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University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Dr. Shirley Raveh

E-Mail to Shirley Raveh

Research

  • Sexual selection and sexual conflict
  • Mating strategies
  • Host-parasite interactions

Current Projects

The advantages of female choice are well-known, direct benefits such as paternal care and indirect, genetic benefits, such as good genes for the offspring. One of the main problems has been determining why females are choosy when mating with males in species where males provide them no direct benefits. Mate choice may allow females to obtain indirect, genetic benefits for their offspring, and in particular, it may enable them to enhance their genetic resistance to infectious diseases. However, there are surprisingly few direct tests of these ideas, and in fact there have been few direct tests of female mating preferences in mammals. My current research focuses on whether the genetic and fitness consequences of mating preferences in female wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus) result into genetic and fitness consequences.

Curriculum Vitae

2010-2012Post-doc, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Vienna, Austria
2006-2009Ph.D., University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland:
Mating behaviour and the effects of parasites on reproductive success in male Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus).
2005Internship: Federal veterinary office, CITES, Bern, Switzerland
2003-2004Master, University of Bern, Switzerland:
Colour vision in chamois (Rupricapra rupricapra)

Publications

Raveh S, Heg D, Dobson FS, Coltman DW, Gorrell JC, Balmer A, Neuhaus P (2010): Mating order and reproductive success in male Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus). Behavoral Ecology 21(3): 537-547.

Raveh S, Heg D, Viblanc VA, Coltman DW, Gorrell JC, Dobson FS, Balmer A & Neuhaus P (2011): Male reproductive tactics to increase paternity in the polygynandrous Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology: 65(4): 695-706, DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-1071-4.

Raveh S, Heg D, Dobson FS, Coltman DW., Gorrell JC, Balmer A, Röösli S & Neuhaus, P (2011): No experimental effects of parasite load on male mating behaviour and reproductive success. Animal Behaviour. In Press.

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