Su appuntamento.
Laureato nel 2005 in Scienze Biologiche e specializzato in Biologia del Comportamento nel 2007, David ha conseguito il Dottorato in Etologia e Ecologia Animale nel 2012 all'Università degli Studi di Firenze. Durante il dottorato di ricerca, ha studiato i fattori prossimi e ultimi che influenzano l'ecologia comportamentale e l'immunità delle colonie di insetti sociali. David ha successivamente lavorato come Marie Curie Research Fellow (2013-2015) nel laboratorio del Prof. Lars Chittka presso la Queen Mary University of London, dove si é occupato di strategie di foraggiamento e abilità cognitive di insetti pronubi (Bombus terrestris). In particolare ha studiato come i metaboliti secondari dei nettari influenzino e manipolino il comportamento di foraggiamento dei bombi attraverso il potenziamento della loro memoria. David ha poi lavorato come ricercatore post-doc (2015-2018) nel laboratorio del Prof. Martin Giurfa all'Université Toulouse III e nel laboratorio della Prof.ssa Patrizia d'Ettorre all'Université Paris13 dove si é occupato di plasticità comportamentale e apprendimento e memoria in api (Apis mellifera) e formiche (Camponotus aethiops). In particolare si é occupato dell'effetto modulatorio dei feromoni sulla memoria e sull'apprendimento in queste specie di insetti utilizzando una combinazione di metodi comportamentali (protocolli di condizionamento appetitivo e aversivo) e neurofarmacologici. In questi anni David ha anche esteso il suo interesse alla comunicazione chimica e visiva nelle vespe sociali italiane e tropicali (Polistinae e Stenogastrinae).
Attualmente David é Professore Associato e docente di Zoologia, Zoologia Forense e Elementi di Etologia presso l'Università degli Studi di Firenze, dove nel 2018 ha avviato un laboratorio di cognizione animale applicato allo studio dei meccanismi e dell'evoluzione dei processi cognitivi e del comportamento adattativo degli insetti e di come essi interagiscano con fattori ambientali biotici e abiotici come patogeni e pesticidi. I taxa attualmente studiati dal suo gruppo di ricerca sono api sociali (Apis mellifera e Bombus terrestris), vespe sociali (Polistes spp, Vespa crabro e Stenogastrinae).
Personal information
Date of birth: 01.07.1982
Nationality: Italian
Contact:
Mail: david.baracchi@unifi.it
Website: https://davidbaracchi.wixsite.com/beelab
Research Unique Identifier: ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-0612
EDUCATION
2012 PhD in Ethology and Animal Ecology, University of Florence
2007 Master’s Degree in Behavioural Biology, University of Florence. Honours summa cum laude
2005 Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences, University of Florence. Honours summa cum laude
FUNDING & RESEARCH AWARDS
2018-2021 Rita Levi Montalcini Fellowship (€214,173)
2013-15 Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship IEF (€221,606)
2009-12 Doctoral Research Scholarship awarded by the MIUR (~€40,000)
2008-12 Membership to SCI Award (Italian chemical society) according to B.Sc. and M.Sc merits
2008 Six months Post-graduate Grant. Department of Pharmacology: Mass Spectrometry Centre
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
2021- Associate Professor (Bio-05) University of Florence.
2018-21Assistant Professor (RTDb) University of Florence.
2015-18 Post Doc CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier III (France) Prof Martin Giurfa’s Lab
2015-18 Post Doc Université Paris13 (France) Prof Patrizia d’Ettorre’s Lab
2013-15 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow. Queen Mary University of London (UK) Prof Lars Chittka’s Lab
2009-12 PhD in Ethology and Animal Ecology, University of Florence (Italy). Advisor: Prof Stefano Turillazzi
2009 Training on cognitive abilities of honeybees, Universität Würzburg (Germany) Prof Jürgen Tautz’s Lab
2008 Research associate at the Mass Spectrometry Center CISM, University of Florence (Italy)
2006-13 Seven field research expeditions in Malaysia. University Malaya. Prof Rosli Hashim’s Lab
2007 Master’s Degree, University of Florence (Italy). Topic: Visual communication in Polistes dominula
2005 Bachelor’s Degree, University of Florence (Italy). Topic: Social organization of Polistes dominula
PUBLICATION LIST
- Chapters
- Research Papers
- F1000 Recommendations (commentary with DOI)
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Gibson WT et al., Curr Biol 2015, (25):1401-15]. In F1000Prime, 23Jul 2015; DOI: 10.3410/f.725503669.793508177.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Szyszka P et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA2014, (47):16925-30]. In F1000Prime, 04 Mar 2015; DOI: 10.3410/f.725231800. 793504461.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Otti O et al., Trends Ecol Evol (Amst) 2014, 29(11):625-34]. In F1000Prime, 19 Dec 2014; DOI: 10.3410/f.719130149.793502500.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Sheehan MJ and Nachman MW, Nat Commun 2014, 5(4800)]. In F1000Prime, 31 Oct 2014; DOI: 10.3410/f.718877905.793501089.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Van Oystaeyen A et al., Science 2014, 343(6168):287-90]. In F1000Prime, 25 Apr 2014; DOI: 10.3410/f.718241916.793493967.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Fürst MA et al., Nature 2014, 506(7488):364 6]. In F1000Prime, 24 Feb 2014; DOI: 10.3410/f.718282911.793491217.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [de Brito Sanchez M et al., Front Behav Neurosci 2014, 8:1-16]. In F1000Prime, 11 Feb 2014; DOI: 10.3410/f.718270012.793490643.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Johnson BR et al., Curr Biol 2013]. In F1000Prime, 25 Oct 2013; DOI: 10.3410/f.718133764.793485646.
