Prof. Sharoni Shafir

  • Ph.D. 1995, Stanford University
  • Professor

Research Areas

  • Animal Cognition
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Pollination Ecology

Teaching:

  • Entomology Lab
  • Honey Bee Biology
  • Behavioral Ecology of Pollination

Research Interests:

  • Decision-making processes in honey bees
  • Cognitive ecology of pollination
  • Crop pollination

Personal Site 

B. Triwaks Bee Research Center

The Benjamin Triwaks Bee Research Center provides a framework for research on the biology of the honey bee, and on bees as pollinators. Research at the Center focuses on studying the decision-making processes of bees from a multidisciplinary perspective, combining tools and ideas from behavioral ecology, cognitive psychology and economics. The Center also maintains collaborations with the apicultural and pollination communities, and seeks to implement research techniques and findings into solving problems in these fields. The Center supports undergraduate courses in bee biology and in apiculture, and is home to several graduate students, postdocs and technicians.

 

Research Projects

The effect of fatty acid nutrition on learning and memory

Lab Members: Yael Katz, Tania Masci

Photo credit: Tania Masci
 

 

Preferences of honey bees and decisions that they make when they are pollinating two morphs of the same flower

Lab Members: Tal Erez

Photo credit: Tal Erez
 

 

Nutritional balancing by honey bees and bumblebees

Lab Members: Dr. Harmen P. Hendriksma, Shlomi Zarchin, Karmi Oxman

Illustration by Karmi Oxman
 

 

Molecular mechanisms of honey bee diseases

Lab Members: Yael Garbian

 

 

 

Assessing honey bee dances

 

Lab Members: Yael Garbian, Karmi Oxman

 

 

Apis florea surveillance and pheromone baiting in Eilat

Lab Members: Dr. Harmen P. Hendriksma, Karmi Oxman

 

 

 

 

Facilities

Proboscis Extension Response (PER) Equipment

We have a robot that automates the PER process: it can rotate through 24 bees, present them with an odor, reward, or punishment, and photograph the proboscis extension response. See (Shafir, 2008) that describes this instrument. We also have a semi-automatic PER station.

 

Honey Extraction Room

We extract our own excellent honey twice a year!

 

Flight Room

This is a room in which bees are allowed to fly freely within a controlled environment. Temperature, humidity, and light cycles can be regulated.

 

Observation Room

A lab room with windows is attached to a large tent for free-flying bees. Experiments in the observation room may involve temperature controlled observation hives inside the lab, while bees are allowed to exit the hive into a large, controlled foraging arena.

 

Outdoor Tent Houses

Medium sized tents allow hives to be fed a controlled diet while still providing them with space to fly and natural weather conditions.

 

Apiary

We keep many hives in the experimental and educational apiary located at our lab, as well as on the farm of the Faculty of Agriculture.

 

Observation Hives

 

Composter

We proudly recycle the organic waste from our lab! We plan to use the resulting soil to grow flowers for the bees in our nectarivorous garden.

 

Electroantennograph

Measures the electric output of the antenna to the brain in response to an odor.

 

Instrumental Insemination of Honey Bee Queens

This apparatus is used to artificially inseminate queens. This method can be used to ensure insemination by specific drones, and to create known crosses between strains of honey bees.

photo credit: Sue Cobey

 

Olfactometer

This instrument is used to produce odors in a precise and controlled environment. Bees are presented with pheromones or other odors in an arena that allows observation of their behavior.

 

Spectrophotometer

We use this instrument to measure the intensity of light reflected from the surface of flower petals.

 

Microscopes

We have binocular and dissecting microscopes that connect to a camera to take photos such as those shown on our "Research" page.

 

Our Truck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History

History of the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center

Benjamin Triwaks was born in 1924 in Warsaw, Poland, and immigrated to Palestine with his parents in 1926. He graduated from Kadoorie Agricultural School, where he specialized in beekeeping. Triwaks joined the Haganah underground movement and later volunteered for the Jewish Brigade Group in the British Army during World War II. After the War he engaged in practical beekeeping. In 1947 Triwaks joined the Israel Defense Forces and fell in battle in Tantura on May 23, 1948.

In 1976 the Triwaks family of Israel established a Bee Research Center at the Hebrew University, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, in Rehovot, in memory of the late 1st Lt. Benjamin Triwaks.

The Triwaks Bee Research Center was inaugurated on May 11, 1976, by Mr. Avraham Harman, the President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Prof. Itzhak Harpaz, the Dean of the Faculty, and the Triwaks Family. The Bee Research Laboratory that was located until then in the Department of Entomology, moved into new premises that included a spacious and well-equipped laboratory, an experimental apiary, and other facilities.

