Affiliated Scientists

Ecology and design of artificial reefs. Effects of recruitment on coral-reef communities. Connectivity among benthic ecosystems. The use of marine organisms for pollution biomonitoring in coastal areas. Marine bio-invasion. Effects of sediment on benthic organisms. Phase-shift in benthic marine ecosystems. Marine Protected Areas.

The researcher focuses on using benthic foraminifera as tracers for bottom water conditions in both shallow and deep waters. Her studies include Quaternary paleoceanography of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, reconstructing upwelling paleo-environments in the southern Tethys during the Upper Cretaceous, and examining living and fossil records of brackish foraminifera. The research provides insights into ecological and historical changes in marine systems over time.

Volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSC) link between oceanic plankton, terrestrial photosynthesis and atmospheric processes and ultimately influence climatic feedbacks. VOSC produced in the ocean by several biotic and abiotic processes of marine biota. We use novel analytical techniques to measure sulfur isotopic signatures of VOSC and their change as a result of different processes such as plant uptake or photochemical oxidation. These results are used to model biogeochemical processes between the ocean and the atmosphere.

A current project (in collaboration with Alon Amrani) deals with improving carbonyl sulfide (COS) sources estimates, using sulfur stable isotopes. COS is the most abundant long-lived sulfur gas in the atmosphere, and it is an important source for background stratospheric sulfate aerosols, which have significant control on Earth’s albedo, and hence temperature. The main source for COS is the ocean, however, formation pathways, the magnitude, and spatial distribution of this source are uncertain.

The lab investigates the genetic and cellular functions of the brain, focusing on the evolution and development of nervous systems, neurodevelopmental disorders, and sleep. To achieve this, we combine genetic manipulations, real-time microscopy imaging of single molecules, organelles, and neurons, as well as video tracking of behavior in zebrafish, tropical fish, and cnidarians. Key research areas include behavior, biology and evolution, chronobiology, ecology, circadian clocks and metabolism, cnidarian biology, developmental biology, fish biology, molecular chronobiology, and neurophysiology.

The researcher studies photosynthetic carbon fixation in seagrasses, corals, and sponges with photosymbionts, as well as marine macrophytes and their carbon acquisition. They investigate marine invertebrate photosymbioses and the photophysiology of photosymbionts. They also developed novel underwater optical fluorometric methods for measuring photosynthetic rates and are active in EcoOcean.

Environmental Genomics (Metagenomics/Ecogenomics) is a field that enables us to look at parts of the environment that were, until recently, masked to us. With present estimates suggesting that >99% of the microorganisms in most environments are not amenable to growth in pure culture.

Design, construction and application of microbial biosensors based on molecular reporter systems of marine origin.

Behavior, ecology, Biology & evolution, Coral reef ecology, Ecology, Fish biology, Marine Biology, Marine conservation.

Our research interests are diverse and include community ecology, biogeography and macroecology. We are specifically interested in understanding how patterns of biodiversity and the underlying processes vary across geographical and environmental gradients and across scales. We use a multi-directional approach that brings together experimental manipulations, large scale observations and computer modeling to examine these questions.

Octocorals, life history strategies, larval biology, symbiosis, marine biology and ecology, artificial reefs, conservation biology, invasive species, biolfouling, marine natural products, effect of recreational fishing.

Numerical modeling of oceans and atmospheres, Circulation in the Mediterranean Sea, Circulation in the Gulf of Elat, Operational ocean forecasting, Large scale air-sea interaction, Short and long range climate prediction, Circulation in the Dead Sea

Molecular ecology, biogeography, phylogeny and evolution of benthic marine taxa focusing on echinoderms as model organisms. Sexual reproduction of broadcast spawning marine invertebrates: environmental regulation of gametogenesis and spawning, fertilization dynamics and hybridization, gamete incompatibility and reproductive barriers.

Marine parasitology. Fish and shellfish diseases. Health management in coastal and offshore mariculture systems. Disease interactions between aquaculture and the environment. Marine fish ecology.

Roee Diamant is an Associate Prof. at the Dept. of Marine Technologies, University of Haifa, and heads the underwater Acoustic and Navigation Laboratory (ANL). He is the manager of the Haifa offshore marine observatory, THEMO. He was the coordinator of the EU H2020 project SYMBIOSIS (BG-14 track), and is the recipient of the EU ERA-Chair appointment to the University of Zagreb, Croatia. His research interests include underwater acoustic communication, underwater localization and navigation, object detection and classification, and sonar signal processing with particular applications in passive and active detection of marine fauna, and characterization of marine big data.

Paleoecology of marine environments, especially of differing nutrient gradients. Taphonomy and molluscan shell preservation. Marine geology and paleontology.

Stable isotopes fractionations and trace element geochemistry in live foraminifera. Photosynthesis, calcification, internal carbon cycling and stable isotopes in symbiotic associations. Carbon isotopic fractionation and carbon limitation in algae during photosynthesis. Nutrient fluxes between coral reefs and the open ocean. CaCO₃ dissolution kinetics in the deep ocean and in shallow carbonate shelves.