Chittka L, Baracchi D: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Greggers U et al., Proc Biol Sci 2013, 280(1759):20130528]. In F1000Prime, 22 Jun 2013; DOI: 10.3410/f.717992980.793478441
- Outreach Papers
Baracchi D, Tufano L (2018) Ape, patogeni e nattari floreali: un sistema complesso APINSIEME n°1
Tufano, Baracchi D (2016) Apicoltura nomadismo: conseguenze per la salute dell’ape APINSIEME n°8
Tufano L, Baracchi D (2016) I probiotici e prebiotici agiscono sul Nosema ceranae? APINSIEME n°1
Tufano L, Baracchi D (2015) Vitellogenina e senilità nell'ape e nell'alveare II APITALIA n°11
Tufano L, Baracchi D (2015) Vitellogenina e senilità nell'ape e nell'alveare I APITALIA n°10
Baracchi D (2015) Nettari floreali e automedicazione negli impollinatori APITALIA n°9
Tufano L, Baracchi D (2015) Il sistema immunitario dell’ape e dell’alveare II APITALIA n°6
Tufano L, Baracchi D (2015) Il sistema immunitario dell’ape e dell’alveare I APITALIA n°5
Tufano L, Baracchi D (2015) L’organizzazione socio-spaziale dell’alveare APITALIA n° 3
Savorelli G, Tufano L, Baracchi D (2014) Il capitale proteico dell’alveare APITALIA n°V7
Tufano L, Savorelli G, Baracchi D (2014) Disponibilità di polline nell’alveare APITALIA n°6
Baracchi D, Savorellli G (2014) Gli effetti di carenza di polline sull’alveare APITALIA n°4
Savorelli G, Tufano L, Baracchi D (2014) Immunità d’ape, patogeni e pascolo APITALIA n°1
Baracchi D (2013) La lotta tra api igieniste e la coppia varroa-virus delle ali deformi. L’APIS
Baracchi D (2013) Il veleno me lo metto addosso e sul favo! L’APIS
Savorelli G, Baracchi D (2013) Speciale: Peste americana e Nosema ceranae Apitalia On-line
Baracchi D, Savorelli G (2013) La situazione sanitaria delle api. APITALIA n° 6
Savorelli G, Baracchi D (2013) Il destino dell’ape ai giorni nostri. APITALIA n° 11
Baracchi D, Savorelli G (2013) Coevoluzione ospite-parassita ape-nosema. APITALIA n° 6
Baracchi D (2013) Anche le colonie di api hanno personalità. Apitalia On-line
Baracchi D (2013) L'immunità dell'alveare APITALIA n° 1
Baracchi D (2012) quando il mondo delle api incontra quello dei calaboroni APITALIA n° 12
INVITED SPEAKER
2021 Plant-pollinator interactions: how flowering plants affect pollinator cognition. Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil.
2018 Aminergic underpinnings of pheromonal modulation of olfactory learning and memory formation in honeybees. XI European Congress of Entomology, Naples, Italy
2016 Pheromones as modulators of cognitive phenomena and experience-dependent behaviours in insects. IST, Austria
2015 Appetitive and aversive pheromones modulate sucrose response threshold in honey bees. IFE-GDR Meeting, Paris, France
2015 Nestmate recognition in a social wasp: vision and olfaction. SFECA Strasburg, France
2014 Infected bumblebees self-medicate by increasing the ingestion of nectar toxins. EURBEE Murcia, Spain
FORMATIVE ACTIVITIES
2014: Analytical Software Workshop at the University of Greenwich (Introduction to social network analysis with UCINET).