Prof. Yaakov Lensky was the director of The Center from 1976 until 1997. Prof. Lensky's research focused on biology of honeybees, apiculture and crop pollination. Prof. Sharoni Shafir has been the director of the The Center since 1998.

 

Lab Members

 Current Members

Prof. Sharoni Shafir

Sharoni has been the director of the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center since 1998. He advocates a multidisciplinary approach to promoting bee health and bee pollination services. He is especially interested in bee nutrition and bee cognition, specifically aspects of perception and decision making that relate to foraging and pollination. He has a BA and PhD from Stanford University, an MS from University of Florida, and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Ohio State University.

alla kuper

Alla Kuper
Lab Manager and Beekeeper

Alla holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Environmental studies from Tel Aviv University. Her passion for sustainability and nature is evident in her professional work and personal life. She has a great interest in animals, with a special fascination for bees and their unique behavioral patterns as a group. In her free time, she enjoys bouldering, taking care of her house plants and spending quality time with her dog Pucha. 

alla.kuper@mail.huji.ac.il
allak@savion.huji.ac.il

danny.jpg

Dr. Danny Minahan
Postdoctoral Fellow 

Danny has been a postdoctoral researcher at the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center since 2019. He received his BA from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation work examined the link between pollen foraging patterns and resource preferences by honey bees and bumble bees, to identify the potential for competition and resource partitioning. As pollen is a primary source of nutrition for bees, he has expanded on this work during his postdoc studying the effects of unbalanced nutrition, specifically that of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids on the behavior of honey bees and bumble bees. Danny applies modern barcoding and computer vision approaches to examine these processes at the level of individuals and colonies. In his free time, he enjoys long distance running and spending quality time with his dog Rupee.

dannyminahan@gmail.com

Meray Kadee

Ph.D. student

Meray is a Ph.D. candidate in the Agroecology and Plant Health program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He joined the lab as a research assistant in early 2017, and subsequently completed his Master's degree, co-supervised by Prof. Oz Barazani, where he studied the effects of honey bee pollination on Eruca sativa. Currently, Meray's research focuses on understanding the effects of dietary essential fatty acids on honey bee cognition and brain characteristics, with the goal of promoting pollinator health and developing sustainable beekeeping practices.

meray.kadee@mail.huji.ac.il

 

ben-perez.jpg

Ben Perez
MS Student

Co-supervisor: Prof. Oz Barazani

Ben is an MSc student in the Agroecology & Plant Health program, conducting a research project on phenotypic differentiation in populations of Eruca sativa in Israel.

benp@volcani.agri.gov.il

erez r

Erez Rozenbaum
MS Student

Co-supervisor: Dr. Hadassa Daltrophe

Erez completed a bachelor's degree in Plant Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Immediately afterwards he continued his MS studies on honey bee spatial cognition. As part of his research, he became an excellent bee trainer. In his free time he likes to travel to faraway places.

erez.rozenbaum@mail.huji.ac.il

nitzan-ba.jpg

Nitzan Ben Arieh
MS Student

Co-supervisor: Dr. Zipora Tietel

Nitzan has a BA in Animal Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2022) and is now an MS student for Agroecology and Plant Health in the department of Entomology. Nitzan is checking the effects of different diets, in particular high vs low omega 6:3 ratio, on different aspects of the honey bee drones. In her free time she enjoys gardening and drawing.

nitzan.benarieh@mail.huji.ac.il

Zusana

Zuzana Sykorova

Internship Student

Zuzana is an internship student from Czechia. She received her bachelor's degree in the field of inorganic non-metallic materials at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. She is currently studying a master's program at the University of Life Sciences in Prague, where she deals with monitoring the honey bee as a biomonitor of the environment that was affected by the mining of brown coal during the communist regime, and this mining is still ongoing in many places in the Czech Republic.

