Aquatic Ecology & Evolution

Mitigating biodiversity loss in the face of climate change

About me

I am a behavioural ecologist fascinated by how environmental heterogeneity influences social and mating systems, dispersal patterns, life-histories, and species distribution. My main study systems are highly social fishes from Lake Tanganyika and, more recently, freshwater fishes from perialpine Lakes and associated river systems. I am currently a researcher at the Wyss Academy for Nature, which is affiliated with the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern. Here I am working on an interdisciplinary project involving scientists, government agencies and NGOs. The goal of the project is to identify and implement data-driven conservation strategies for freshwater ecosystems that take into account both climate change and human impacts.

Curriculum Vitae
Positions
2021-now

Scientist, co-project manager at Wyss Academy for Nature University of Bern

Associated with the division of Aquatic Ecology at University of Bern and Eawag Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology

Project: Preventing the loss of biodiversity in water bodies under climate change (Lanat 3)
2020-2021

Postdoc Manchester Metropolitan University, England
Education
2016-2019

PhD in Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern (summa cum laude)

Thesis: Benefits of helping – Investigating social and mating systems of cooperatively breeding fishes
2014-2016

Master of Science in Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
2010-2014

Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of Bern

Publications

Google Scholar

Josi D., Flury J.M., Reyes-Contreras M., Tanaka H., Taborsky M. & Frommen J.G. (2021) Sex-specific routes to independent breeding in a polygynous cooperative breeder. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 750483   https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.750483

Josi D., Heg D., Takeyama T., Bonfils D., Konovalov D.A., Frommen J.G., Kohda M. & Taborsky M. (2021) Relatedness, social structure and helping behaviour in the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus savoryi. Evolution 75: 2881-2897 https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14348

Josi D. & Frommen J.G. (2021) Through a glass darkly? Reactions of eight lamprologine cichlid species towards their mirror image in their natural environment. Ethology 127: 925-933 https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13207

Freudiger A., Josi D., Thünken T., Herder F., Flury J.M., Marques D., Taborsky M. & Frommen J.G. (2021) Ecological variation drives morphological differentiation in a highly social vertebrate. Functional Ecology 35: 2266-2281 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13857

Josi D., Freudiger A., Taborsky M. & Frommen J.G. (2020) Experimental predator intrusions in a cooperative breeder reveal task partitioning of group members. Behavioral Ecology 31: 1369-1378 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/araa094

Josi D., Taborsky M. & Frommen J.G. (2020) Investment of group members is contingent on helper number and the presence of young in a cooperative breeder. Animal Behaviour 160: 35-42 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.11.013

Josi D., Taborsky M. & Frommen J.G. (2019) First field evidence for alloparental egg care in cooperatively breeding fish. Ethology 125: 164-169 https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12838

Josi D., Taborsky M. & Frommen J.G. (2018) Habitat preferences depend on substrate quality in a cooperative breeder. Evolutionary Ecology Research 19: 517-527 (pdf)

Groenewoud F., Frommen J.G., Josi D., Tanaka H., Jungwirth A. and Taborsky M. (2016) Predation risk drives social complexity in cooperative breeders. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 113: 4104-4019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524178113

Jungwirth A., Josi D., Walker J. & Taborsky M. (2015): Benefits of coloniality: communal defence saves anti-predator effort in cooperative breeders. Functional Ecology 29: 1218-1224 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12430