The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
Prof. (emeritus) Amatzia Genin is a marine ecologist and biological oceanographer. His major interest is in the coupling between physical and biological processes in the marine environment, focusing on the effects of water motion on fundamental ecological processes, including predator-prey relationships, competition, symbiosis, mass transfer, and behavior. Research at his lab is process-oriented and inter-disciplinary, addressing mechanisms that operate at levels ranging from the individual to the ecosystem. Most of Amatzia’s studies are based on field experiments involving advanced technologies and novel approaches.
Amatzia completed his BSc (1977) and MSc (1981) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and his PhD (1987) at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UC San Diego, USA. He has been a faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a resident researcher at the IUI since 1987, and from 2001 to 2018 a Consulting Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at Stanford University, USA. His publication record includes papers in 1st tier journals, such as Science, Nature, and PNAS as well as in leading marine and ecological journals such as L&O, JEB, and MEPS.
In 2003 Amatzia initiated the Israel National Monitoring Program of the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba, a key national and international program in which he served as the scientific director for two decades. In 2012 Amatzia started a 6 yrs term as the scientific director of the IUI, contributing substantially to the institute’s academic path and its infrastructure. During his career, Amatzia has collaborated with leading international researchers and institutes, including Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Stanford University (USA), Dalhousie University (Canada), University of Queensland (Australia), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST, Japan), and the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (Germany).
Following his retirement in 2021, Prof. Genin happily continues with active research in the coral reef and in the laboratory and continues to supervise graduate students at the IUI and elsewhere.
Research Topics for Master’s and Doctoral Theses
1. Effect of physical factors (currents, light) and biological conditions (prey type and density) on in situ predation of plankton by corals and fish assessed using advanced optical technologies.
2. How do fish strike and intercept their drifting prey (zooplankton), given frequent changes in current velocity and turbulence?
3. The uniqueness of the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba and the Red Sea: what novel (unforeseen) insights can be gained by long-term time-series of key environmental factors in the Red Sea?
4. What are the adaptive benefits of depth keeping in zooplankton?