 

Lab Alumni

Haim Kalev

Lab Manager and Beekeeper

Haim has a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been a technician and beekeeper at the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center since 1997. Haim is very involved in education and collaboration with the international community of beekeepers. He has led many courses in subjects such as beekeeping for beginners, modern apiculture management (honey by-products and pollination), commercial beekeeping, and artificial insemination of queens. His courses take place all over the world, including Eritrea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Rwanda, and El Salvador.

haimk@savion.huji.ac.il 
chagit_kanot

Chagit Kanot

MS student

Co-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag

chagit.kanot@mail.huji.ac.il

moran levanon

Moran Levanon

DVM student

Moran is an advanced veterinary medicine student, conducting a research project on the effect of honey bee nutrition on worker and royal jelly composition.

moran.levanon@mail.huji.ac.il

maya goren

Maya Goren

DVM student

Maya is an advanced veterinary medicine student, conducting research on the effect of honey bee workers nutrition on their tending behavior of queen and worker larvae.

maya.goren2@mail.huji.ac.il

jeremy_harayef

Jérémie Heraief

Undergraduate student research assistant

jeremie.heraief@gmail.com

 

Yael  Arien

Ph.D. Student

Co-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag

Yael has a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and continued for a direct PhD program. She studies the importance of essential fatty acids in honey bee nutrition for their development, survival, and learning and memory. Yael uses methods such as proboscis extension response (PER) conditioning and electroantennogram (EAG) recordings.

yael.catz@mail.huji.ac.il

shiran_wasker

Shiran Wasker

Undergraduate student research assistant

Dr. Raquel Teixeira de Sousa

Postdoctoral Fellow

Raquel has a Bsc in Applied Biology from the Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal) and a Msc in Toxicology and Ecotoxicology from the Universidade de Aveiro (Aveiro Portugal). It was her first beekeeping endeavors in Portugal that led her to pursue a PhD in honey bee nutrition and feeding behaviour. In 2013, she enrolled a PhD Program (GABBA, Universidade do Porto, Portugal) that paved the opportunity to engage her research in Wright’s Lab in Newcastle University (UK). Her PhD research was on behavioural regulation and feeding preferences of mineral salts in adult worker honey bees. Raquel has recently started her first post-doc position (2018) to follow up her previous research in a joint collaboration between Wright’s Lab and Shafir’s Lab in the HUJI (Rehovot, Israel).

Dr. Sofia Bouchebti

Postdoctoral Fellow

Sofia investigates how ratios of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and fatty acids) affect various measures of performance in honey bees (such as survival, learning, and memory), and whether bees are able to balance their intake of nutrients as a function of different social parameters. During her PhD in the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, she has studied the foraging behavior of the leaf-cutting ant Atta laevigata, both in laboratory (in France) and in the field (in Brazil).

Rui Goncalves

Research Associate

Rui has a BSc in Applied Biology from the Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal) and a Joint European MSc in Environmental Studies (JEMES) between Portugal, Spain, Denmark and Germany. His MSc research focused on the development of a low-cost MFC (micro fuel cell) reactor using exoelectrogenic bacteria in the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) between 2009-2011. Soon after in Northern Portugal, he was introduced to beekeeping, co-founded a beekeeping association and a beekeeping company and ever since, Rui has been a devoted beekeeper without borders. In 2016, Rui conducted a market research in bee nutrition and beekeeping practices across the globe as an ICURE fellow. He joined Shafir’s Lab in Rehovot as part of a joint collaboration with the Wright’s lab (Newcastle University – UK) to improve bee nutrition.

Ira Treidel

Research Associate

Ira is a passionate beekeeper, right-hand man of Haim. He has a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he joined the laboratory four years ago. In addition to his beekeeping work, he is involved in many different research experiments.

Dr. Harmen P. Hendriksma

Former Postdoctoral Fellow

Harmen is a devoted beekeeper and researcher. He studied ecosystem biology at the University of Wageningen, in Holand. Thereafter, he was a professional beekeeper for 4 years until he started his PhD in Bayreuth and Wuerzburg in Germany. His PhD research was on honey bee risk assessment with transgenic maize. Harmen was a postdoc in the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center from 2012 – 2015, working on the nutritional balancing done by honey bees.

Tal Erez

Co-supervisor: Dr. Oz Barazani

MS Thesis: The role of flower morph in Eruca sativa (Brassicaceae) populations in attracting honey bees (Apis mellifera)

tal.erez2@mail.huji.ac.il

Dr. Yael Garbian

Co-supervisor: Prof. Ilan Sela

PhD Thesis: Horizontal Transfer of RNA sequences between honey bee, Varroa destructor, and IAPV.

garbiland@gmail.com

Tania Masci

Former Laboratory Technician

masci2008@gmail.com

Reut Nyska

Co-supervisor: Dr. Doron Schneider

Thesis: The gametophytic self-incompatibility system in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) and the foraging behavior of honey bees

reutnyska@gmail.com

Karmi Oxman

Co-supervisor: Prof. Ofer Feinerman

MS Thesis: Reliability and the waggle dance: Honest honey bees dance more and attract more followers than dishonest bees

