Davnah Urbach

My first research interest is in integrating aspects of sexual selection into the treatment of conservation issues. By using modeling tools, I am interested in analyzing the potential trade-off between genetic diversity, as the key issue in conservation genetics, and individual fitness through sexual selection for good and/or compatible genes. This work may help predicting the potential consequences of different management options for the long-term survival of populations.
My second research interest is in evaluating the potential evolutionary consequences of gillnet fishing. Fishing induced selection has now been repeatedly shown to cause shifts in traits such as age and size at maturation. Yet, a thorough discussion of the consequences of selective fishing on the mating and reproductive success, and thus on the fitness of individual fish and on the long-term survival of fish populations, is necessary. My work aims at simulating the long-term consequences in terms of genetics and in terms of individual fitness of systematically removing particular genotypes through non-random fishing.

Born on October 14, 1979 in Vevey, Switzerland

2004 -
PhD under the supervision of Prof. Claus Wedekind

2003 - 2004
Swiss diploma thesis under the supervision of Prof. Nicolas Perrin and Prof Ivar Folstad (University of Tromsoe, Norway): "Sexual selection in the Arctic Charr: MHC-based cryptic female choice in ovarian fluid?"
Norwegian diploma thesis under the supervision of Prof Ivar Folstad (University of Tromsoe, Norway): "Sperm velocity in ovarian fluid and cryptic female choice in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)"

1999 - 2003
Studies of Biology at the Universities of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Tromsoe, Norway