Staff

Christoph Vorburger

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Prof. Dr. Christoph Vorburger

Department Aquatic Ecology

About Me

I am an evolutionary ecologist with strong interests in host-parasite coevolution, the evolution of alternative reproductive modes, and population genetics. Much of my current work focuses on symbiont-mediated coevolution in host-parasite interactions. What the heck is symbiont-mediated coevolution? It has been discovered quite recently that in addition to their own immune defences, many organisms rely on heritable microbial symbionts for defense against parasites. These defensive symbionts increase the heritable variation in host resistance to parasites, they alter the specificity of he host-parasite interaction, and they are involved in trade-offs between resistance and other components of fitness. By doing this, they alter the reciprocal selection between hosts and parasites and thus mediate their coevolution, which has far-reaching consequences, for example for disease transmission. In addition to the work on defensive symbiosis, I regularly oversee projects on the conservation genetics of endangered freshwater crayfish, I lead the research program "Climate Change and Freshwater Biodiversity", and I participate as member of the Executive Council in the Translational Centre Biodiversity Conservation

To learn more about my lab and our research, please visit my  group homepage.

Curriculum Vitae

2019 - 2024 Head of Department, Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Switzerland
since 2015 Group Leader in Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Switzerland
Adjunct Professor, Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS), ETH Zürich, Switzerland
2009 - 2015 SNSF Professor for Evolutionary Ecology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich & Eawag, Switzerland
2004 - 2009 Senior Research Associate (Oberassistent), Institute of Zoology, University of Zürich, Switzerland
2002 - 2004 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Genetics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
2001 Ph.D., Institute of Zoology, University of Zürich, Switzerland
1997 M.Sc., Zoology, Zoological Museum, University of Zürich, Switzerland

Selected publications

  • Hudson, C., D. Stalder, and C. Vorburger. 2024. Clines of resistance to parasitoids: The multifarious effects of temperature on defensive symbioses in insects. Current Opinion in Insect Science 64: 101208.
  • Gimmi, E., J. Wallisch, and C. Vorburger. 2023. Defensive symbiosis in the wild: seasonal dynamics of parasitism risk and symbiont-conferred resistance. Molecular Ecology 32: 4063-4077. 
  • Moor, H., A. Bergamini, C. Vorburger, R. Holderegger, C. Bühler, S. Egger, and B. R. Schmidt. 2022. Bending the curve: Simple but massive conservation action leads to landscape-scale recovery of amphibians. PNAS 119: e2123070119
  • Vorburger, C. 2022. Defensive symbionts and the evolution of parasitoid host specialization. Annual Review of Entomology: 67: 329-346.
  • Hafer-Hahmann, N., and C. Vorburger. 2020. Parasitoids as drivers of symbiont diversity in an insect host. Ecology Letters 23: 1232-1241.
  • Matthews B., J. Jokela, A. Narwani, K. Räsänen, F. Pomati, F. Altermatt, P. Spaak, C.T. Robinson, and C. Vorburger. 2020. On biological evolution and environmental solutions. Science of the Total Environment 724: 138194.
  • Rossbacher, S., and C. Vorburger. 2020. Prior adaptation of parasitoids improves biological control of symbiont-protected pests. Evolutionary Applications 13: 1868-1876.
  • Mathé-Hubert, H., H. Käch, C. Hertäg, J. Jaenike, and C. Vorburger. 2019. Non-random associations of maternally transmitted symbionts in insects: The roles of drift versus biased co-transmission and selection. Molecular Ecology 28: 5330-5346
  • Vorburger, C., and S. J. Perlman. 2018. The role of defensive symbionts in host-parasite coevolution. Biological Reviews 93: 1747-1764. 
  • Dennis, A. B., V. Patel, K. M. Oliver, and C. Vorburger. 2017. Parasitoid gene expression changes after adaptation to symbiont-protected hosts. Evolution 71: 2599-2617. 
  • Rothacher, L., M. Ferrer-Suay, and C. Vorburger. 2016. Bacterial endosymbionts protect aphids in the field and alter parasitoid community composition. Ecology 97: 1712–1723. 
  • Gouskov, A., M. Reyes, L. Wirthner-Bitterlin, and C. Vorburger. 2016. Fish population genetic structure shaped by hydroelectric power plants in the upper Rhine catchment. Evolutionary Applications 9: 394-408. 

For my complete list of publications, please go here (Google Scholar).

Current teaching

I presently teach the following courses at ETH Zürich:

  • Practical Course in Environmental Biology (701-0340-00L)
  • Ecological Parasitology (701-1471-00L)

Address

E-Mail: christoph.vorburger@eawag.ch
Phone: +41 58 765 5196
Fax: +41 58 765 5802
Address: Eawag
Überlandstrasse 133
8600 Dübendorf
Office: BU G16

Expert on

biodiversity, genetics, ecology, evolution

Research Group

Vorburger lab homepage