Physical oceanography, ocean mixing, radiowave oceanography, climate dynamics. Applied mathematics & physics,fluid mechanics, Climate dynamics & physical oceanography, Ocean-atmosphere, oceanography, Paleo-oceanography, Physical oceanography.

My research interests focus on interdisciplinary problems in oceanography and climate dynamics, involving interactions between different components of the climate system. My research tools consist of theory development, modeling and field measurements.

Computational methods for wave problems, identification using wave analysis combination of analytic and numerical methods, space structures.

My research focuses on evidence for natural events (eg floods, droughts, tsunamis, storms), changing marine environments (coastal dynamics, erosion, sea-level, plastics), and recognizing environmental proxies through sedimentological and micro paleontological indicators, in particular foraminifera. My primary areas of interests include marine sedimentology, climate, environmental reconstruction, coring methodology, geo and marine archaeology, tsunamis, coastal environments, harbors, micropaleontology, environmental impacts on the benthic environmentClimate dynamics & physical oceanography, Geology, Marine conservation, Marine geology, Palaeontology, Sedimentology, paleo-, Tectonics & geodynamics

Aquaculture, Computational bioinformatics, Ecology, Fish aquaculture, Marine Biology, Marine microbiology, Microbial ecology, Microbiology.Research focuses on microbial ecology and metagenomics in the aquaculture environment (e.g., water, biofilters) and cultured organisms (e.g., fish and shellfish, sea urchins, seaweeds) to improve performances, health, and resilience. We aim to expand the knowledge of the forces that govern dynamics in the microbial community and specific microbes in the community regarding their composition, metabolisms, interactions, and how they affect the environment. In aquaculture, hypertrophic conditions facilitate microbes' growth and metabolisms. However, microbes' contribution can go in opposite directions, e.g., aiding the host in food digestion or attacking it as in the case of pathogens.

Biology, microbiology and biotechnology of sponges (and other invertebrates), with emphasis on symbiosis and natural products.

Study of biogeochemistry of modern analogs of ancient ocean; evolution of sulfur cycle through the Earth history; research of impact of sulfur cycle on cycling of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and metals on local and global scales; elucidation of sulfide oxidation intermediates role in sulfur biogeochemistry.

Interspecies interactions. Role of cyanobacterial toxins. Oxidative stress as a driver of cell death. Cyanobacterial molecular biology. Photosynthetic activity as affected by ambient conditions. C0₂ concentrating mechanisms. C0₂ dependent gene expression. Stable isotopes in oceanographic research. Acclimation of diatoms to changes in the light field.

Marine sedimentological processes including sediment fluxes, resuspension transport, accumulation and geochemical interactions with the water column.

Animal behaviour, neuroethology, sensory ecology, vision and visually guided behaviour in vertebrates including fishes, fish eating birds and chameleons.  A main subject of research is vision through the air-water interface of birds and fishes.

Geochemistry of water rock interactions. Open sea nutrients dynamics. U-Th dating of fossil and replaced reef corals. Ra isotopes study of adsorption/desorption and redox processes. Meteoric cosmogenic isotopes C-14, Be-10 and Be-7 in the Dead Sea system.

Limnology of the Dead Sea – field measurements, lab and model, The Dead Sea balances – heat, water and salt, Landscape evolution of the Dead Sea vicinity as response to level decline of the lake, Sedimentation of halite – in situ field measurements, lab, model.

Ocean optics, visual ecology, marine animal vision, polarization and polarization vision in ocean, radiative transfer.

Scleractinian (reef-building) corals are among the most efficient biomineralizing organisms in nature. They have formed vast coral reefs in the shallow waters of the tropics and sub-tropical oceans since the Permian mass-extinction.

The work in my lab focuses on symbioses in the coral reef ecosystem primarily between corals, octocorals, or sea anemones and their symbionts. The symbionts include unicellular dinoflagellate algae (family Symbiodiniaceae), bacteria, and coral dwelling damselfish. We are interested in how different host/symbiont genotypic combinations influence the ecology and evolution of the symbiosis. My lab also investigates clonality of organisms. As part of this research area we are determining the ramifications of coral chimerism

Research in the Lindell lab focuses on understanding host-virus interactions and how they impact the population dynamics, diversity and genome evolution of host cells and the viruses that infect them. Our research focuses on the marine cyanobacteria, Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, abundant primary producers of global importance, and the viruses that infect them.

Marine sedimentological processes including sediment fluxes, transport, accumulation and geochemical interactions with the water column. Aquaculture, Biology & evolution, Cnidarian biology, Developmental biology, Ecology, Fish aquaculture, Invertebrate biology, Marine Biology.

Biology & evolution, Coral biology & ecology, Coral biomineralization &physiology, Coral fluorescence, Coral microbial ecology, Coral physiology, Coral reef ecology, Ecology, Marine Biology, Sea waves, fluid dynamics. My scientific interests are broad but ultimately linked to the ecology and evolution of reef-building corals, including: Species diversity and community structure; Life history strategies of corals and their associated fauna; Competitive networks and space partitioning; Effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances; Effects of oil pollution; Biologically active materials; Conservation ecology and management of coral reefs; Nature Reserves; Boring bivalves; Bioerosion; Mesophotic coral environments; Sex change; Bleaching; Diseases; Reef recovery and refugia from climate change.