Dr. Amir Raz

Co-supervisor: Prof. Martin Goldway and Dr. Raffi Stern

PhD Thesis: Pollination in apricots (Prunus armeniaca): honey bee foraging behavior and genetic aspects of the fertilisation mechanism

amirr@migal.org.il

Shlomi Zarchin

Co-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag

Shlomi's M.Sc. thesis was on the ability of honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers to discriminate between pollens according to their fatty acid composition

shlomi.zarchin@mail.huji.ac.il

Nadav Ezra

Nadav's M.Sc. thesis tested the subjective evaluation by honey bees of nectar secondary compounds and their fitness consequences. Specifically, he tested the effect on colony fitness of various components of avocado nectar, which is known to be unattractive to bees. In addition, he assessed the subjective evaluation of honey bees of caffeine in nectar, through analyses of their round dances.

ndvezra@gmail.com

Dr. Dorit Avni

Co-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag

PhD Thesis: The effect of pollen protein content and fatty acid composition on honey bee (Apis mellifera) nutrition

avni1dorit@gmail.com

Dr. Gal Sapir

Co-supervisor: Prof. Martin Goldway

PhD Thesis: Gametophytic self incompatibility in Japanese plum (Prunus salicina) – Investigation of the system and its horticultural impact

gals@migal.org.il

Anat Haya Zisovich

M.Sc. Thesis: Study of pollination and fertilization factors influencing yield in the Israeli pear orchard

Dr. Mor Salomon-Botner

Former Postdoctoral Fellow:

Honey bee discrimination between omega-3 and omega-6 volatiles of fatty acids

mor.slmn@gmail.com

Dr. Roy Kaspi

Former Postdoctoral Fellow:

Associative olfactory learning of the red dwarf honey bee, Apis florea

roy.kaspi@gmail.com

Nitzan Paldi

M.Sc. Thesis: Using “scent genes” to enhance honey bee-assisted cross-pollination between cross-fertilizing cultivars, to produce hybrid seed

Alon Bilu

M.Sc. Thesis: Use of honey bees to disseminate Trichodex (Trichoderma harziatum T39) to strawberry for the control of gray mold (Botrytis cinerea)

Yeshurun Plesser

M.Sc. Thesis: Factors that affect the attraction of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) to the cotton plant (Gossypium spp.)

yplesser@biobee.com

Lia Vaknin-Yehonatan

M.Sc. Thesis: Comparative evaluations of reward dimensions in honey bees: evidence from two-alternative forced choice proboscis-extension conditioning

liaguy@hotmail.com

Sharon Golan

M.Sc. Thesis: Risk-sensitivity in delay to reward in the honey bee (Apis mellifera)

Tamar Drezner-Levi

M.Sc. Thesis: Evaluation of reward distribution by honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers collecting nectar, pollen and water

tamarlevy2@gmail.com

Dr. Gil Menda

M.Sc. Thesis: An experimental study of choice behavior of honey bees in response to variability in reward magnitude using a proboscis extension response (PER) paradigm.

gm234@cornell.edu

Dr. Ohad Afik

M.Sc. Thesis: The effect of ambient temperature on the crop loading behavior of honey bees (Apis mellifera)

PhD Thesis: Factors influcencing the attraction of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to avocado (Persea americana) flowers

ohad.afik@mail.huji.ac.il

Dr. Arnon Dag

Former Postdoctoral Fellow:

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) strains differ in avocado (Persea americana) nectar foraging preferences

arnondag@volcani.agri.gov.il

Daniel Menchem

Former undergraduate student working in the lab.

Dan Eliahu

Former undergraduate student working in the lab.

Dror Friedman

Former undergraduate student working in the lab.

 

Publications

Publications in refereed journals:

Please send an email to sharoni.shafir@mail.huji.ac.il if you would like a reprint

Hendriksma, H. P. ; Toth, A. L. ; Shafir, S. Individual and Colony Level Foraging Decisions of Bumble Bees and Honey Bees in Relation to Balancing of Nutrient Needs. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 2019, 7 177.

Maori, E. ; Garbian, Y. ; Kunik, V. ; Mozes-Koch, R. ; Malka, O. ; Kalev, H. ; Sabath, N. ; Sela, I. ; Shafir, S. A Transmissible RNA Pathway in Honey Bees. Cell Rep 2019, 27, 1949-1959.e6. Abstract

Topman, S., D. Tamir-Ariel, H. Bochnic-Tamir, T. Stern, S. Shafir, S. Burdman, and Z. Hayouka. 2018. Random peptide mixtures as new crop protection agents. Microbial Biotechnology. In press.

