Email: ziv.zemah.shamir@gmail.com; zzemah@staff.haifa.ac.il
Mobile Tel.: +972-52-9431158
Dr. Ziv Zemah-Shamir
Behavior and conservation of marine animals (laboratory under establishment)
Research Fellow at Morris Kahn Marine Research station, Marine Biology Department
Ziv holds a B.Sc. degree in Biology, a M.A. in Environmental and Natural Resources Management, Ph.D. in Marine Biology at Morris Kahn Marine Research Station, Marine Biology Department, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel, and Post-doctorate student at Morris Kahn Marine Research station. Ziv served at the Israeli Navy (IDF) many years as a diver and a field commander officer for many years. In between services taught few years in Mevo’ot yam – high school at the Aquaculture and the Marine Environmental Science department and served both as a teacher and educator on life sciences, marine sciences, and more. In addition to training, supervision and examination of school final thesis, biotopes, and ecotypes. Since 2016 Ziv is a research fellow at Morris Kahn Marine Research Station at Sdot-Yam.
- BS.c – Biology, and a teaching certificate by the ministry of education for science in secondary school The University of Haifa, Faculty of Natural Sciences at Oranim, Israel (1996-2000).
- M.A – Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Haifa, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (2000-2002).
- Ph.D – Marine Biology, University of Haifa, Israel (2016-2020).
His main interest is in top predators due to their important role as bioindicators on the health of the marine environment. Sharks are positioned at the top of the ocean’s food web and regulate marine populations by remove sick and weak fish and increasing biodiversity. His research focuses on various biological and behavioral aspects of marine animals, in particular sharks, guitar fish and marine mammals. He is currently investigating the long-term impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors on distribution, abundance, and movement patterns of aquatic animals (mostly sharks, dolphins, and other top predators in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea).
To conduct this research, he applies active and passive monitoring acoustic telemetry, drone, and diving surveys. This allows him to identify the relevant ecological and anthropogenic functions connecting communities and the ecosystems and to focus on characterizing the main pathways and the relevant fields’ research, upon which he started assessing the effect of cumulative human pressures on functional connectivity. Subsequently, this impact will help contribute to the better management of the multidimensional complexity of our marine ecosystems.
Over the past 4 years, he has been investigating top-predators movement, distribution and behavior under climate change, ocean acidification and human-wildlife conflicts. As part of his research, he is in constant contact with the Municipality of Hadera, Nature Parks Authority and Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as policymakers and Ashdod marine culture farm as stakeholder, in order to develop ecosystem-based management. Especially about the top predator of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
- Zemah-Shamir, Z., Mourier, J., Ilany, A., Bigal, E., Scheinin, A., & Tchernov, D. (2022). Preliminary insights of a mixed-species shark aggregation: a case study of two carcharhinids from the Mediterranean Sea. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 1-12.
- Zemah-Shamir, Z., Zemah-Shamir, S., Scheinin, A., Tchernov, D., Lazebnik, T., & Gal, G. (2022). A Systematic Review of the Behavioural Changes and Physiological Adjustments of Elasmobranchs and Teleost’s to Ocean Acidification with a Focus on Sharks. Fishes, 7(2), 56.
- Morick, D., Davidovich, N., Zemah-Shamir, Z., Bigal, E., Rokney, A., Rov, M., … & Scheinin, A. (2022). First Isolation and Characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae From a Stranded Wild Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis). Frontiers in Marine Science.
- Zemah-Shamir, S., Zemah-Shamir, Z., Tchetchik, A., Haim, A., Tchernov, D., & Israel, Á. (2021). Cultivating marine macroalgae in CO2-enriched seawater: A bio-economic approach. Aquaculture, 737042. [IF= 4.242, fisheries Q1, marine & freshwater biology Q1]
- Zemah Shamir, Z., Zemah Shamir, S., Becker, N., Scheinin, A., & Tchernov, D. (2019). Evidence of the impacts of emerging shark tourism in the Mediterranean. Ocean & Coastal Management, 178, 104847. [IF=3.284; Q1 oceanography, Q2 water resource]
- Zemah Samir, Z., Zemah Shamir, S., Tchernov, D., Scheinin, A., & Becker, N. (2019). Shark aggregation and tourism: Opportunities and challenges of an emerging phenomenon. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol., 1-9. [IF= 3.716; Q2 Ecology]
- Becker, N., Shamir, S.Z. and Zemah-Shamir, Z., A travel cost model to estimate positive and negative impacts of shark watching tourism along the israeli coastline.
- Alexandri, T., Diamant, R., Shamir, Z.Z., Bigal, E., Scheinin, A. and Tchernov, D., 2019. Localization of acoustically tagged marine animals in under-ranked conditions. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. [IF=5.577; Q1 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Q1 TELECOMMUNICATIONS]
- Zemah Shamir Ziv. (2020). Sharks in Hadera – research milestones, discoveries, and a glimpse into the future, Israel Nature and Parks Authority, https://www.parks.org.il/en/article/sharks/
Ph.D. Dissertation
The human–wildlife conflict as a global challenge: anthropogenic factors affecting shark behavior and physiology. Winter aggregation of sharks at Hadera as a case study
Morris Kahn Marine Research Station, marine biology dep. Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
Supervisor: Prof. Dan Tchernov, Dr. Aviad Scheinin
M.A. Dissertation
Seasonal growth enhancements of Ulva rigida (Chlorophyta) and Gracilaria conferta (Rhodophyta) in CO2 -enriched seawater – an economic – biological model.
University of Haifa, Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Management
Supervisors: Prof. Avraham Haim, Dr. Alvaro Israel, Dr. Neomi Zeitouni