Dave Daversa is interested in the non-lethal effects that global change has on wild animals. He studies behavioral and physiological responses to stressors fuelled by global change (e.g. infectious disease, extreme weather, human disturbance) and assesses how those responses lead to demographic change. His projects at the La Kretz Center include: 1) disease risk in Yosemite toads (Anaxyrus canorus), 2) effects of human activity on ageing in western toads (Anaxyrus boreas), and 3) and the long-term effects of human noise on health and survival of western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis).
Dave received his PhD in 2016 from the University of Cambridge, and then went on to do postdocs at the University of Liverpool and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Alton, Illinois. He was a La Kretz Postdoctoral Fellow from 2021-2023, and is currently a Project Scientist at UCLA, where he is pursuing new research directions at the interface of wild animal health and molecular genomics, and teaching for the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