Wright, G.A., S.W. Nicolson and S. Shafir. 2018. Nutritional physiology and ecology of honey bees. Annual Review of Entomology 63: 327-344.

Sapir G, Z. Baras, G. Azmon, M. Goldway, S. Shafir, A. Allouche, E. Stern, RA Stern. 2017. Synergistic effects between bumblebees and honey bees in apple orchards increase cross pollination, seed number and fruit size. Scientia Horticulturae 219:107-117. doi: 10.1016/j.scienta.2017.03.010.

Zarchin, S. ; Dag, A. ; Salomon, M. ; Hendriksma, H. P. ; Shafir, S. Honey bees dance faster for pollen that complements colony essential fatty acid deficiency. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2017, 71, 172.

Hendriksma HP and S. Shafir. 2016. Honey bee foragers balance colony nutritional deficiencies. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 70: 509-517

Arien Y., A. Dag, S. Zarchin, T. Masci and S. Shafir. 2015. Omega-3 deficiency impairs honey bee learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 112: 15761-15766

Nyska R., S. Shafir, M. Goldway and D. Schneider. 2014. Effect of enhanced pollination on economic properties of self-compatible loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.). Scientia Horticulturae 176: 248-254

Raz, A., R.A. Stern, S. Shafir, M. Goldway. 2014. Reduced yields of 'Earlicot' apricot (Prunus armeniaca) grown in a relatively hot climate and methods to improve flowering intensity and yield. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 89: 495-500

Avni, D., H.P. Hendriksma, Z. Uni, A. Dag and S. Shafir. 2014. Nutritional aspects of honey bee-collected pollen and constraints on colony development in the eastern Mediterranean. Journal of Insect Physiology 69: 65-73

Hendriksma H.P., K. Oxman and S. Shafir 2014. Amino acid and carbohydrate tradeoffs by honey bee nectar foragers and their implications for plant-pollinator interactions. Journal of Insect Physiology 69: 56-64

Afik O, Delaplane KS, Shafir S, Moo-Valle H, Quezada-Euan JJ, 2014. Nectar minerals as regulators of flower visitation in stingless bees and nectar hoarding wasps. Journal of Chemical Ecology 40:476-483. doi: 10.1007/s10886-014-0455-8.

Shafir S. and L. Yehonatan. 2013. Comparative evaluations of reward dimensions in honey bees – evidence from 2-alternative forced choice proboscis-extension conditioning. Animal Cognition 17:633-644. doi: 10.1007/s10071-013-0694-z.

Nyska R., A. Raz, Z. Baras, S. Shafir, M. Goldway and D. Schneider. 2013. Self-compatibility in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is due to S6-RNase mutation. Scientia Horticulturae 161: 43-48.

Fleischer A., S. Shafir, and Y. Mandelik. 2013. A proactive approach for assessing alternative management programs for an invasive alien pollinator species. Ecological Economics 88: 126-132.

Vanbergen A.J., and the Insect Pollinators Initiative: M. Baude, J.C. Biesmeijer, N.F. Britton, M.J.F. Brown, M. Brown, J. Bryden, G.E. Budge, J.C. Bull, C. Carvell, A.J. Challinor, C.N. Connolly, D.J. Evans, E.J. Feil, M.P. Garratt, M.K. Greco, M.S. Heard, V.A.A. Jansen, M.J. Keeling, W.E. Kunin, G.C. Marris, J. Memmott, J.T. Murray, S.W. Nicolson, J.L. Osborne, R.J. Paxton, C.W.W. Pirk, C. Polce, S.G. Potts, N.K. Priest, N.E. Raine, S. Roberts, E.V. Ryabov, S. Shafir, M.D.F. Shirley, S.J. Simpson, P.C. Stevenson, G.N. Stone, M. Termansen, and G.A. Wright. 2013. Threats to an ecosystem service: pressures on pollinators. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11: 251-259.

Garbian, Y., E. Maori, H. Kalev, S. Shafir and I. Sela. 2012. Bidirectional transfer of RNAi between honey bee and Varroa destructor: Varroa gene silencing reduces Varroa population. PLOS Pathogens 8 (12): e1003035.

