Merav Ben-David

Merav Ben-David (Hebrew: מירב בן-דוד‎; born January 17, 1959) is an Israeli-American ecologist, zoologist, and politician who is the Chair of the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming. She was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Wyoming, losing to former Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis in the general election.

Merav Ben-David
Personal details
Born (1959-01-17) January 17, 1959
Rehovot, Israel
Political partyDemocratic
EducationTel Aviv University (BS, MS)
University of Alaska, Fairbanks (PhD)
WebsiteCampaign website

Early life and education

Ben-David was born to a Jewish family in Rehovot, Israel, and raised on a farm[1] near Rishon LeZion.[2] She spent two years in the Israeli Air Force in fulfillment of the country's compulsory military service.[1]

Ben-David earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1984, and a Master of Science in 1988 from Tel Aviv University. She spent 5 years as a safari tour guide in Kenya before moving to Alaska where she studied wildlife management. She earned her PhD from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1996.[3][4]

Career

Ben-David emigrated from Israel to the United States due to worsening job prospects in Israel in the early 1990s as a result of the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah.[5] After earning her PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Ben-David remained there as an ecologist. She was fascinated by local marine ecosystems, which included otters, mink, marten, polar bears, and the salmon they fed on.[6][7]

In 2000, Ben-David became an associate professor at the University of Wyoming.[6] She became a full professor in 2010.[2] She has served as the editor-in-chief of Wildlife Monographs, succeeding Eric Hellgren in 2017.[8] As of January 2020 she was head of the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming.[9]

Her work mostly centers around carnivores and their behavior in ecosystems.[10][11] She has published more than 110 scientific papers that analyze the impact of climate change, invasive species, logging and pollution on animals, often using innovative research techniques.[12] Among her most-cited works are studies applying stable isotope analysis to animal ecology to document changes in the diet of generalist predators; exploring the impact of flooding, predation, and salmon runs on vegetation in the Alexander Archipelago; and examining the effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill on otters in Prince William Sound. She has helped to study the effects of the Exxon and BP spills in terms of both immediate and long-term effects.[6][13][14] Her work was included in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Project Final Report, which assessed damage and potential for remediation, and was a basis for fining Exxon and (and later BP) after their respective oil spills of 1989 and 2010.[15]

Ben-David has focused deeply on the river otter (Lontra canadensis), examining it in its role as a sentinel species and also using it as a model for predicting effects of pollutants on the rarer and more difficult to study sea otter (Enhydra lutris).[16][17][18] She has carried out work with Alaskan otters for over 30 years.[19] Her field studies of chemical bioaccumulation have gained international attention.[20]

External video
Polar Bears and Climate Change: Walking on a Faster Treadmill, Merav Ben-David, 2016

She began studying the impact of human activity and climate change on polar bears in 2001.[11] She has worked for nearly 20 years with Steven Amstrup to study polar bear ecology in the Beaufort Sea and other areas.[21] One of the behavioral patterns she has observed via satellite tracking is that polar bears show high fidelity to the local area of ocean in which they live. As sea ice is thinning, it drifts faster, requiring polar bears to walk farther each day on the ice to retain their position. This increases the energy requirements of the bears while decreasing their available time to hunt. [22] Models project that polar bear populations may collapse by 2080.[21]

In 2004 she began another long-term project, studying chipmunks that live in the Laramie Mountains. One of the findings of Ben-David and her students is that chipmunks are more likely to survive the shorter winters resulting from climate change.[19] Ben-David also studies river otters of the Powder River Basin, and the effects of nearby oil drilling. Her work has revealed low populations of otters in the New Fork River, compared to areas nearby.[19][23]

Ben-David has received a variety of awards for her work including the Barrett-Hamilton distinguished ecologist award from the University of Manitoba in 2012 and the Excellence in Wildlife Education award from The Wildlife Society in 2016.[24][25] She was selected as a Wildlife Fellow of the Wildlife Society in 2017.[26] ‍

Personal life

Ben-David has resided in Laramie, Wyoming, since 2000, and was naturalized as a United States citizen in 2009.[27][28]

Politics

Ben-David announced her candidacy for the 2020 U.S. Senate election at the 2020 Wyoming Women's March in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on January 18, 2020.[29] On August 18, 2020, she placed first in a field of six candidates to become the Democratic nominee.[2][30]

Ben-David's platform centered on 'future-proofing' Wyoming's economy through diversification, including public investments in reclaiming old mines, capping oil and gas wells, and building wildlife crossings.[31]

She lost the general election to Republican Cynthia Lummis, gaining just 27% of the vote.

