Prof. Noa Shenkar

מחלקה לזואולוגיה סגל אקדמי בכיר

Phone: 03-6408655

Fax: 03-6407682

CV

1. Education


Period of study	Name of University	Subject	Degree	Date of Award
2003-2008	Tel-Aviv University	Zoology	Ph.D.	2008
2001-2003	Tel-Aviv University	Zoology- Program in Ecology & Environmental Quality	M.Sc. *Summa cum laude	2003
1998-2001	Tel-Aviv University	Biology	B.Sc.	2001

2. Academic and professional experience

October 2012-Current Senior Lecturer, Zoology Department, Tel-Aviv University

2011-2012 “VATAT” supported Research Fellow, National Collections of Natural History, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

2009-2011 Post-doctoral F ellow , Biology Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Topic: “ Molecular and Morphological Approaches to Ascidian Phylogeny and Systematics”. Advisor: Prof. Billie J Swalla

2008-2009 Post-doctoral fellow supported by “ VATAT ” , National Collections of Natural History, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

3. Research Grants

2012 : The European Commission Marie Curie Career Integration Grants (CIG)
2013 : The German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development Young Scientists’ Program
2014 : Yad-Hanadiv Ecosystem Services in Marine Environments: International Workshop Series.
2015 : ISF Equipment for young faculty
2015 : ISF Regular Research Program
2015 : BSF Young
2016 : Schulich Ocean Studies Centre Initiative

4. Prizes and awards

2014,2015 Amongst 100 excellent lecturers at Tel-Aviv University

2013 Caroline von Humboldt Prize for young female researchers €15,000

2008 Dan David Prize $10,000

Research Interests

The research in my laboratory is focused in two main topics:

On the taxonomic level: the class Ascidiacea (ascidians, sea-squirts), and
Marine bioinvasion.

Ascidians (Phylum: Chordata , Class: Ascidiacea ), or sea squirts, are the largest and most diverse class of the sub-phylum Tunicata (also known as Urochordata ). Recent phylogenomic studies place the tunicates as the sister group to the vertebrates , suggesting they are our closest relatives among the invertebrates and providing a fertile ground for evolutionary and developmental studies. During the past two decades enormous progress has been achieved in the fields of development, evolution, immunology, natural products and ecology of ascidians.

Ascidians are a key ecological group because of their invasive potential and ability to thrive in eutrophic (nutrient-rich) environments. Introductions of non-indigenous ascidians into harbors in both tropical and temperate waters are now commonplace, with the rate of introductions increasing and creating severe damage to natural fauna by overgrowth and alternation of the benthic community. T he 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. The geographic advantage provides a productive ground for understanding patterns of marine invasion in space and time, and developing novel theories for predicting future introductions. Such research is of significant importance in view of environmental change.

Recent Publications

Gewing M, Bronstein O, Raijman Nagar L, Granot I, Frid O, Shenkar N* (2016) First record of the non-indigenous ascidian Microcosmus exasperatus, Heller 1878, in Cyprus. Marine Biodiversity, available online doi 10.1007/s12526-015-0442-5

Koplovitz G, Shmuel Y, Shenkar N (2016) Floating docks in tropical environments- a reservoir for the opportunistic ascidian Herdmania momus. Managment of Biological Invasions Special issue Proceedings of the 5th International Invasive Sea Squirt Conference

Shenkar N, Koplovitz G, Dray L, Gissi C, Huchon D (2015) Solving the phylogenetic position of Diazonidae a molecular and developmental approach. Mol Phylo Evol. Under Review.

Raijman-Nagar L, Shenkar N (2015) Temperature and salinity sensitivity of the invasive ascidian Microcosmus exasperatus. Aquat Inv In Press

Raijman-Nagar L, Shenkar N (2015) From tropical to sub-tropical: Prolonged reproductive activity of the invasive ascidian Microcosmus exasperatus in the eastern Mediterranean. Submitted to Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Shenkar N, Gordon T (2015) Gut-spilling in chordates: Evisceration in the tropical ascidian Polycarpa mytiligera. Sci Rep doi:10.1038/srep09614

Koplovitz G, Hirose E, Hirose M, Shenkar N (2014) Being Green in the Red Sea - Ecology of the Photosymbiotic Ascidian Diplosoma simile (Ascidiacea: Didemnidae) in the Gulf of Aqaba. Syst Biodivers DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2014.978410

