Scientific staff

Collections-wide support team:

Dr. Revital Ben-David Zaslow – Chief Collections Manager
Yonatan Gur – Collections Database Manager

Terrestrial vertebrates section

Curators
Prof. Shai Meiri, Section Leader – Reptiles, mammals, and birds
Prof. Tamar Dayan – Mammals
Prof. Eli Geffen – Mammals, reptiles, and amphibians
Dr. Karin Tamar – Mammals, reptiles and amphibians
Prof. Yossi Yovel – Bats
Dr. Eran Levin – Bats
Prof. (emeritus) Yoram Yom-Tov – Birds and mammals (Curator emeritus)

Associate Curator
Dr. Roi Dor – Terrestrial Vertebrates

Collection managers
Dr. Amos Belmaker – Birds
Daniel Berkowic – Birds (eggs and nests)
Avigail Ben-Dov Segal – Birds (The Feather Lab Manager)

Taxidermy
Igor Gavrilov – Chief Taxidermist
Dr. Stanislav Volynchik – Taxidermist and Preparator

Volunteers
Arieh Landsman
Moshe Geizler
Mira Ideles
Avraham (Rami) Biran
David Kobilar
Matan Hayun

Aquatic and marine section

Curators
Prof. Jonathan Belmaker, Section Leader – Fishes
Prof. Roi Holzman – Fishes
Dr. Frida Ben-Ami – Mollusks
Prof. Noa Shenkar – Ascidians
Dr. Omri Bronstein – Echinoderms
Prof. Micha Ilan – Sponges
Dr. Stanislav Pen-Mouratov – Nematodes
Dr. Zafrir Kuplik – Coelenterates
Prof. Menachem Goren – Fishes (Curator emeritus)
Prof. (emeritus) Yehuda Benayahu – Soft corals (Curator emeritus)
Prof. Bella Galil – Crustaceans (Curator emerita)

Associate Curator
Dr. Nir Stern – Fishes (IOLR)

Collection managers
Dr. Sigal Shefer – Sponges
Henk Mienis – Mollusks
Oz Rittner – Mollusks
Dr. Noga Sokolover – Bryozoans and Echinodermata
Dr. Liron Goren – Ringed worms
Dr. Ya’arit Levitt Barmats – Crustaceans
Dr. Bat-Sheva Rothman – Fishes
Dr. Irit Zohar – fish skeletons
Dr. Revital Ben-David Zaslow – Corals and special projects
Lion Novak – Ascidians

Volunteers
Ronit Vilker Alhadef
Nathan Sharon
Moti Ginter

Entomology section

Curators
Prof. Netta Dorchin, Section Leader – Chief curator of Entomology, Flies
Dr. Sergei Zonstein – Spiders
Dr. Gal Ribak – Beetles
Dr. Gideon (Gidi) Pisanty – Parasitoid wasps
Prof. (emeritus) Abraham Hefetz – Bees (Curator emeritus)
Dr. Dany Simon – Mantids, roaches, lacewings (Curator emeritus)
Prof. Vladimir Chikatunov – Beetles (Curator emeritus)

Associate curators
Dr. Yael Mandelik – Bees (the Hebrew University)
Dr. David Furth – small orders (the United States National Museum of Natural History)
Dr. Inon Scharf – Lacewings

Collection managers
Dr. Zoya Yefremova – Parasitoid wasps
Dr. Moshe Guershon – Grasshoppers, katydids, crickets
Dr. Wolf Kuslitzky – Parasitoid wasps
Dr. Armin Ionescu-Hirsch – Wasps and ants
Dr. Tatyana (Tania) Novoselsky – Heteroptera
Ariel-Leib-Leonid (Laibale) Friedman – Beetles
Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Morgulis – Flies
Dr. Mike Mostovski – Flies
Dr. Malkie Spodek – Aphids, whiteflies, scale insects, jumping lice, cicadas
Oz Rittner – Butterflies and moths
Ofir Tomer – Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Dr Zohar Yanai – Aquatic insects

Volunteers
Dr. Avi Keysary
Tirza Stern
Dr. Binyamin Shalmon
Amir Weinstein
Nizan Bibas

Herbarium section

Curator
Dr. Yuval Sapir, Section Leader

Associate curator
Dr. Jotham Ziffer Berger

Collection managers
Dr. Razy Hoffman – Herbaria of marine and freshwater plants, Cyanobacteria and aquatic parasitic fungi
Dr. Jotham Ziffer Berger – Land plant herbarium
Yonatan Gur – Fungi
Bruria Gal – Fungi
Yarden Kirshenbaum – Technical Assistant

