Plant chemical composition is a trait gaining increasing importance in plant ecology. However, there is limited research on the patterns and drivers of its variation among different plant functional groups and bioclimatic regions. We conducted an analysis of ionomes utilising X-ray fluorescence on 83 plant species from four distinct functional groups (grasses, legumes, forbs and woody species); we marked plots across 15 sites located in both the desert and Mediterranean bioclimatic regions. The primary factors influencing variations in ionomes are predominantly attributed to bioclimatic factors rather than soil composition. Across all functional groups, plants from the Mediterranean region are characterised by greater association with calcium, whereas desert plants exhibit a higher affinity for strontium (Sr), suggesting its potential role in drought tolerance. Among functional groups, grasses uniquely exhibit distinct ionomic features, primarily due to their higher silicon (Si) concentrations. Plant species' affinities for certain elements and their interactions are likely driven by physiological constraints, whereas variations within a functional group are mostly driven by environmental conditions. We conclude that interactions among elements form physiological phenotypes shaped by natural selection under large-scale environmental variability, making plant ionome composition an important plant functional trait.

Students in peripheral areas often score lower in the sciences than those in urban areas. This study explores the feasibility of distance learning in making quality science education accessible everywhere. In 2016, the Israeli government established technological infrastructure in southern peripheral schools, but these resources remained largely unused. From 2018 to 2019, we interviewed school principals and education department directors, and surveyed teachers and students about distance learning. The findings showed hesitance among educators to implement distance learning for expanding science subjects, despite their confidence in using it when necessary. After the mandatory shift to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, attitudes towards technology in remote schools improved. Barriers to implementing distance learning were found to be mainly due to internal factors like preconceived notions, which limited the development of necessary skills among teachers and students. We recommend addressing internal resistance to distance learning in teacher training programs.

This study investigates the impact of crude oil contamination on the fungal community dynamics in the Evrona Nature Reserve, situated in Israel’s hyper-arid Arava Valley. The reserve experienced petroleum-hydrocarbon-spill pollution at two neighboring sites in 1975 and 2014. The initial contamination was left untreated, providing a unique opportunity to compare its effects to those of the second contamination event. In 2022, soil samples were collected from both contaminated areas and nearby clean (control) sites, 47 and 7 years after the spills. The taxonomic diversity of fungal community and functional guilds, as well as various properties of the soil, were analyzed. We focused on three functional groups within fungal communities: saprotrophs, symbiotrophs, and pathotrophs. The results revealed a significant decrease in number of fungal species in the contaminated samples over time. Consequently, prolonged effect of crude oil-contaminated soils can facilitate the development of a distinct fungal community, which has adapted to the conditions of oil contamination. This study aims to elucidate the dynamics of fungal communities in oil-contaminated soils, contributing to a better understanding of their behavior and adaptation in such environments.

The hyperarid environment poses significant challenges to local vegetation. The main limiting factors are water scarcity and inconsistent precipitation regimes. Nevertheless, perennials flourish in hyperarid stream channels, predominantly acacia trees, which require significant amounts of water. This study seeks to reveal the mechanism that provides acacias with adequate water. Although the pulse–reserve model can explain how desert flora survives, hyperarid environments are much more complicated. Accordingly, direct rainfall is insufficient to sustain local perennials, which rely on runoff for their water source. The hyperarid Gvanim basin in southern Israel is a small watershed that supports many perennials, including a thriving population of acacia trees. High-resolution hydrological monitoring, including rain, evaporation, soil water content and flash flood discharge, along with surveys of lithology and acacia populations, allowed us to calculate the water balance for the basin and quantify the components of the pulse-reserve system. The results indicate that unique geological settings can retain runoff water from a single significant flash flood that is sufficient to sustain perennials even during drought years. We propose a modified pulse–reserve mechanism that provides water to large acacia trees during the hot dry summer in hyperarid areas.

