Category Archives: featuredposts

Gal Rozenberg

Gal is PhD student investigating invasive plant species. His study focuses on three complementary aspects of invasive plants distribution, adaptation, and ecological management in agricultural ecosystems. Gal has a B.Sc in environmental science and geography from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a M.Sc. in environmental and earth science from Bar-Ilan University.

Shajar Regev

Shajar is a PhD student studying climate change impact on Lake Kinneret ecosystem.The research focuses on employing an ensemble of few lake-models to predict effects of temperature rise and continues droughts on the Kinneret ecosystem (water temperature, nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish). The research is in collaboration with the Kinneret Limnological Laboratory.Shajar has a B.Sc.Eng. (Mechanical Engineering, Technion), B.sc. in Environmental Sciences, and M.sc. in Water Science, both from TelHai College.

 

 

Yohay Carmel photo

Yohay Carmel

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I feel privileged to be able to study subjects that are most important for our future, as well as most complex and interesting. Ecosystems are changing rapidly at many scales, posing major challenges of monitoring, understanding, and mitigation strategies; all of which provide exciting research opportunities. Three major aspects characterize my academic activity:RESEARCH

Y-Research Y-teaching academic activities

RESEARCH

RESEARCH

I. Paradigm-shifts: A most unique moment in a scientist’s work is when one identifies findings that contradict the prevailing paradigm and is able to propose an alternative (incipient) paradigm, within which such data could be reframed. In my career, I had so far two such exciting moments, that culminated in two respective publications, challenging the ‘optimal foraging’ paradigm (Carmel and Ben Haim, American Naturalist 2005) and the ‘competitive exclusion’ principle (Carmel et al. Oikos 2017), respectively.

II. Scientific fields: My lab explores diverse subjects (full list in CV). Click here for current research projects; see below two of my favorite research domains.

Two major research domains

(1) Vegetation Dynamics: I developed a methodology for the study of long-term (30-80 years) changes in vegetation at fine scales (15-20 cm), using computerized classification of B/W and color aerial photos, followed by advanced statistical analyses, in order to quantify the factors affecting vegetation dynamics (here are the respective publications). This methodology was later adopted by numerous researchers, as evidenced by the 300+ citations of these articles (Scopus, 12-2018).

(2) Spatially-explicit mathematical models for management of natural resources. (i) We developed a predictive fire-risk model based on Monte-Carlo simulations of fire behaviour. This model was put to test under unfortunate circumstances, with the tragic 2010 Mount Carmel wildfire occurring just two years after its publication. (ii) Spatial models of biodiversity to aid decision-making. (iii) Spatial models of air-pollution, ecosystems, and others. (iv) Error-propagation models to evaluate the overall accuracy of temporal changes inferred from remote sensing products. These models were cumulatively cited nearly 700 times (Scopus, 12-2018).

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TEACHING

TEACHING

Let us face it: current students do not really need professors anymore, at least not as the sole source of knowledge. They do need us, however, as a source of guidance in a world of information explosion. Academic teaching needs to change accordingly. In each of the three courses that I teach, I adopt a different strategy towards that end:

In ‘Plants and Environment’ (Hebrew syllabus), the subject matter serves as the setting, where the major focus is on supervised practicing of three major skills: (1) searching for relevant literature, (2) separating the wheat from the chaff within the articles, (3) the art of presentations, and (4) scientific writing.

In ‘Ecosystems’ (Hebrew syllabus), the students practice a mini-research project, from inception to reporting; at each stage, they work independently at first, while their interim product is subject to my (gentle) scrutiny.

‘Ecology for Engineers’ (Hebrew syllabus), is perhaps the only course in the ‘Environmental Engineering’ curriculum, where extensive and guided reading of textbook chapters is a major component. The students are motivated to read in English (which is not trivial for most of them) by mini-exams that yield bonuses to their final grade.

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ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

I. Nurturing next-generation scientists: My alumnii graduate students and postdocs are a source of great pride for me. Three of them have become faculty members in Israeli universities, while five others work in key positions concerning natural resource management in Israel (Israel Ministry of Environment, KKL, INPA, etc).