2009: International PhD course "From Solitary to Superorganism: The Evolution of Insect Societies (organizers: Prof Stefano Turillazzi, Prof. Patrizia d’Ettorre, Dr Daniel Kronauer)
2009: Beekeeping Course. Apiary management and honeybees' diseases (organized by ARPAT Firenze)
2008: XIII Mass Spectrometry Course for PhD students (organized by the Italian Chemical Society)
OTHER ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
2012-2015 Associate Faculty member of F1000Prime (Faculty of 1000)
Guest Editor for a Special Column in Current Zoology: Behavioural and Cognitive Plasticity in Foraging Pollinators (2018-2019). https://academic.oup.com/cz/pages/foraging_pollinators
Topic Editor for Insects (MDPI) since 2019 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/insects/topic_editors
Editorial Board Member of Diversity (MDPI) since 2019 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity
Associate Editor for Cognition (Frontiers in Psychology) since 2021 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/sections/cognition
Editorial Board Member (Review Editor) of Insect Neurobiology (Frontiers in Insect Science) since 2020 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/insect-science
Editorial Board Member (Review Editor) of Chemical Ecology (Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution) since 2021 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/sections/chemical-ecology
Member of REPRISE (register of the scientific experts at MIUR)
Member of “Collegio del Dottorato di Ricerca in Biologia Evoluzionistica ed Ecologia” at University of Florence
Member of “Commissione didattica” at University of Florence
Ad-hoc referee for:
Animal Behaviour, Animal Cognition, Apidologie, Arthropod-Plant Interactions, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, BioMed Research International, Biologia, BMC Ecology, Behavioural Processes, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Contribution to Zoology, Current Zoology, Ethology, Ethology Ecology & Evolution, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, F1000Research, Insects, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Journal of Experimental Biology, Journal of Insect Behaviour, Journal of Insect Physiology, Journal of Neuroscience Research, Molecular Ecology, Nature Chemical Biology, Naturwissenschaften, Neotropical Entomology, PLOSONE, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, Royal Society Open Science, Scientific Reports, Toxicon, Tropical Zoology, ZooKeys.
Organizing Committee
Member of the Organizing Committee for the National Congress of IUSSI (AISASP 2019) Florence
Member of the Organizing Committee for the National Congress of Ethology (SIE 2019) Florence
Professional affiliations:
IUSSI: International Union for the Study of Social Insects
ISN: International Society for Neuroethology
SIE: Società Italiana di Etologia
Webmaster of the IUSSI Italian Section website. https://socialinsectitaly2.wixsite.com/aisasp
I miei interessi di ricerca vertono sulle capacità cognitive e sul comportamento adattativo degli insetti sociali. La ricerca condotta nel mio Laboratorio (https://davidbaracchi.wixsite.com/beelab) conta tre linee principali: 1) le abilità cognitive, l'apprendimento e la memoria e la neurobiologia degli insetti impollinatori 2) l'ecologia comportamentale degli insetti sociali, 3) l'impatto di fattori di stress naturali e antropici sulla insetti impollinatori. Insieme al mio gruppo di ricerca lavoro principalmente con api da miele (Apis mellifera) e bombi (Bombus terrestris) per delucidare i meccanismi neuroetologici e le regole comportamentali utilizzate dagli insetti per sintonizzarsi con successo con l'ambiente e prendere decisioni economiche per sopravvivere. Negli ultimi anni di attività di ricerca ho lavorato principalmente sull'impatto di (bio)pesticidi, patogeni e altri fattori di stress ambientale sulle singole api e sulle loro colonie per migliorarne la salute e il benessere e per supportare al meglio gli impollinatori selvatici come i bombi.
Legenda
Graduated in 2005 in Biological Science, and specialised in 2007 in Behavioural Biology, Baracchi finished his PhD on Ecology and Animal Behaviour in 2012 (advisor: Prof. Stefano Turillazzi). During his PhD, he investigated the proximate and ultimate factors affecting the behavioural ecology and immunity of insect societies. He worked as Marie Curie Research Fellow (2013-2015) in Prof. Lars Chittka’s lab at Queen Mary University of London investigating how secondary metabolites of nectars affect foraging behaviour in bumblebees via enhanced memory for floral traits and whether nectars pharmacologically manipulate pollinators’ behaviour. He also extended his interest to cognitive capacities of bumblebees and chemical and visual communication in social wasps (Polistinae and Stenogastrinae). He worked as postdoctoral researcher (2015-2018) in Prof. Martin Giurfa' s lab at Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier and Prof. Patrizia d'Ettorre's Lab at Université Paris13 studying the modulatory effect of pheromones on experience-dependent behaviour in the honeybee Apis mellifera and the ant Camponotus Aethiops. To tackle this question he used a combination of behavioural (conditioning protocols) and pharmacological approaches.
Baracchi currently lectures in Zoology, Forensic Zoology and Elemens of Ethology at the University of Florence, where he set up and lead an Insect Cognition Laboratory (CBE Lab) applied to the study of mechanisms and evolution of cognitive processes and adaptive behaviour in insects and how they interact with biotic and abiotic factors such as pathogens, pesticides and food source quality. Taxa currently studied are social bees (honeybees and bumblebees), ants and social wasps (paper wasps, hornets and Stenogastrinae).
My research interests centre around the cognitive abilities and adaptive behaviour of social insects. Research in my Laboratory (https://davidbaracchi.wixsite.com/beelab) has three main lines: 1) the cognitive abilities and neurobiology of pollinators 2) the behavioural ecology of social insects, 3) the impact of natural and anthropic stressors on insect pollinators. Together with my research team I work with small-brained insects, mainly honey bees and bumblebees to tease apart the neuroethological mechanisms and the behavioural rules used by insects to successfully tune to the environment and make economic decisions to survive. I have been spent the last years working on the impact of (bio)pesticides, diseases and other environmental stressors on individual bees and their colonies to improve honey bee health and welfare and to best support wild pollinators such as bumblebees.