Moyal Ben Zvi, M., E. Shklarman, T. Masci, H. Kalev, T. Debener, S. Shafir, M. Ovadis and A. Vainstein. 2012. PAP1 transcription factor enhances production of phenylpropanoid and terpenoid scent compounds in rose flowers. New Phytologist 195: 335-345.

Kaspi, R. and S. Shafir. 2012. Associative olfactory learning of the red dwarf honey bee Apis florea. Apidologie 44: 100-109.

Afik, O., A. Dag, Y. Yeselson, A. Schaffer and S. Shafir. 2010. Selection and breeding of honey bees for higher or lower collection of Avocado nectar. Journal of Economic Entomology 103: 228-233.

Shafir, S. and A.B. Barron. 2010. Optic flow informs distance but not profitability for honeybees. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 277: 1241-1245.

Afik, O., T. Hallel, A. Dag and S. Shafir. 2009. The components that determine honey bee (Apis mellifera) preference between Israeli unifloral honeys and the implication for nectar attractiveness. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 57: 253-261.

Avni, D., A. Dag and S. Shafir. 2009. Pollen sources for honey bees in Israel: Source, periods of shortage and influence on population growth. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 57: 263-275.

Shafir, S., L. Kabanoff, M. Duncan and B. P. Oldroyd. 2009. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) sperm competition in vitro – two are no less viable than one. Apidologie 40: 556-561.

Drezner-Levy, T., B. H. Smith and S. Shafir. 2009. The effect of foraging specialization on various learning tasks in the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 64: 135-148.

Maori, E., N. Paldi, S. Shafir, H. Kalev, E. Tsur, E. Glick, and I. Sela. 2009. IAPV, a bee-affecting virus associated with colony collapse disorder can be silenced by dsRNA ingestion. Insect Molecular Biology 18: 55-60.

Avni, D., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2009. The effect of surface area of pollen patties fed to honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies on their consumption, brood production and honey yields. Journal of Apicultural Research 48: 23-28.

Sapir, G., R.A. Stern, S. Shafir, and M. Goldway. 2008. S-RNase based S-genotyping of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) and its implication on the assortment of cultivar-couples in the orchard. Scientia Horticulturae 118: 8-13.

Sapir, G., R.A. Stern, S. Shafir, and M. Goldway. 2008. Full compatibility is superior to semi-compatibility for fruit set in Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) cultivars. Scientia Horticulturae 116: 394-398.

Shafir S., T. Reich, E. Tsur, I. Erev and A. Lotem. 2008. Perceptual accuracy and conflicting effects of certainty on risk-taking behaviour. Nature 453: 917-920.

Afik, O., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2008. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) round dance is influenced by trace elements composition of floral nectar. Animal Behaviour. 75: 371-377.

Sapir, G., R.A. Stern, S. Shafir, and M. Goldway. 2007. SFBs of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina): cloning seven alleles and determining their linkage to the S-RNase gene. HortScience 42: 1509-1512.

Stern, R.A., G. Sapir, S. Shafir, A. Dag, and M. Goldway. 2007. The appropriate management of honey bee colonies for pollination of Rosaceae fruit trees in warm climates. Middle Eastern and Russian Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology. 1: 13-19.

Sapir, G., M. Goldway, S. Shafir, and R.A. Stern. 2007. Multiple introduction of honey bee colonies increases cross-pollination, fruit-set and yield of ‘Black-

Diamond’ Japanese plum (Prunus salicina L.). Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology. 82: 590-596.

Drezner-Levy, T. and S. Shafir. 2007. Parameters of variable reward distributions that affect risk sensitivity of honey bees. Journal of Experimental Biology. 210: 269-277.

Afik, O., and S. Shafir. 2007. Effect of ambient temperature on crop loading in the honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomologia Generalis. 29: 135-148.

Afik, O., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2007. Perception of avocado bloom (Lauraceae: Persea americana) by the honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis mellifera). Entomologia Generalis. 30: 135-153.

Shafir, S., A. Dag, A. Bilu, M. Abu-Toamy, and Y. Elad. 2006. Honey bee dispersal of the biocontrol agent Trichoderma harzianum T39: effectiveness in suppressing Botrytis cinerea on strawberry under field conditions. European Journal of Plant Pathology. 116: 119-128.

Afik, O., A. Dag, Z. Kerem, and S. Shafir. 2006. Analyses of avocado (Persea americana) nectar properties and their perception by honey bees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Chemical Ecology. 32: 1949-1963.

Afik, O., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2006. The effect of avocado (Persea americana) nectar composition on its attractiveness to honey bees. Apidologie. 37: 317-325.