II. Renewing and leading ISEES: I served as the chair of the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Science (ISEES) 2006-2010. During this period, we have transformed ISEES into a vibrant and active society with a new focus, namely the interface between science and decision-making. Towards this end, we have re-established the professional journal in Hebrew, ‘Ecology and Environment‘, initiated the MIMSHAK program of incorporating young scientists in government agencies, Expert Opinion Forums, and other initiatives.

III. Other activities: Among other activities, I chaired the first Scientific Committee of KKL (Israel Forest Authority) (2015-2017), served in the editorial boards of Conservation Biology and PLOSONE, and in various science evaluation panels including those of the ISF, and BSF. A currently most exciting endeavor is The BatSheva De Rothschield Seminar on Socio-Technological Evolution of the Human Species, which I lead, see details here[i].

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Shani photo

Shani Rohatyn

Shani is a Ph.D. student studying forest ecology and biogeochemical cycles. Her research focuses on evaluation of the potential benefit from large-scale forestation action as a climate-change mitigation strategy. She has a B.Sc. in Agroecology and Plants Health from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a M.Sc. in Environmental Quality and Natural Resources in Agriculture from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

JunJing picture

Junjing Gao

Junjing is a Ph.D student in the Ecological and Environment GIS lab. She has a B.Sc. in Faculty of Geography and Tourism from Qufu Normal University,China and a M.Sc. in the Ecological Institute, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences. Her Ph.D. research deals with modelling grazing impacts of nomadic pastoralists on species distribution, community structure and landscape pattern. Her work involves investigating grazing habits and quantifying and modelling their effects with mathematic methods and GIS.

David Troupin

David Troupin

Dr. David Troupin earned his M.Sc. degree in Ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his B.Sc. in biology at Tel Aviv University. His Ph.D. research in the Ecology Lab focused on conservation planning, specifically on incorporating ecological processes (such as succession and disturbance) and anthropogenic processes (such as urbanization) into planning schemes and accounting for future uncertainty.

You can find his Phd thesis here

Gili Noi Harpaz

Gili earned a B.Sc. in Biology from the Tel Aiv University. Her M.Sc. research in the Ecology Lab dealt with Development of a quantitative approach for environmental impact assessment of a desalination plant: shavei zion case study.

You can find her Master thesis here

Ezer Fischler

Ezer earned a B.A. in Geography from the Haifa University. His M.Sc. research in the Ecology Lab dealt with Using a set of landscape metrics to assess the impact of urban development on ecosystem fragmentation

Faris Jahshan

Faris Jahshan

Faris earned a B.A. in Computer Science and B.A. in Mapping and Geoinformation from the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology. His M.Sc. research in the Ecology Lab was “Assessing fire risk using Monte Carlo simulations of fire spread”

You can find his Master thesis here

Bosmat Segal

Bosmat Segal

Bosmat received her B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Haifa. In her M.Sc. study in the Ecology Lab she studied and developed active management practices that could prevent the decline and encourage the recovery of an endangered Iris species, Iris bismarckiana, in a nature reserve in Northern Israel. Her work includes field experiments, aerial photographs interpretation, and GIS analysis

You can find her Master thesis here

Avi Bar Massada

Avi Bar Massada

Dr. Avi Bar Massada is a spatial and landscape ecologist who develops and studies ecological models, and uses these models to answer fundamental ecological questions in community ecology, biogeography, and pyrogeography. Avi has a deep background in spatial and landscape ecology, ecological modeling, remote sensing, and wildfire science. The core of his research focuses on understanding how spatial patterns of ecological phenomena are formed, how they can be quantified, and how these spatial patterns affect various ecological processes, especially those related to the diversity and distribution of organisms across multiple spatial scales from local to continental, and the interactions between human settlements and wildfire. To answer these questions, he uses a variety of scientific approaches, including simulation models, spatial pattern analyses, multivariate statistics, GIS, and remote sensing.
Avi received his PhD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in 2008. After that, Avi has worked for four years as a Research Associate and then as an Assistant Scientist in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Avi is a faculty member in the Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa at Oranim since the Fall of 2012.

You can find his PhD thesis here

Jonathan Liberson

Jonathan Liberson

Jon (Yonatan) earned a B.Sc. in Environmental Science and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. His M.Sc. research in the Ecology Lab focused on understanding the dynamics of colored dissolved organic matter and biologically labile carbon in Lake Kinneret, Israel

You can find his Master thesis here

Yahel Porat photo

Yahel Porat

Yahel is a landscape architect (Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Technion, Haifa).  His research interests included Environmental effects of agriculture and other land uses, planning and management of Ecological corridors, and Conservation planning. Yahel M.Sc. researchin the Ecology Lab was a field work focuses on Evaluating biodiversity within a Mediterranean agro-ecosystem in the lower Galilee, Israel.

