I am fascinated by the different ways animal morphology becomes adapted to their biotic and abiotic environment. Some traits show extreme degrees of lability within species even across very restricted spatial scales (such as a group of islands) and temporal scales. Significant morphological changes can sometimes be detected over the course of a century or so, and presumably, they are evolutionary and adaptive.
I study morphological variation within species at different spatial and temporal scales, and then compare the patterns of variation shown in whole clades or communities, to search for common evolutionary mechanisms that drive them.
Much of the evolutionary shifts seen within species result from differences in their biotic environment (such as the presence of absence of competitor, predator and prey species). However, ever since Gleason it has been known that community composition changes in seemingly erratic ways (though some biogeographers and palaeontologists still write about “disharmonic” communities!).
I am interested in examining whether there are broad biogeographic patterns in community assembly, where different ‘kinds’ of animals are relatively more likely to exist in some environments, but not in others.

"It (ecological equilibrium) has the disadvantage of being untrue. The 'balance of nature' does not exist" (C.S. Elton 1930 "Animal ecology and evolution" P. 17)

I mainly use two main model systems (although the word model does in no way mean these groups are not fascinating in their own right!): mammalian carnivores and lizards, although I find it hard to give up looking at other groups (birds, tree-shrews, mammals and squamate reptiles as a whole).

I assembled a large dataset of cranial and dental measurements of carnivores (over 24000 specimens, in collaboration with my former supervisors,  Tamar Dayan  and  Dan Simberloff  ), which I use to study biogeographic variation, community assembly, and the morphological signature of speciation.

With the help of my present and past students, as well as with  David Orme ,  Richard Grenyer and the members of our Global Assessment of reptile distributions working-group , I try to examine factors that affect the distribution and evolution of lizards.  We are mapping lizard distribution in multiple regions (a global map is probably not feasible in the foreseeable future), to study richness patterns, as well as other macroecological phenomena (relationships of features such as body size, range size, range position, etc.).

Some more specific areas of interests include:

•  Biogeographic drivers of morphological evolution

In recent years I focused mostly on trying to understand how local conditions affect the evolution of vertebrates across their geographic ranges.  For example, I used mammalian carnivores to study the environmental determinants of size evolution.  Examining broad patterns of size variation (Bergmann’s Rule, the Island Rule) I am able to assess the factors that were thought to drive these trends (such as resource availability, interspecific competition, predation, temperatures and primary productivity).

•  Island Biogeography

I study some of the factors that govern species richness and identity of insular carnivores. I examine how different aspects of the insular environment such as area, isolation and community composition influence the variability, body size and sexual size dimorphism of island inhabitants.

•  Speciation

I am studying the adaptive radiation of island vertebrates to examine the geographic drivers of speciation (island area, isolation, habitat diversity and climate).  Using sister-species comparisons I examine whether there is a limit to the degree of similarity of recently diverged species. I then intend to study whether the degree of observed morphological divergence depends on functional aspects of species’ morphology and on their natural history (e.g., their diet)

•  Community assembly

My main research focus (if I can get to it) in the near future will be community assembly.  I gather biogeographic and morphological data that, together with natural history data will enable me to examine geographic patterns of functional diversity.  I will examine the functional diversity of different reptilian and mammalian assemblages, and compare assemblages to try and identify the forces that promote such diversity. Studying functional diversity and species richness from a different angle I examine the morphological consequences of competition in coexisting animal species to decipher the role of interspecific competition in community assembly and speciation. I will examine how communities differ in accord with their biogeography: while leaving the question of why there are more species in the tropics to many others, I’ll try to examine questions such as why (or whether) there are relatively fewer herbivores in temperate areas.

Peer reviewed journals:

Meiri, S., Brown, J. H. and Sibly, R. M. 2011. The ecology of lizard reproductive output. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Published online, DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00700.x. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00700.x/pdf

Roll, U. Grenyer, R. and Meiri, S. 2011. Not so holy after all. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution. In Press.

Raia, P. and Meiri, S. 2011. The tempo and mode of evolution: body sizes of island mammals. Evolution, 65: 1927-1934. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01263.x/pdf .

Meiri, S., Simberloff, D, and Dayan, T. 2011. Community-wide character displacement in the presence of clines: A test of Holarctic weasel guilds. Journal of Animal Ecology, 80: 824-834. Ecology http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01827.x/pdf

Meiri, S. 2011. Bergmann's Rule - What's in a name? Global Ecology and Biogeography , 19 : 20: 203-207.

Meiri, S., Raia, P. and Phillimore, A. B. 2011. Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands. Journal of Biogeography 38 : 89-100.

Meiri, S. and Raia, P. 2010. Reptilian all the way? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA , 107 : E27.

Meiri, S. 2010. Length-weight allometries in lizards. Journal of Zoology , 281 : 218-226.

Raia, P., Carotenuto, F. and Meiri, S. 2010. One size does not fit all: No evidence for an optimal body size on islands. Global Ecology and Biogeography , 19 : 475-484.

Powney, G. D., Grenyer, R., Orme, C. D. L., Owens, I. P. F. and Meiri, S. 2010. Hot, dry and different: Australian lizard richness is unlike that of mammals, amphibians, and birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography , 19 : 386-396.

