Who I am
My name is Sabine Urban. I am an evolutionary biologist from Germany and constantly live in Constance at the beautiful Lake Constance.
I got my master's from the University of Tuebingen where I became interested in the evolution of red fluorescence in marine organisms (Nico Michiel's Lab). Since then animal colouration and its role in speciation events has fascinated me.
At the moment I am a PhD student investigating the repeated adaptive evolution of stripe patterns within cichlid fishes.
Colouration is an important feature in the biology of an organism and plays a key role in several fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes.
Cichlid fishes (Cichlidae) are a particular colourful family well-known to every ornamental trader. Many of the colour patterns we find in these fishes have evolved repeatedly in different species. One example are horizontal stripes and vertical bar patterns that occur and evolved repeatedly in species from different lakes in the African Rift Valley. Interestingly, the often completely different looking striped species within one lake are more closely related to each other than they are to the similar looking species of a different lake.
Using state-of-the-art molecular biology approaches I hope to gain a first insight into the genomic substrates of the repeated evolution of an adaptive trait in this famously diverse family of fishes. I am also interested in the adaptive value of this trait and I am currently designing experiments to investigate this.
During my studies I was allowed to participate in some crazy field trips, e.g. to the Amazon River, the Pantanal, the Philippine rain forest and South Africa. There I always tried to take photographs that capture the beautiful wildlife I was working with and here I wanted to share some of these pictures with you.
Cichlid fishes (Cichlidae) are a particular colourful family well-known to every ornamental trader. Many of the colour patterns we find in these fishes have evolved repeatedly in different species. One example are horizontal stripes and vertical bar patterns that occur and evolved repeatedly in species from different lakes in the African Rift Valley. Interestingly, the often completely different looking striped species within one lake are more closely related to each other than they are to the similar looking species of a different lake.
Using state-of-the-art molecular biology approaches I hope to gain a first insight into the genomic substrates of the repeated evolution of an adaptive trait in this famously diverse family of fishes. I am also interested in the adaptive value of this trait and I am currently designing experiments to investigate this.
During my studies I was allowed to participate in some crazy field trips, e.g. to the Amazon River, the Pantanal, the Philippine rain forest and South Africa. There I always tried to take photographs that capture the beautiful wildlife I was working with and here I wanted to share some of these pictures with you.
Education
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2020 - now: Research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior & the Evolutionary Biology Laboratory at the University of Konstanz
2016 - 2020: PhD candidate at the University of Konstanz (Prof. Axel Meyer’s Lab) & International Max Planck Research School of Organismal Biology, Germany Supervisor: Dr. Claudius Kratochwil 2015: Training in marine and coastal guiding with the FGASA (Field Guide Association of Southern Africa) at Bhejane Nature Training, Hluhluwe, South Africa 2013 – 2015: M.Sc. in Biology (Major in Evolution and Ecology), University of Tübingen, Germany 2009 – 2013: B.Sc. in Biology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany |
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Society/Organisation Memberships
- Member of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology - Member of the Sharklife Conservation Group, South Africa - Member of NABU (association for nature conservation), Germany One reason why I study aquatic life is that I've always loved spending time in the water. So besides standing in the lab I am a PADI Rescue Diver and I hope to continue my diving lessons to become a Divemaster soon. Social Media |