Presentation

Since the beginning of my career, I focused my interest on social behavior. I studied it from different angles: social ontogenesis, collective behaviors, and the influence of the social context on individual behaviors. During my doctoral research (University of Toulouse 3, France), I studied the sociality of spiders in both the laboratory and the field. I used various approaches, including behavior observation, modeling, and chemical and physiological analyses, and I developed related skills. I then obtained a competitively awarded post-doctoral grant and integrated the Animal Ecology Group at the University of Vigo (Spain). This post-doc allowed me to develop new competencies in the fields of life-history evolution, eco-physiology, and parental effects. In this institution, I carried out various experiments to study the collective behaviors of fish. I then worked as a post-doc in a collaboration between the University of Lund (Sweden) and the University of Cambridge (UK) where I studied the perception and collective behavior of three spinned sticklebacks.

In 2023, I was granted a Sonata project from the National Science Center of Poland, and I am currently working in the Museum and Institute of Zoology (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland) where I study the ontogenic and evolutionary changes of social behavior in spiders.

My research will contribute, most importantly, to improving our understanding of the evolutionary processes leading to sociality.

I am also the developer of AnimalTA. The aim of AnimalTA is to provide researchers with a free and user-friendly video tracking program easily accessible. Learn more bout AnimalTA!

Download my CV.

My gallery

Metabolic rate measurements

© Daniel Sánchez-García. Juveniles of Agelena labyrinthica in a chamber for metabolic rate measurement.
Automated training for spiders

Arenas to train spiders to avoid a specific part of the arenas. Spiders are placed inside the red/white arenas, and their position is tracked in real time. The entrance of the spider in the reinforced side will trigger a vibration of the corresponding arena (internally developed system).
Video tracking

Video tracking of spider species with different levels of sociality. The program AnimalTA I developped allows to track numerous individuals at the same time.
Cockroaches in a gregariousness test

An internally developed barcode was glued to cockroaches to facilitate automated tracking while retaining individual identification.
Metabolic rate measurements for spiders

Metabolic rate measurement design. The Respirometry system is from the Qubit © company, we integrated it in an air-proof tank with a water cooling/heating system for a temperature control of high precision.
Dispersal test in spiderlings

large-scale multi-arena experimental design for automated tracking of spiders. Used for dispersal measurements.
Spiderlings maintenance and predatory tests

Picture of in-lab maintenance of spiderlings with internally designed arenas for predatory measurements (on the left of the image).
Boldness test in cockroaches

Image extracted from a video. This presents internally designed arenas with a shelter area for boldness measurements in cockroaches.