Merav Ben-David (; 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. She ran for State Representative from Wyoming's 46th district in 2022. Early life and education Ben-David was born to a Jewish family in Rehovot, Israel, and raised on a farm near Rishon LeZion. She spent two years in the Israeli Air Force in fulfillment of the country's compulsory military service. Ben-David earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1984, and a Master of Science in 1988 from Tel Aviv University. She spent five 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. 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. 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. In 2000, Ben-David became an associate professor at the University of Wyoming. She became a full professor in 2010. She has served as the editor-in-chief of Wildlife Monographs, succeeding Eric Hellgren in 2017. As of January 2020 she was head of the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming. Her work mostly centers around carnivores and their behavior in ecosystems. 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. 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. Her work was included in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Project Final Report,