You can find his Phd thesis here (Hebrew)

Roy Federman

Roy Federman

Roy (Roi) earned a B.Sc. in Environmental studies and Geography from the Hebrew university of Jerusalem. His M.Sc. research in the Ecology Lab dealt with predicting the potential distribution of an invasive ant species, the little fire ant (Wasmania auropunctata). The study investigated the distribution of the little fire ant on both global and local (Israel) scales. His work included species distribution modeling methods, field experiments, and GIS analysis

You can find his Master thesis here

Lior Blank

Lior Blank

Dr. Lior Blank earned a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from the Tel-Aviv University and a M.Sc. in Biological Chemistry from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot. His Ph.D. research in the Ecology Lab dealt with understanding the species distribution-environment relationship using a hierarchical, multi-scale analysis. His work included advanced statistical methods, spatial analysis of vegetation structure and GIS work.

Currently a research scientist at the Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel. Studying spatial distribution of plant pathogens in agricultural crops. Lab web site:  http://www.SpatialEpidemiologyLab.weebly.com

You can find his PhD thesis here

Amit Dolev

Amit Dolev

Dr. Amit Dolev joined the Ecology Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. He received his B.Sc. in Biology from Haifa University (Oranim campus), his M.Sc. in Zoology and Ecology from the University of Tel Aviv and his Ph.D. in Ecology from Ben Gurion University. Amit’s Post-Doc research in The Ecology Lab focused on optimizing cattle movement and stream utilization within pasturelands.
Amit is currently the head ecologist of the northern region in the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Oded Nezer

Oded Nezer

Oded earned a B.A in Geography and Environmental Development from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In his M.Sc. research in the Ecology Lab, Modeling the distribution of the Asiatic Wild Ass (Equus Hemionus) in the Negev Desert he studied and developed active management practices for assuring the continuousness of the Reintroduced Asiatic Wild Ass in Israel. His work included field experiments, aerial photographs interpretation, and advanced GIS analysis.

You can find his Master thesis here

Rafi Kent

Rafi Kent

Dr. Rafi Kent earned a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from the Ben-Gurion University in the Negev and a M.Sc. in Marine Ecology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His Ph.D. research in the Ecology Lab dealt with understanding of mechanisms underlying biodiversity distribution patterns at varying spatial scales. His work involved analyzing datasets of species distribution from various regions around the world, such as North America, Australia and Israel by applying advanced statistical methods and GIS work. Rafi is now a staff member in the Geography and Environment Department at Bar-Ilan University, where his research revolves around spatial aspects of plant community and population ecology.

You can find his PhD thesis here

Olga Vdov

Olga Vdov

Olga earned a B.Sc. in Biology from the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology. Her M.Sc. research filed in the Ecology Lab was Marine Ecology of Rocky Shores, with emphasis on algal community. Her work was a field study which investigates the correlation between environmental heterogeneity and biodiversity in algal assemblages on the rocky shores of Akhziv, Israel.

You can find her Master thesis here

Hagai Shemesh

Hagai Shemesh

Dr. Hagai Shemesh joined the Ecology Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. He earned his B.Sc. in Biology and his M.Sc. and PhD in Plant Ecology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His Post-Doc in the Ecology Lab research focused on the establishment on new population of Iris lortetii while considering the genetic structure of the population and the habitats characteristics.
Currently Lecturer in Environmental Sciences department at Tel-Hai Academic College.

Ateret Shabtay-Yanai

Ateret Shabtay Yanai

A PhD student at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning in the Technion. Ateret has a Bachelor degree (B.Sc) in biology from Haifa University (2008) and a master’s degree (M.Sc) in ecology and environmental studies from the Zoology Department of the Tel Aviv University (2011). During her master’s, Ateret studied the population dynamics of invasive species along the Israeli Mediterranean coast and participated in researches in the field of nature conservation around the world. After completing a continuing education program in town planning, she started her doctoral research about integration of marine infrastructures and marine conservation.