Dr. Nadav Shashar
Marine Biological Laboratory
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Nshashar@mbl.edu

My overall interest lies with the concept of Umwelt, meaning the way the world is perceived by an animal. What are the cues sensed by the organism? How are they sensed and how are they analyzed or perceived? What information do they carry? What advantage does a specific design of a sensory system provide to its carrier? The other face of these very same questions is how can several, often closely related, species occupy the same physical area without being in direct competition with each other? How do differences in environmental conditions and sensory inputs bring a divergence in life styles and development in these species? Being interested in these questions, I started my research by describing some of the environmental conditions to which sessile marine animals are exposed. These studied included describing hydromechanic boundary layers (diffusive, momentum and benthic), over coral reefs. Then, I moved to the field of sensory ecology, and worked on questions related to the visual systems of marine animals.

A primary topic of my research is that of polarized light vision. While most humans are insensitive to the polarization of light, numerous animals are and use this sensitivity for navigation, finding prey and possibly predators, and for communication. In the current mission I will be responsible for examining the distribution of partially linearly polarized light in the water at different times of the day, and at varying depths and orientation. We will also examine the polarization patterns coming from fish and other animals. I will also coordinate the effort to identify a spectral signature for stressed, partly bleached, corals.

Nadav Shashar- Curriculum Vitae

Contact me at:
The Interuniversity Inst. of Eilat
P.O. Box 469
Eilat, 88103
Israel
Phone: (972)-7-6360111
Fax: (972)-7-6374329

• 1985-1988- B.Sc. in biology. Tel Aviv University, Israel
  
• 1988-1991- M.Sc. in zoology (marine biology)- Tel Aviv University, Israel
  Mentors: Dr. Yossi Loya & Dr. Yehuda Cohen
  Thesis title: Nitrogen fixation in stony corals
  
• 1991-1997- Ph.D. in biology. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA.
  Mentor: Dr. Thomas W. Cornin.
  Thesis title: Polarization vision in marine invertebrates
  
• 1997-1999 Postdoctoral fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
  
• 1999- present Assistant professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the H. Steinitz Interuniversity Institute, Eilat, Israel; and adjunct researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole.
  

Publications:

• Marshall J., T.W. Cronin, N. Shashar, and M. Land. 1999. Behavioural evidence for polarisation vision in stomatopods reveals a potential channel for communication. Current Biol. 9:755-758
• Shashar N., F.I. Hárosi, A.T. Banaszak, and R.T. Hanlon. 1998. UV radiation blocking compounds in the rye of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. Biol. Bull. 195: 187-188.
  
• Hanley J.S., N.Shashar, R. Smolowitz, R.A. Bullis, W.N. Mebane, H.R. Gabr, and R.T. Hanlon. 1998. Modified laboratory culture techniques for the European cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. Biol. Bull. 195: 223-225
  
• Shashar N., R.T. Hanlon and A. deM. Petz. 1998. Polarization vision helps detect transparent prey. Nature 393(6682):222-223
  
• Shashar N,. T.W. Cronin, L.B. Wolff and M.A. Condon. 1998. The polarization of light in a tropical rain forest. Biotropica. 30(2):275-285.
  
• Shashar N. and R.T. Hanlon. 1997. Squids (Loligo pealei and Euprymna scolopes) can exhibit polarized light patterns produced by their skin. Biol. Bull. 193:207-208.
  
• Hanlon R.T., M.R. Maxwell, and N. Shashar. 1997. Behavioral dynamics that would lead to multiple paternity within egg capsules in the squid Loligo pealei. Biol. Bull. 193:212-214.
  
• Shashar N., A.T. Banaszak, M.P. Lesser and D. Amrami. 1997. Coral endolithic algae- life in a protected environment. Pacific Sci. 51(2):174-182.
  Shashar N., P.S. Rutledge and T.W. Cronin. 1996. Polarization vision in cuttlefish- a concealed communication channel? J. Exp. Biol. 199(9):2077-2084.
• Shashar N., and T.W. Cronin. 1996. Polarization contrast vision in octopus. J. Exp. Biol. 199(4):999-1004.
  
• Shashar N., S. Kinane, P.L. Jokiel and M.R. Patterson. 1996. Hydromechanical boundary layers over a coral reef. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 199(1):17-28.
  
• Shashar N., T.W. Cronin, G. Johnson and L. Wolff. 1995. Portable imaging polarized light analyzer. Proc. 9th meet. on Optical Eng. in Israel. SPIE 2426:28-35.
  
• Cronin T.W., N. Shashar, and L. Wolff. 1994. Portable imaging polarimeters. IEEE proc. 12th IAPR Int. Conf. Patteren Recognition. 606-609.
  
• Cronin T.W., N.J. Marshall, R.L. Caldwell and N. Shashar. 1994. Specialization of retinal function in the compound eyes of mantis shrimps. Vision Res. 34(20):2639-2656.
  
• Shashar N., Y. Cohen, Y. Loya and T. Feldestain. 1994. Nitrogen fixation on a coral reef. Coral Reefs. 13:171-174.
  
• Shashar N., Y. Cohen, Y. Loya and N. Sar. 1994. Nitrogen fixation in stony corals: evidence for coral-microbial interactions. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 111(3):259-264.
  
• Rinkevich B., N. Shashar and T. Liberman. 1994. Nontransitiv exenogeneic interactions between four common Red Sea sessile invertebrates. Proc. 7th Inter. Coral Reef symposium. (2):833-839.
  
• Shashar N., Y. Cohen and Y. Loya. 1993. Extreme diurnal fluctuations of oxygen in the diffusive boundary layers surrounding stony corals. Biol. Bull. 185:455-461.
  
• Shashar N. and N. Stambler. 1992. Endolithic algae within corals- life in an extreme environment. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 163:277-286.