Levitt Y, De Grave S, Shenkar N (2014) First record of an invasive shrimp from the family Processidae (Crustacea, Decapoda) in the Mediterranean Sea. Medit Mar Sci 15: 650-653

Gewing M, Rhotman SBS, Raijman Nagar L, Shenkar N (2014) Early stages of establishment of the non-indigenous ascidian Herdmania momus (Savigny, 1816) in shallow and deep water environments on natural substrates in the Mediterranean Sea. BioInv Rec 3: 77-81

Rubinstein N, Feldstein T, Shenkar N, Botero Castro F, Griggio F, Mastrototaro F, Delsuc F, Douzery EJP, Gissi C, Huchon D (2013) Deep sequencing of mixed total DNA without barcodes allows efficient assembly of highly plastic ascidian mitochondrial genomes. Genome Biol Evol 5:1185-1199

Rubinstein N, Feldstein T, Shenkar N, Botero Castro F, Griggio F, Mastrototaro F, Delsuc F, Douzery EJP, Gissi C, Huchon D (2013) Sequencing of five Ascidian mitochondrial genomes using Illumina Technology and mixed total DNA without barcode. PLoS One, In Press

Shenkar N (2013) A new species of the genus Rhopalaea (Ascidiacea) from the Red Sea. Zootaxa,

3599 (1): 051–058

Appeltans et al. (+115 co-authors) (2012) Magnitude of global marine biodiversity: one third of sea creatures discovered. CurrBiol 22:1-14

Shenkar N (2012) Ascidian ( Chordata , Ascidiacea ) diversity in the Red Sea. Mar Biodiv doi 10.1007/s12526-012-0124-5

Rius M, Shenkar N (2012) Using Bayesian methods to unravel the phylogeography of an Indo-Pacific species in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar Pollut Bull http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.06.029

Shenkar N , Swalla BJS (2011) Global diversity of Ascidiacea. PLoS One, 6(6): e20657

Lambert G, Shenkar N, Swalla BJS (2010) First Pacific record of the north Atlantic ascidian Molgula citrina - bioinvasion or circumpolar distribution? Aquatic Inv 5:369-378

Shenkar N, Lambert G (2010) A new species of the genus Boltenia (Ascidiacea) from the Red Sea. Zootaxa 2391: 61–68

Shenkar N , Swalla BJS (2010) Molecular data confirms synonym in Roscovite molgulid ascidians. Cah Biol Mar 51:85-87

Tsagkogeorga G, Turon X, Hopcroft RR, Tilak M, Feldstein T, Shenkar N , Loya Y, Huchon D, Douzery E JP, Delsuc F (2009) An updated 18S rRNA phylogeny of tunicates based on mixture and secondary structure models. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9:187

Singh TR, Tsagkogeorga G, Delsuc F, Blanquart S, Shenkar N , Loya Y, Douzery E JP, Huchon D (2009) Tunicate mitogenomics and phylogenetics: peculiarities of the Herdmania momus mitochondrial genome and support for the new chordate phylogeny. BMC Genomics 10:534

Shenkar N, Loya Y (2009) Non-indigenous ascidians along the Mediterranean coast of Israel.

Mar Biodiver Rec 2:1-7

Shenkar N, Loya Y (2008) The solitary ascidian Herdmania momus : native (Red Sea) vs. non-indigenous (Mediterranean) populations. Biol Inv 10:1431-1439

Shenkar N, Bronstein O, Loya Y (2008) Population dynamics of a coral reef ascidian in a deteriorating environment. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 367:163-171

Shenkar N , Zeldman Y, Loya Y (2008) Ascidian recruitment patterns on an artificial reef in Eilat (Red Sea). Biofouling 24:119-128

Shenkar N , Monniot F (2006) A new species of the genus Botryllus (Ascidiacea) from the Red Sea. Zootaxa 1256:11-19

Shenkar N, Fine M, Kramarsky-Winter E, Loya Y (2005) Population dynamics of zooxanthellae during a bacterial bleaching event. Coral Reefs 25:223-227

Shenkar N, Fine M, Loya Y (2005) Size matters: bleaching dynamics of the coral Oculina patagonica . Mar Ecol Prog Ser 294:181-188

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

Shenkar N, Loya Y (2008) Ecology and systematics of the ascidian fauna in the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba). In “Aqaba-Eilat, the Improbable Gulf. Environment, Biodiversity and Preservation” Editor FD Por, Magnes, Jerusalem. pp 197-208