Electoral history

2020
Wyoming Senate Democratic Primary, 2020
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Merav Ben-David 9,579 40.98%
Democratic Yana Ludwig 4,822 20.63%
Democratic Nathan Wendt 4,166 17.82%
Democratic Kenneth Casner 2,139 9.15%
Democratic Rex Wilde 1,823 7.80%
Democratic James DeBrine 843 3.61%
Total votes 23,372 100.0%
United States Senate election in Wyoming, 2020[32]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Cynthia Lummis 198,100 72.85% +0.66%
Democratic Merav Ben-David 72,766 26.76% +9.31%
Write-in 1,071 0.39% +0.11%
Total votes 271,937 100.0%
Republican hold

References
  1. "November 7, 2016". University of Wyoming. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. "Israel-born ecology professor wins Wyoming Democratic Senate primary". Times of Israel. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. "UW Professor Elected as TWS Fellow by the Wildlife Society". University of Wyoming. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  4. "Zoologist Merav Ben-David to Give UW Faculty Senate Speaker Series Talk". University of Wyoming. October 26, 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  5. Maltz, Judy (2014). "One, two, three, four – we opened up the Iron Door". Haaretz (November). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  6. Cahan, Eli (19 October 2020). "In Wyoming, an ecologist seeks a new niche as a U.S. senator". Science. doi:10.1126/science.abf2639.
  7. "Merav Ben-David, Israeli-born scientist, wants to be the next Senator from…Wyoming?". The Forward. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  8. John, Julia (February 24, 2017). "TWS names new Wildlife Monographs editor-in-chief". The Wildlife Society. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  9. Stiller, Jesse. "Prof's senate campaign hinges on realizing 'Equality State'". Campus Reform. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  10. "Merav Ben-David". University of Wyoming. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  11. "Merav Ben-David". Polar Bears International. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  12. "Merav Ben-David". Google Scholar. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  13. Bowyer, R. Terry, et al. “Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill on River Otters: Injury and Recovery of a Sentinel Species.” Wildlife Monographs, no. 153, 2003, pp. 1–53. JSTOR 3830746. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.
  14. Esler, Daniel; Ballachey, Brenda E.; Matkin, Craig; Cushing, Daniel; Kaler, Robert; Bodkin, James; Monson, Daniel; Esslinger, George; Kloecker, Kim (January 2018). "Timelines and mechanisms of wildlife population recovery following the Exxon Valdez oil spill". Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 147: 36–42. doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.04.007. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  15. Holland-Bartels, L. E. (2002). Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Project Final Report Mechanisms of Impact and Potential Recovery of Nearshore Vertebrate Predators Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Project 99025 (PDF). Anchorage, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  16. Peterson, Elizabeth K.; Schulte, Bruce A. (2016). "Impacts of Pollutants on Beavers and Otters with Implications for Ecosystem Ramifications". Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education (157): 33–45. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  17. Rutishauser, Matthew (2002). "More than Our Guests: Research with Captive Sea Otters" (PDF). The Otter Raft. Spring/Summer (66): 4.
  18. Rozell, Ned. "Oil-fed Otters May Provide Clues to Spill Damage". University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  19. Mast, Thaddeus (September 8, 2015). "UW professor studies humans' effects on environment". Laramie Boomerang. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  20. Brink, Nico W. van den; Arblaster, Jennifer A.; Bowman, Sarah R.; Conder, Jason M.; Elliott, John E.; Johnson, Mark S.; Muir, Derek CG; Natal‐da‐Luz, Tiago; Rattner, Barnett A.; Sample, Bradley E.; Shore, Richard F. (2016). "Use of terrestrial field studies in the derivation of bioaccumulation potential of chemicals". Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 12 (1): 135–145. doi:10.1002/ieam.1717. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  21. Falconer, Rebecca (July 20, 2020). "Science Research flashes new warnings of polar bear survival due to climate change". AXIOS. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  22. Victor, Jeff (June 8, 2017). "Climate change puts polar bears on treadmill". Laramie Boomerang. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  23. "Case of the Missing Otters". Western Confluence. Mar 14, 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  24. "The Wildlife Society Honors UW's Ben-David". University of Wyoming. November 7, 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  25. Newman, Eve (November 26, 2016). "UW professor wins national teaching award". Laramie Boomerang. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  26. "UW Professor Elected as TWS Fellow by the Wildlife Society". University of Wyoming. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  27. Kampeas, Rom (2020-08-19). "Merav Ben-David, an Israeli-American scientist, wins Wyoming's Democratic Senate primary - U.S. News". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  28. "Merat". bendavid2020.com. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  29. Lorenz, Jonna. "Women rise to action at Wyoming Women's March for Equality". Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  30. "Merav Ben-David, an Israeli-American Scientist, Wins Wyoming's Democratic Senate Primary". Haaretz. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  31. "Meet the climate expert running to be the first female scientist in the Senate". Grist. 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  32. "Statewide Candidates Official Summary Wyoming General Election - November 3, 2020" (PDF). Wyoming Secretary of State. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Charlie Hardy		 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Wyoming
(Class 2)
2020		 Most recent
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