Marie Ann-Charlotte Dacke is a professor of Sensory Biology, at the ''Lund Vision Group'' in

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

as a model organism. Dacke is a Wallenberg Scholar as of 2025. In 2022 she was elected a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Dacke has a keen interest for the education of the general public and among other things act as a panel member of the Swedish TV show ''Studio Natur''. In 2013 she received an

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name o ...

for her work on the navigation system of dung beetles. Since 2018, she is also an

honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

Early life and career

Dacke went to high school in

Landskrona Landskrona (old da, Landskrone) is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona t ...

. After graduating from high school she attended Lund University where she studied biology. Here, she completed her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

on ''Celestial Orientation in Dim Light'' in 2003, under the supervision of Professor Dan-Eric Nilsson. Her thesis focused on how optical compasses are built, how they are used and how they are adapted to work at low light intensities. During her Ph.D, she discovered a unique compass organ in spiders, a study which was published in ''Nature'' in 1999. A few years later she revealed the first evidence of an animal able to use the dim pattern of polarized moon-light for orientation, a study also published in ''Nature'' in 2003. After her Ph.D., she spent two years as a postdoctoral reseacher at the Centre for Visual Sciences at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

in Canberra. In 2007, she returned to Lund University as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

and in 2011 she became an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the '' North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is ...

in Sensory Biology. She became a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

in Sensory Biology in 2017. Dacke's research is focused on navigation and orientation in insects, in particular orientation in dung beetles. She is interested in the celestial compass (which is the use of the sky to guide navigation). By exploring the interface between behaviour, neurobiology and cognition, her research tries to understand how diurnal and nocturnal compass systems of insects work. In 2013 she, together with

Marcus Byrne Professor Marcus Byrne won the 2013 Ig Nobel Prize for Biology/Astronomy along with: Marie Dacke, Emily Baird, Clarke Scholtz, and Eric Warrant, for discovering that when dung beetles get lost, they can navigate their way home by looking at th ...

, Emily Baird, Clark Scholtz and Eric Warrant, received the Ig Nobel Prize in the joint astronomy and biology category for showing that nocturnal dung beetles can use the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...

as a compass. This research was published in ''

Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research articles, va ...

''. In 2014, Dacke received an Excellent Young Researchers grant from the Swedish Research Council (''

Vetenskapsrådet The Swedish Research Council ( sv, Vetenskapsrådet) is a Government agency in Sweden established in 2001, with the responsibility to support and develop basic scientific research. Its objective is for Sweden to be a leading nation in scientif ...

'') to continue her research on the compass systems of dung beetles, exploring the link between

electrophysiology Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of biological cells and tissu ...

and behaviour. Part of this research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2015 and

in 2016. In 2018 Dacke received funding from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientif ...

to expand further on her work, and define the principles behind multimodal navigational systems, studying brain activity in dung beetles as they perform their orientation behaviour. Part of this cross-disciplinary research was published in PNAS in 2019 and

iScience Cell Press is an all-science publisher of over 50 scientific journals across the life, physical, earth, and health sciences, both independently and in partnership with scientific societies. Many of Cell Press's journals are among the most reputabl ...

in 2022. Dacke has been elected a fellow of the Young Academy of Sweden (2011), Royal Physiographic Society of Lund (2017),

Royal Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of Londo ...

(2018), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2022) and Societas Ad Sciendum (2023). From 2025 she is a Wallenberg Scholar.

Science communication

Dacke has been a panel member on the Swedish TV show Studio Natur (currently streaming on

SVT Play SVT Play is the brand used for the video on demand service offered by Sveriges Television, more specifically to the streaming services offered on the SVT website, svt.se, and its counterpart for mobile phones. The brand was introduced in Decemb ...

) since 2010. In 2012 Dacke was named best

science communicator Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

in Sweden in the national competition ''Forskar Grand Prix'' (''Science Grand Prix''). In 2012 Dacke was one of the scientists to appear in a series about research and researchers produced by the

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (Swedish: ''Stiftelsen för strategisk forskning'', SSF) is a Swedish independent research-funding foundation. Its objective is to "support research in natural science, engineering and medicine that ...

and TV4. In 2019 she gave the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomology, entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Socie ...

's Verrall Lecture at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum ...

, speaking about ''As the crow flies, and the beetle rolls: straight-line orientation from behaviour to neurons''. Dacke has authored two books; ''Trädgårdsdjur - myllret och mångfalden som växterna älskar'' (Roos & Tegnér, ) (co-authored with Låtta Skogh) in 2020, and ''Taggad att leva - igelkottens liv, historiska resa och hotande framtid'' (Roos & Tegnér, ), in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dacke, Marie 1973 births Living people Swedish biologists Swedish women biologists Academic staff of Lund University Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

External links

Staff page at Lund UniversityPersonal page at Sveriges Unga Akademi