Education

2012 – 2016
PhD at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern and the Department Fish Ecology and Evolution at Eawag. PhD thesis: „Population genomics of adaptive radiation: a threespine stickleback perspective“

2004 – 2009
Bachelor and Master of Science in Biology, Anthropology at the University of Zurich. MSc thesis: „Molecular evolution of the brain-size gene GLUD2 in orangutans (Pongo spp.)“

1997 – 2003
High School Kantonsschule Zürcher Oberland, Wetzikon

Further Education

2017 – 2018
Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bern and Eawag

2016 – 2017
Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria, Canada

2004
Internship environmental education and outreach BirdLife Conservation Centre Neeracherried

Career

Since 2021
Curator Vertebrates at the Natural History Museum Basel

2018 – 2020
Assistant at the University of Bern and Eawag

2010 – 2011
Ecological consultant Orniplan AG, Zurich

Scientific Interest

Genetics of speciation, adaptive radiation and adaptation to environmental change in fish (threespine stickleback Gasterosteus spp., East African cichlids Haplochromini) and birds (e.g. large white-headed gulls Larus spp.). Reconstructing the evolutionary history from genomes. Investigating genetic diversity, an often overlooked component of biodiversity.

Publications

McGee MD, SR Borstein, JI Meier, DA Marques, S Mwaiko, A Taabu, MA Kishe-Machumu, B O’Meara, R Bruggmann, L Excoffier & O Seehausen (2020). The ecological and genomic basis of explosive adaptive radiation. Nature 586: 75-79

Marques DA*, K Lucek*, VC Sousa, L Excoffier & O Seehausen (2019) Admixture between old lineages facilitated contemporary ecological speciation in Lake Constance stickleback. Nature Communications 10: 4240

Marques DA*, JI Meier* & O Seehausen (2019) A combinatorial view on speciation and adaptive radiation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 34: 531-544

Marques DA, FC Jones, F Di Palma, DM Kingsley & TE Reimchen (2018) Experimental evidence for rapid genomic adaptation to a new niche in an adaptive radiation. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2(7): 1130-1140

Marques DA, JS Taylor, FC Jones, F Di Palma, DM Kingsley & TE Reimchen (2017) Convergent evolution of SWS2 opsin facilitates adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback into different light environments. PLOS Biology 15: e2001627

Marques DA, K Lucek, MP Haesler, AF Feller, JI Meier, CE Wagner, L Excoffier & O Seehausen (2016) Genomic landscape of early ecological speciation initiated by selection on nuptial color. Molecular Ecology 26: 7-24

Marques DA, K Lucek, JI Meier, S Mwaiko, CE Wagner, L Excoffier & O Seehausen (2016) Genomics of rapid incipient speciation in sympatric threespine stickleback. PLOS Genetics 12: e1005887

*shared first authorship

Further publications on Google Scholar

Projects and Museum Activities

Curation of the vertebrate collection (birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians)

Scientific Boards

Member of the Swiss Rarities Committee (birds)