Roll, U., Stone, L. and Meiri, S. 2009. Hot-spot facts and artifacts – questioning Israel 's great biodiversity. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution , 55 : 263-279 .

Hortal, J., Triantis, K. A., Meiri, S., Thebault, E. and Sfenthourakis, S. 2009. Island species richness does increase with habitat diversity. American Naturalist , 174 : e205-e217. DOI: 10.1086/645085.

Thomas, G. H., Meiri, S. and Phillimore, A. B. 2009. Body size diversification in Anolis: novel environment and island effects. Evolution 63: 2017-2030.

Pafilis, P., Meiri, S., Foufopoulos , J. and Valakos, E. 2009. Intraspecific competition and high food availability drive insular gigantism in a lizard. aturwissenschaften 96 1107-1113.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., Simberloff, D. and Grenyer, R. 2009. Life on the edge: Carnivore  body size variation is all over the place. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 276: 1469-1476.

Meiri, S., Guy, D., Dayan, T. and Simberloff, D. 2009. Global change and carnivore body size – data are stasis. Global Ecology and Biogeography 18: 240-247.

Olson , V. A., Davies, R. G., Orme, C. D. L., Thomas, G. H., Meiri, S., Blackburn, T. M., Gaston, K. J., Owens, I. P. F. and Bennett, P. M. 2009. Global biogeography and ecology of body size in birds. Ecology Letters 12: 249-259.

Meiri, S. 2008. Evolution and ecology of lizard body sizes. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17 : 724-734. DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2008.00414.x

Meiri, S., Meijaard, E., Wich, S. Groves , C. and Helgen, K. 2008. Mammals of Borneo - small size on a large island. Journal of Biogeography 35 : 1087-1094.

Meiri, S., Cooper, N. and Purvis, A. 2008. The island rule: made to be broken? Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 275 : 141-148.

Meiri, S. and Mace, G. M. 2007. New taxonomy and the origin of species. PLoS Biology 5 : 1385-1386 .

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., and Simberloff, D. 2007. Guild composition and mustelid morphology – Character displacement but no character release. Journal of Biogeography 34 : 2148-2158.

Meiri, S. and Thomas, G. H. 2007. The geography of body size – challenges of the interspecific approach. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 689-693.

Meiri, S. 2007. Size evolution in island lizards. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 702-708.

Davies, J. T., Meiri, S., Barraclough, T. G. and Gittleman, J. L. 2007. Species coexistence and character divergence across carnivores. Ecology Letters 10 : 146-152.

Meiri, S., Yom-Tov, Y. and Geffen, E. 2007. What determines conformity to Bergmann’s rule? Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 788-794.

Raia, P. and Meiri, S. 2006. The island rule in large mammals: Paleontology meets ecology. Evolution 60 : 1731-1742.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., and Simberloff, D. 2006. The generality of the island rule re-examined. Journal of Biogeography 33 : 1571-1577.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., and Simberloff, D. 2005. Area, isolation, and size evolution in insular carnivores. Ecology Letters 8 : 1211-1217.

Meiri, S., Simberloff, D. and Dayan, T. 2005. Insular carnivore biogeography: Island area and mammalian optimal body size. American Naturalist 165 : 505-514.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T. and Simberloff, D. 2005. Variability and sexual size dimorphism in carnivores: Testing the niche variation hypothesis. Ecology 86 : 1432-1440.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T. and Simberloff, D. 2005. Biogeographic patterns in the Western Palearctic: the fasting-endurance hypothesis and the status of Murphy's rule. Journal of Biogeography 32 : 369-375.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., and Simberloff, D. 2005. Variability and correlations in carnivore crania and dentition. Functional Ecology 19 : 337-343.   

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., and Simberloff, D. 2004. Body size of insular carnivores: Little support for the island rule. American Naturalist 163 : 469-479.

Meiri, S., Dayan, T., and Simberloff, D. 2004. Carnivores, biases and Bergmann's rule. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 81 : 579-588.

Meiri, S. and Yom-Tov, Y. 2004. Ontogeny of large birds: Migrants do it faster. Condor 106 : 540-548.

Meiri, S. and Dayan, T. 2003. On the validity of Bergmann’s rule. Journal of Biogeography 30 : 331-351.

Non-peer reviewed journals:

Meiri, S. and Dayan, T. 2010. Natural history collections and conservation – a call for aid in collecting. Ecology and Environment , 3 : 5 . In Hebrew.

Roll, U., Stone, L. and Meiri, S. 2010. Israel is especially rich in animal and plants – or is it? Ecology and Environment , 3 : 24-35 . In Hebrew, translation of Roll et al. 2009.

Meiri, S., Duckworth, W. J. and Meijaard, E. 2007. Biogeography of Mustela lutreolina (Robinson and Thomas, 1917) and a newly discovered specimen of from Java. Small Carnivore Conservation 37 : 1-5.

Duckworth, W. J., Lee, B., Meijaard, E. and Meiri, S. 2006. The Malay Weasel Mustela nudipes : distribution, natural history and a global conservation status review. Small Carnivore Conservation 34 : 2-21.

Meiri, S. 2005. Small carnivores on small islands. New data based on old skulls. Small Carnivore Conservation 33 : 21-23.