Biogeochemistry, global climate change, three stable isotope systems as tracers of the biosphere and atmospheric/ocean interaction.

 My research at IUI is done by collaboration with Prof. Adi Torfstein. We study the isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen in the oceans (d18O(O2)). This composition in the deep ocean is enigmatic and we run particle respiration experiments in the field and lab aimed at estimating the extent of how much O2 consumption is taking place in large sinking particulate aggregates of “marine snow”. We will gain new insights on marine biogeochemical cycles and the global carbon cycle and the related climatic impacts.

Research interests: Coral physiology and ecology, biomineralization, using molecular and proteomic tools to understand coral calcification mechanism and how calcifying marine organisms respond physiologically and morphologically to changes in their environment.

Blue tech technologies –  sustainable mariculture, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), the scale up of aquaculture, in particular algae, to match agriculture, with the production of food/feed, bio-fuel and ecosystem services. Ecology of wetlands.

Adaptation of microorganisms to life at high salt concentrations, Physiology, biochemistry, and taxonomy of halophilic microorganisms, The microbial ecology of solar salterns ,The microbiology of the Dead Sea, Prokaryote taxonomy and nomenclature.

Comparative biomechanics and ecophysiology of locomotion in animals. He studies the  biomechanical, physiological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape the diversity of animal abilities to move (e.g. fly, swim jump) through their natural environment.

I am interested in various aspects of conservation science. This includes both biology of organisms of conservation concern but importantly also includes people’s intricate interactions with nature – how they affect it, and are affected and interact with it. In my work I analyze data on various organisms across systems at scales ranging local to global. This is done using approaches from macroecology, spatial ecology, conservation planning, conservation culturomics, and iEcology.

Studies in my laboratory aim at elucidation of the molecular mechanisms that underlie cyanobacterial stress responses. Currently we focus on cyanobacterial biofilm development with emphasis on regulation of formation of these consortia and their ecological and industrial relevance.

 Sensory ecology is the primary focus of the lab, examining what information is available to (mostly) marine animals and how they make use of this information. In doing so we collaborate in studying the physical processes governing the production and propagation of signals (mostly light and sound), their reception, the type of information extracted, and how animals utilize this information. Additionally, we examine ecological principles in applied coral reefs restoration projects, where we test our knowledge by actually building the reef of desire.

Our research group studies transport phenomena in complex, mostly porous, environments. The laboratory, field, and theoretical studies include applications of volume averaging theories, the development of mean flow models, an analysis of solute and particle dispersion, and topics in soil physics, hydrology and biogeochemical processes in streambeds and soils. We use PIV and PLIF in the lab and in the field including a new underwater PIV system for coral reef flow research.

Our research is in the general field of low temperature geochemistry of sedimentary rocks, with paleoceanography and continental paleoclimate being at the focus of our attention. The main objective is to understand and quantify past global changes that have occurred in the oceans and the continents on different time scales.

Ecotoxicology, ascidians as biological indicators of marine environments.  Marine bioinvasion, regenerative biology, and ecology and taxonomy of ascidians.Our research is focused in two main topics: 1) biodiversity of the class Ascidiacea; 2) marine bioinvasions and the use of ascidians as bio-indicators for marine pollution (e.g., plastic, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals). ​Ascidians are a key ecological group because of their invasive potential and ability to thrive in eutrophic (nutrient-rich) environments. The proximity of the Red Sea coral reef environment and the Israeli Mediterranean rocky shore, together with the opening of the Suez Canal, presents unique opportunities for studying marine bioinvasion along the coasts of Israel, and to explore the great potential of ascidians as bio-indicators of marine environments.

Marine chemical ecology: chemically mediated interactions between marine bacteria and phytoplankton, cnidarians toxins and venoms.

Marine biogeochemistry, ocean acidification, coral reef metabolism, coastal water and sediment quality, biogeochemical modelling.

In my lab we study microbial functions in the ocean’s water column and in host-associated aquatic symbiotic systems. Specifically, we are interested in two main research directions: (i) adaptations of free-living bacteria to oligotrophic conditions, (ii) mechanisms of microbial interactions with marine eukaryotic hosts.

Marine imaging and computer vision, novel instruments for in situ ocean research.

Biomineralization is the study of the manner in which organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates, produce and use mineralized hard tissues. Biomineralization research integrates concepts and methods from many other fields.

Biogeochemistry, Biology & evolution, Biomechanics, Coral reef ecology, Ecology, Geochemistry, Marine Biology, Marine microbiology, Microbial ecology, oceanography, Sponges, marine microbiology

Cellular physiology of central neurons. Subthreshold oscillations, resonance frequencies and rhythm generation in mammalian central nervous systems.

My interest in animals began as a child, when I kept unfortunate flies in vials for no obvious reasons. Degrees in Biology, Zoology and Parasitology followed. My main research focus is on behavioral ecology of insects, insect-microorganism interactions, and whenever I get around to them- sea cucumbers. The latter are immensely important in marine eco-systems, and not studied enough.