important to determine the hierarchy of these cues and whether one is dependent on the other or they can be used separately. Finally, I want to study if butterflies use magnetic information as a geo-stable calibration cue to set a reliable sun compass.
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