Dag, A., O. Afik, Yeselson, Y., Schaffer, A., and S. Shafir. 2006. Physical, chemical and palynological characterization of avocado (Persea Americana Mill.) honey in Israel. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 41: 387-394.

Carter, C., S. Shafir, L. Yehonatan, R. G. Palmer, and R. Thornburg. 2006. A novel role for proline in plant floral nectars. Naturwissenschaften. 93: 72-79.

Zisovich, A. H., R. A. Stern, S. Shafir, and M. Goldway. 2005. Fertilization efficiency of semi- and fully-compatible European pear (Pyrus communis) cultivars. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology. 80: 143-146.

Dag A., R. A. Stern, S. Shafir. 2005. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) strains differ in apple (Malus domestica) pollen foraging preference. Journal of Apicultural Research 44: 15-20.

Zisovich, A. H., R. A. Stern, G. Sapir, S. Shafir, and M. Goldway. 2004. The RHV region of S-Rnase in the European pear (Pyrus communis) is not required for the determination of specific pollen rejection. Sexual Plant Reproduction 17: 151-156.

Shafir, S., G. Menda and B.H. Smith. 2005. Caste-specific differences in risk-sensitivity in honey bees (Apis mellifera). Animal Behaviour 69: 859-868.

Shalit, M., S. Shafir, O. Larkov, E. Bar, D. Kaslassi, Z. Adam, D. Zamir, A. Vainstein, D. Weiss, U. Ravid and E. Lewinsohn. 2004. Volatile compounds emitted by rose cultivars: Fragrance perception by man and honeybees. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 52: 245-255.

Stern, R.A., M. Goldway, A. H. Zisovich, S. Shafir and A. Dag. 2004. Sequential introduction of honeybee colonies increases cross-pollination, fruit-set and yield of ‘Spadona’ pear (Pyrus communis L.). Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 79: 652-658.

Freeman, S., D. Minz, I. Kolesnik, O. Barbul, A. Zveibill, M. Maymon, Y. Nitzani, B. Kirshner, D. Rav-David, A. Bilu, A. Dag, S. Shafir, and Y. Elad. 2004. Trichoderma biocontrol of Colletotrichum acutatum and Botrytis cinerea in strawberry, population survival, and identification of biocontrol isolates according to ITS sequence analysis. European Journal of Plant Pathology 110: 361-370.

Bilu, A., A. Dag, Y. Elad, and S. Shafir. 2004. Honey bee dispersal of biocontrol agents: an evaluation of dispensing devices. Biocontrol Science and Technology 14: 607-617.

Zisovich, A. H., R. A. Stern, S. Shafir, and M. Goldway (PI). 2004. Identification of seven S-alleles from the European pear (Pyrus communis) and the determination of compatibility among cultivars. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 79: 101-106.

Weber, E. U., S. Shafir, and A.R. Blais. 2004. Predicting risk sensitivity in humans and lower animals: risk as variance or coefficient of variation. Psychological Review 111: 430-445.

Paldi, N., S. Zilber, and S. Shafir. 2003. Associative olfactory learning of honeybees to differential rewards in proboscis-extension and free-flying behavioral assays. Journal of Chemical Ecology 29: 2515-2538.

London-Shafir, I., S. Shafir, and D. Eisikowitch. 2003. Amygdalin in almond nectar and pollen –facts and possible roles. Plant Systematics and Evolution 238: 87-95.

Shafir, S., A. Bechar, and E. U. Weber. 2003. Cognition-mediated coevolution – context-dependent evaluations and sensitivity of pollinators to variability in nectar rewards. Plant Systematics and Evolution 238: 195-209.

Dag, A., A.E. Fetscher, O. Afik, Y. Yeselson, A.A. Schaffer, Y. Kamer, N.M. Waser, M.A. Madore, M.L. Arpaia, R. Hofshi, and S. Shafir. 2003. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) strains differ in avocado (Persea americana) nectar foraging preferences. Apidologie 34: 299-309.

Kalev, H., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2002. Feeding pollen supplements to honey bee colonies during pollination of sweet pepper in enclosures. American Bee Journal 142: 675-679.

Dvash, L, O. Afik, S. Shafir, A. Schaffer, Y. Yeselson, A. Dag, and S. Landau. 2002. Determination by near-infrared spectroscopy of perseitol used as a marker for the botanical origin of Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) honey. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 50: 5283-5287.

