The evolution of activity patterns of
mammalsstudy of the community ecology of rocky desert spiny mice in order to gain insight into the selective pressures that drive the activity patterns of animals within ecological communities; gaining insight into the effect of artificial light pollution on this system.
Archeozoology and Paleoecology
study of animal bones from archeological sites in order to gain insight into the evolution of ancient economies and into the ecology of ancient environments; understanding the process of animal domestication and the shift from hunter-gatherer nomadic or semi-nomadic societies to settled agricultural communities; gaining insight into site formation processes of Tel Dor as a model Biblical Tel site.
Comparative morphology
gaining insight into the a biotic and biotic selective forces underlying the evolution of body size; study of ecological character displacement and community wide character displacement within ecological communities; study of the evolution of body size of mammals on islands.
Patterns of biodiversity in natural and cultural landscapes
gaining insight into the relationship of biodiversity patterns between diverse taxa in order to develop indicators for biodiversity; study of patterns of biodiversity in agricultural and afforested settings in order to develop biodiversity friendly management techniques.
Conservation biology
various projects such as monitoring reintroduced Mesopotamian fallow deer and developing predictive models for this reintroduction; studying the population biology of chukar partridges in order to develop appropriate census methods and to formulate conservation guidelines; study of the population biology of jungle cats in anthropogenic habitats.
Invasion biology
a biogeographical and ecological analysis of invasive animal species of Israel; study of non-native ant species of Israel with an emphasis on the invasive little fire ant; study of the legal and administrative framework of dealing with invasive species in Israel.
Climate change and ecological communities
Modeling the projected distributions of mammals and mammal assemblages (communities) under different climate change scenarios; testing these spatial models against national and regional planning scenarios in order to make recommendations for conserving biodiversity in view of climate change; substituting space for time macroecological analysis of patterns of animal diversity along a rainfall gradient.
