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Revisiting the list of freshwater fish species of Israel – A new research, led by Dr. Roni Tadmor-Levi from the group of Prof. Lior David, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, sheds new insights of what freshwater fish species make up the biodiverse aquatic fauna of Israel.

Academic curator of the paleobiological collection, faculty member in the Department of Earth Sciences in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and in the Department of Archeology in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

In the past I researched the reconstruction of animal exploitation patterns by man in prehistoric times.

Currently researching, among other things, the connection between Eurasia and Africa - the animal world and its environment during the Miocene period (according to 20 million years).

Academic curator of the invertebrate collection, faculty member in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

In recent years, my laboratory has been engaged in understanding the evolution of the body model in arthropods, with an emphasis on the evolution of the segmental body model.

In addition, the laboratory participates in an international project that includes three other laboratories in Switzerland to understand the evolution of the process of molting in arthropods.

Scientific Director of the National Herbarium at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

In the past I researched an experimental and theoretical examination of the influence of spatial mechanisms on species richness.

Currently researching the understanding of the mechanisms that influence global distribution patterns of plant forms.

My interest in the field of research is due to a basic curiosity to discover new things that meets an ever-increasing potential for extracting insights from big data analysis.

Historical curator of the plant collection, faculty member in the Department of History in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

One of my projects seeks to examine the relationship to nature in industrial society by focusing on the fuel that drove the industrial revolution - coal. I wish to examine how a material that was, and still is, the perfect antithesis to "natural" ideals, the banner of progress and technology, is perceived as deeply involved in the natural world.

Academic curator of the plant collection, faculty member at the Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics at the Faculty of Agriculture.

The general topic that I dealt with during most of my years at the university is the evolution of cultural crops in the Near East, including various aspects related to the domestication of those plants in the Neolithic period. Most of the studies were conducted on sourdough (hummus) and peas.

Academic curator of the fish collection, faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Faculty of Agriculture.

In my past research, I focused on the question of how a double number of chromosomes (tetraploidy) affects genetics and the evolution of traits in different fish species.

In my current research, I focus on understanding the evolution of genetic mating mechanisms in different fish species and how mating affects the creation of new species.

A new article reveals a species of spider discovered for the first time in the south of the Arabah by Dr. Efrat Gavish-Regev, director of the Arthropod Collection in the National Nature Collections at the Hebrew University, and Prof. Yael Lubin from Ben-Gurion University and their research teams.

The researchers noticed the special spider during arachnid monitoring they carried out, which was designed to estimate the damages caused by the oil spill disasters in the south of the Arabah in 1975 and 2014.

In a new study, seven species new to science were discovered, distinct cave dwellers (troglobite), described from the depths of caves in the Mediterranean regions of Israel, two of which are completely blind, and another five are eye-degenerative.

One of the surprising findings in the study shows that the new species are evolutionarily closer to the species living in Southern Europe in Mediterranean areas, at the entrance to caves and outside the caves, than to the troglophile species that live in sympatry with them at the entrance to caves in Israel.

Photo: Boaz Langford

Near Ofra, within the territory of the settlement, is the southern karst field in the world, the "cave park" of Ofra and Samaria.

In the center of Ofra's cave park is the famous Chinese pit, similar to which there are about 50 other pits in a limited area.

photo: Dr Boaz Shacham

The course "Biological nature collections and zoos - the relationship between man and animals" took place on February 19 - 22, 2023.

On Thursday, April 7, 2022, at 3:00 p.m., Thursday in the collections will be held on Facebook Live and on the YouTube channel of the National Nature Collections.

And this time: not only trees are cut down: incomplete stories from the herbarium archive.

This is your chance!

As part of the research: "When Africa and Eurasia met (Early Miocene) - the physical, climatic and environmental conditions during the distribution of the fauna through the Levant" (Rebecca Rabinowitz, Rani Calvo).

We go to different sites in Israel in May:

South: 8.05.2022 – 12.05.2022

North: 15.05.2022 – 19.05.2022

The biennial conference of the Israeli Arachnid Association will be held this year as part of the annual conference of the Israel Entomological Society.

When: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 Isro-Hag Sukkot

Where: The Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot Campus.

You can send an abstract for a lecture intended to be presented in one of the spider seats directly to Efrat Gabish-Regev -

efrat.gavish-regev@mail.huji.ac.il

Recently, a new article was published by Dr. Danny Golani, the curator of the fish collection at the Hebrew University's National Nature Collections - an up-to-date list of the fish species of the Mediterranean Sea of Israel. The list includes 469 fish species, an addition of 62 species since the previous list published in 2005. Most of the species added to the list - 38 of them - are immigrants (invaders) to the Sapsians (named after Ferdinand de Lesseps - thinker and initiator of the digging of the Suez Canal), which came from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

This week an article was published presenting the results of a study carried out by an international (five nationalities) and inter-university team, led by Dr. Efrat Gabish-Regev from the National Nature Collections, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Prof. Yael Lubin from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The article describes a new species of spider, known so far only from the Arava Valley - in Israel and Jordan:

Sahastata aravaensis sp. November Ganem, Magalhaes, Zonstein and Gavish-Regev

Coordinator of the national nature collections and scientific director of the national collection of arachnids and other terrestrial arthropod collections at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Academic curator of the collection of reptiles and amphibians and the collection of birds, faculty member in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

As part of a doctorate in ecology, I examined the "Effect of predation risks on the lizard Acanthodactylus beershebensis" and also did a campaign to preserve this lizard. At Yale University's School of Forestry and Environment I researched the "Effect of Predation Risks on Grasshoppers".

Scientific director of the fish collection at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

My PhD dealt with the society of Mullidae (Goatfish) in the Mediterranean. I was also a research assistant to Prof. Adam Ben-Tovia and participated in a study on the fishing in Bardawil Lake in North Sinai.