Volunteers
Miri Lazar
Yacov Ashani

Paleobiology section

Curators
Dr. Dafna Langgut, Section Leader – Archaeobotany
Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen – Archaeozoology
Dr. Meirav Meiri – Archeobiology (Ancient DNA)
Dr. Yuri Katz – Invertebrate Palaeontology
Dr. Olga Orlov-Labkovsky – Micropaleontology

Associate Curators
Prof. Sigal Abramovich – Paleontology (Ben-Gurion University)
Prof. Miriam Belmaker – Archaeozoology (University of Tulsa, Oklahoma)

Collections manager
Dr. Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer – Palaeontology and Archaeomalacology

Molecular systematics and tissue collection

Curator
Prof. Dorothee Huchon

Collection manager
Dr. Tamar Feldstein-Farkash

The Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research

Prof. (emeritus) Israel Hershkovitz – Curator and Head of Center
Dr Hilla May – Curator
Dr Rachel Sarig – Curator
Prof. (emeritus) Yoel Rak – Curator Emeritus
Prof. (emeritus) Baruch Arensburg – Curator Emeritus

Technical assistants
Yulia Makoviychuk
Elinor Levi
liron Chavoinik
Inessa Efraimov

Administrative manager
Einat Kedar

Applied research centers

The Israel National Center for Aquatic Ecology

Dr. Yaron Hershkovitz — Director
Tuvia Eshcoly — Lab manager and ecology
Avital Katz — Aquatic collection database manager, ecology and website
Naomi Gordon — Administration and ecology
Etai Kahana — Taxonomy (Dipterans) and ecology, mapping (GIS)
Almog Hershko — Taxonomy (Mollusks) and ecology
Nili Segman — Taxonomy (Odonates) and ecology
Adi Weiss — Taxonomy (Caddisflies) and ecology

The Entomological Laboratory for Applied Ecology

Ittai Renan — Head of Lab
Gilad Ben Zvi — Lab Director
Dr. Orr Comay – Coordinator of the National Red List Assessment Project for Invertebrates
Dr. Udi Segev
Adi Ramot
Sharon Asis
Yael Miara
Ahikam Gera

HaMaarag — Israel’s Nature Assessment Program

Ittai Renan — Director
Maya Amir — Administrative manager
Dr. Rael Horowitz — Terrestrial biodiversity monitoring program coordinator
Michal Koren — GIS and cartography coordinator
Dr. Ron Chen — Quantitative ecologist
Itay Namir — Mammals activity research (Master’s degree)
Noam Ben Moshe – The State Of Nature Report Editor
Shira Salingre – Projects Ecologist
Dr. Orr Comay –  Data Ecologist
Ido Livne – Remote sensing coordinator
Zohar Afek –  M.Sc Student for Rare Butterflies research

The Open Landscapes Institute

Uri Ramon — Director
Aviv Avisar — Head of the Research Unit
Dr Liron Amdur — Researcher
Noa Zanzuri — Administrative Manager
Evgeni Hemlin — Head of GIS
Dar Ben-Natan – Botanist
Dr. Amir Perelberg — Head of Survey Unit
Eitan Romem — Survey Manager
Bar Shemesh — Survey Manager
Miryam Ron — Head of Botanical Research
Amit Mendelson — Survey Manager
Idan Talmon — Survey Manager
Hila Gil — Hotspots Research Coordinator
Liraz Cabra-Leykin — Survey Manager
Nadav Sade — Assimilation and Social visibility
Einat Gera — Survey Coordinator
Dvora Low Ramati – Nature and Landscape Survey Coordinator
Lavi Coren – Survey and Research Coordinator
Dana Genosar – Research Coordinator

Science and Policy Section

Dr. Ronit Justo-Hanani – Assistant Professor for Biodiversity Regulation and Policy

 

Museum Scientists

Museum scientists are Tel Aviv University faculty members who have a special relationship with the museum and contribute to its missions in research, conservation, and education.

Prof. Arnon Lotem, School of Zoology
Prof. Noga Kronfeld-Schor, School of Zoology
Prof. Amir Ayali, School of Zoology
Prof. David Eilam, School of Zoology
Dr. Ofir Levy, School of Zoology
Dr. Takuya Iwamura, School of Zoology
Dr. Orr Spiegel, School of Zoology
Prof. Avigdor Abelson, School of Zoology
Dr. Inon Scharf, School of Zoology
Prof. Marcelo Sternberg, School of Plant Sciences & Food Security
Prof. Lilach Hadany, School of Plant Sciences & Food Security
Prof. Itay Mayrose, School of Plant Sciences & Food Security
Prof. Israel Finkelstein, Department of Archeology and Near Eastern Studies
Dr. Joseph Hendler, Department of Art History
Prof. Eva Yablonka, Cohn Institute of Philosophy