people

Raziel Davison

Raziel Davison
Anthropology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Postdoctoral Scholar

I am an evolutionary biodemographer researching (1) the ecological forces shaping life history evolution, (2) the underlying drivers and emergent effects of stochastic population dynamics, and (3) the adaptations that allow population persistence despite variable disturbance. I am a taxonomic generalist with published research on plants, insects, fish and other vertebrates. I work in both basic and applied research, as well as conservation science for population management. My primary expertise is in formal theory and empirical data analysis rather than field or laboratory studies. Recent work in comparative demography with Michael Gurven (Anthropology) uses theory for life history evolution and stochastic population dynamics to interpret the similarities and differences among small-scale human populations and wild chimpanzees. Current work in human behavioral ecology traces the consequences of alternative subsistence strategies through life history effects to population structure and optimal division of labor.

Publications

Davison, R., & Gurven, M. 2022. 
"The importance of elders: Extending Hamilton’s force of selection to include intergenerational transfers. "
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(28), e2200073119.
Davison, R., and M. Gurven. 2021.
"Human uniqueness? Life history diversity among small-scale societies and chimpanzees. "
PloS one 16.2 (2021): e0239170.