Dr. Marko Bračić

Behavioural biologist

Hi and welcome to my personal website! I am a behavioural biologist passionate about understanding how animals make decisions and exploring the ecological consequences of their behaviour. My work is interdisciplinary, incorporating cognition, ecology and evolution with empirical and theoretical approaches to uncover the mysteries of animal behaviour.

Currently, I am a postdoc researcher at Ruđer Bošković Institure in Zagreb. In Jelena Bujan’s group, we are investigating the resilience of ants—widely distributed and ecologically significant insects—to climate change. Our study utilizes the natural temperature gradient found on the Adriatic islands, which serve as nearly closed ecosystems and ideal laboratories for climate research. By employing innovative measurements of microclimate, physiological thermoregulation, and behavioural strategies of ants, we aim to address two key questions: (1) How does the thermal heterogeneity of the landscape influence temperature regulation through behaviour? (2) Do populations residing in stable thermal conditions tolerate a narrower temperature range and exhibit higher performance?

In my PhD at University of Münster, Department of Behavioural Biology, I delved into the exciting realm of animal personality, investigating individual variation in “optimism” in mice. See my projects for more details and cool videos! My work was a part of collaborative research center for a novel synthesis of individualisation (NC3). I was also lucky to be a student in the interdisciplinary Münster Graduate School of Evolution (MGSE).

Nature fascinates me so you’ll often find me with my nose to the ground observing ants or gazing into trees in search of a bird. You can also hear me yelling at my PC as I am a wannabe R programmer.

I love to engage in knowledge and experience exchange, not only inside academia but also with the public. So do not hesitate to reach out! Check out my projects and publications and if you have any questions or would like to discuss ideas.

I firmly believe in open and transparent science, so all my publications are open-access and contain reproducible data and analysis code. To further support open science, I am a member of the Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology SORTEE, and I encourage you to consider joining this community.