Lavid, N., J. Wang, M. Shalit, I. Guterman, E. Bar, T. Beuerle, N. Menda, S. Shafir, D. Zamir, Z. Adam, A. Vainstein, D. Weiss, E. Pichersky, and E. Levinsohn. 2002. O-Methyltransferases involved in the biosynthesis of volatile phenolic derivatives in rose petals. Plant Physiology. 129: 1899-1907.

Shafir, S., T.A. Waite, and B.H. Smith. 2002. Context-dependent violations of rational choice in honeybees (Apis mellifera) and gray jays. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 51: 180-187.

Shafir, S. 2000. Risk-sensitive foraging: the effect of relative variability. Oikos 89: 663-669.

Shafir, S., D.D. Wiegmann, B.H. Smith, and L.A. Real. 1999. Risk-sensitive foraging: choice behaviour of honeybees in response to variability in volume of reward. Animal Behaviour 57: 1055-1061.

Shafir, S. and J. Roughgarden. 1998. Testing predictions of foraging theory for a sit-and-wait forager, Anolis gingivinus. Behavioral Ecology 9 (1): 74-84.

Shafir, S. 1996. Color discrimination conditioning of a wasp, Polybia occidentalis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Biotropica 28 (2): 243-251.

Shafir, S. 1994. Intransitivity of preferences in honey bees -- support for comparative evaluation of foraging options. Animal Behaviour 48: 55-67.

Shafir, S. and J. Roughgarden. 1994. Instrumental discrimination conditioning of Anolis cristatellus in the field with food as a reward. Caribbean Journal of Science 30 (3-4): 228-233.

Wetterer, J., S. Shafir, L. Morrison, K. Lips, G. Gilbert, M. Cipollini, and C. Blaney. 1992. On- and off-trail orientation in the leaf-cutting ant, Atta cephalotes (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 65: 96-98.

McClanahan T.R. and S. Shafir. 1990. Causes and consequences of sea urchin abundance and diversity in Kenyan coral reef lagoons. Oecologia 83: 362-370.

Chapters in collections:

Shafir, S. 2011. Bee cognition and crop pollination: proven and potential applications. In: Seckbach J. and Z. Dubinsky, eds., All flesh is grass: plant-animal interactions. pp. 185-198.

Shafir, S. and A. Dag. 2008. Honey. In: Reifen R., and G. Rozen, eds., The intelligence of nutrition (In Hebrew). pp. 392-395.

Shafir, S. and O. Afik. 2000. The effect of ambient temperature on crop load size in honey bees. In: Sommeijer, M. and A. de Ruijter, eds., Insect Pollination in Greenhouses, CIP-DATA Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag. pp. 155-164.

Shafir, S. and J. Roughgarden. 1996. The effect of memory length on individual fitness in a lizard. In R.K. Belew and M. Mitchell, eds., Adapting Individuals in Evolving Populations: Models and Algorithms, (Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity), Addison Wesley, Reading, MA. pp. 173-182.

Shafir, S. 1996. Preface to Peter Todd's “Sexual selection and the evolution of learning”. In R.K. Belew and M. Mitchell, eds., Adapting Individuals in Evolving Populations: Models and Algorithms, (Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity), Addison Wesley, Reading, MA. pp. 361-364.

Roughgarden, J., A. Bergman, S. Shafir and C. Taylor. 1996. Adaptive Computation in Ecology and Evolution: A Guide for Future Research. In R.K. Belew and M. Mitchell, eds., Adapting Individuals in Evolving Populations: Models and Algorithms, (Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity), Addison Wesley, Reading, MA. pp. 25-30.

Shafir, S. and J. Roughgarden . 1994. The effect of memory length on the foraging behavior of a lizard. In D. Cliff, P. Husbands, J-A Meyer and S.W. Wilson, eds., From Animals to Animats 3 – Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 221-225.

Nectarivorous Garden

On Tu B'Shevat, January 16, 2014, the campus celebrated the holiday for the trees by planting a garden with plants that are visited by pollinators. Plants were chosen for their attractiveness to bees and their low water requirement, as recommended by Sima Kagan (see recommended bee-plants on her website). This ecological garden will not be treated with chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and is naturally mulched with leaves. It will be a teaching garden, for students from various disciplines, who will monitor pollinator activity, soil quality, insects and micro-organisms. It is located to the right of the main gate on Herzl Street, behind the External Studies building in the direction of our lab.

 

Come take a look!

 

Before...

 

After!

Photos from March 10th, 2014 (Almost 2 months after planting)
Photos from June 9th, 2014 (5 months after planting)

 

Photos from the planting event down below: