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Dr. David Alila

Name
DAVID OKINYI ALILA

Academic Rank
Lecturer

Department
Biological Sciences

Biography

Biography

Dr. David O. Alila is a Lecturer at MUCE, a constituent college of the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He has been widely engaged in several local and international research projects related to ecology, evolution, and Eco-Toxicology. He has collaborated with top scientists on research projects from various countries, including the USA, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Australia, and Malaysia.

For his MSc, he studied Biodiversity Conservation and conducted research on the ecology of small mammals along the coastal forests of Tanzania. He then pursued a one-year postgraduate diploma in aquatic Eco-Toxicology at KU Leuven University in Belgium. Following this, he completed his PhD on the trophic community ecology of African killifish at the University of Bern in Switzerland and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG).

Dr. Alila is also a consultant ecologist at MMK Environment Impact Assessment Projects Services Ltd. and Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG). Since joining MUCE in 2009, Dr. Alila has taught four courses: Ecology, Evolution, Developmental Biology, and Animal Anatomy and Physiology.

Contacts

Email:

Email Address
okinyi.alila@muce.ac.tz

Research Interest

Research Interest
Ecology: Evolution: Wildlife Conservation:Conservation Biology:Biodiversity Assessment: Biodiversity Monitoring

Google Scholar

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Projects

Projects

Trophic community ecology of African annual killifish and its potential in Malaria vector control

Active professional memberships

  • British Ecological Society (BES)

  • World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Tanzania Chapter)

  • Killifish Data Organization (KDO)

  • American Killifish Association (AKA)

  • Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST)

  • International Young Earth Scientist (YES) (Global YES Network)

  • Tanzania Journal of Science (TJS)

  • Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG)

  • Killifish Foundation Research and Conservation.

  • Diversity and Distribution Journal member.

  • CO-OP4CBD 2024 team member.

Publications

Publications
  1. Journal-article: David O Alila, Hanna ten Brink, Marcel Haesler, Ole Seehausen, Ecological character displacement among Nothobranchius annual killifishes in Tanzania, Evolution, 2024;,    qpae005, https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae005. 
  2. Journal-article: Reichard, M., Janáč, M. , Blažek, R. , Žák, J. , Alila, O. D. , & Polačik, M. (2022). Patterns and drivers of Nothobranchius killifish diversity in lowlandTanzania. Ecology and        Evolution, 12, e8990. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8990. 
  3. Journal-article: Alila, Okinyi David (2020).Comparison of abundanceand diversity of small        mammals betweenthe Wooded Grasslandand Primary Forest in Pande Game Reserve,        Tanzania. Tanzania Journal of Science and Technology, 3(2), pp. 17-28.https://journals.out.ac.tz/index.php/tjst/article/view/800. 
  4. Journal article: Bartáková, V., Nagy, B., Polačik, M. et al. Genetic diversity of a widespread annual killifish from coastal Tanzania. BMC Evol Biol 20, 1 (2020). 
  5. Working-paper:Reichard, M., Janáč, Alila, O. D., M., Blažek, R. , Žák, J.  & Polačik, M.Phylogenomics of Nothobranchius in lowland Tanzania: species delimitation and comparative genetic structure (In Press: Submitted at Molecular       Phylogenetics and Evolution journal).  MPE-D-24-00052.
  6. Working-paper: David O Alila, Marcel Haesler, Ole Seehausen. Exploring  Ecological Character Displacement and Competitive Interactions in African Annual Killifish: An  Experimental Approach" (In Press: Submitted at International Journal of Evolution).
  7. Scientific Research Project Report: A triple win? The impact of Tanzania’s Joint Forest  Management programme on livelihoods, governance and forests, 3ie Impact Evaluation Report  34. New Delhi: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).