Ecotypic differentiation, reflected in substantial trait differences across populations, has been observed in various plant species distributed across aridity gradients. Nevertheless, ecotypic differentiation in leaf silicon concentration, known to alleviate drought stress in plants, remained hardly explored. Here, we provide a systematic test for ecotypic differentiation in leaf silicon concentration along two aridity gradients in the grass Brachypodium hybridum in Israel. Seed material was sampled in 15 sites along a macroclimatic aridity gradient (89 – 926 mm mean annual rainfall) and from corresponding north (moister) and south (more arid) exposed slopes (microclimatic gradient) at similar altitudes (mean north: 381 m a.s.l., mean south: 385 m a.s.l.). Plants were subsequently grown under common conditions and their leaf silicon concentration was analysed. Leaf silicon concentration increased with increasing aridity across the macroclimatic gradient, but did not differ between north and south slopes. The higher leaf silicon concentrations under more arid conditions can enhance the ability of plants to cope with more arid conditions by two mutually not exclusive mechanisms: (i) withstanding drought by reducing water loss and increasing water uptake or (ii) escaping drought by facilitating fast growth. Our study highlights that leaf silicon concentration contributes to ecotypic differentiation in annual grasses along macroclimatic aridity gradients.

Seagrasses native to the Mediterranean Sea are anticipated to be adversely affected by climate warming, while the invasive tropical seagrass species Halophila stipulacea is projected to proliferate and alter the region's underwater seascape. Despite the significant implications of this transition, it is surprisingly rare to include H. stipulacea in long-term monitoring programs across the Mediterranean. In July 2023, we conducted a follow-up study at a seagrass meadow in Limassol, Cyprus, which in 2017 was home to two native seagrass species, Cymodocea nodosa and Posidonia oceanica, alongside the invasive H. stipulacea. We assessed the seagrass cover of all present species and examined the characteristics of the H. stipulacea meadow, comparing our findings with data from 2017. Our results indicated a total loss of both native seagrass species, while H. stipulacea nearly doubled its coverage and exhibited substantial increases in shoot density, as well as above- and below-ground biomasses. Although our study is limited in scope, it supports earlier predictions regarding the anticipated transformations in the eastern Mediterranean's underwater landscape. This study highlights the urgent need to incorporate H. stipulacea into long-term seagrass monitoring efforts in the Mediterranean.

This study investigates the diet of copper miners at Naḥal ‘Amram (southern Negev Desert), through the examination of the well-preserved remains of plants, mammal and fish bones, dating to the Roman-Byzantine periods (1st–5th centuries CE), recovered during excavations undertaken in three different localities at this mining complex.

Our analyses revealed that the miners enjoyed a varied and nutritious diet, comprising nine species of fruits and vegetables, alongside meat from two domestic animal taxa and representatives of eight different families of fish. While the fish and animal foods were brought to the mines from the Red Sea and neighboring regions, the vegetal food originated from a variety of different sources, some nearby, others quite distant.

We suggest that since copper was traded from Naḥal ‘Amram, the foods arrived at the mines via the same trade routes, from settlements along the ‘Arabah, and these foodstuffs were likely bartered in exchange for copper. The results imply that the people engaged in copper mining were likely a local desert population, Nabataeans, supplementing their food needs from external sources and so enjoying improved nutritional status.

Beyond its findings, the importance of this study lies in the combination of several disciplines, a methodology which can be useful for future research and provide a more reliable understanding of reconstructing the ancient diet.

Due to ongoing ocean warming, subtropical environments are becoming accessible to tropical species. Among these environments are the vermetid reefs of the Southeastern Mediterranean (SEM). In the last decades, these valuable coastal habitats witnessed the proliferation of numerous alien species of tropical origin. Among the meiofauna thriving on these reefs are benthic foraminifera, single cell marine organisms that make a significant contribution to global carbonate production. It has been widely recognized that benthic foraminifera, among other invasive species, thrive in the macroalgal cover, and it has been suggested that their populations are becoming a significant new source of sediment substrate. Here, we report on the first systematic assessment of the population size of the benthic foraminifera, allowing a comparison with data from the native tropical habitat of these species. Our study is based on a seasonal sampling of benthic foraminifera from confined sampling areas at four sites along the vermetid reef platforms of the Israeli SEM coast. Our survey reveals a patchy distribution of each species with peak population densities exceeding 100,000 specimens per m², making the SEM a hotspot of benthic foraminifera, with population densities comparable to tropical coral reef environments. The assemblages of the SEM hotspot are dominated by cosmopolitan foraminiferal taxa and tropical invaders from the Indo-Pacific (e.g., Amphistegina lobifera, Pararotalia calcariformata, soritids, and Hauerina diversa). In contrast to foraminiferal hotspots in the tropics, which are completely dominated by larger symbiont-bearing taxa, the SEM hotspot stands out due to high abundances of non-symbiont-bearing species Textularia agglutinans and small miliolids. An intriguing observation is the significant heterogeneity in composition and density of foraminiferal assemblages between the vermetid reefs' southern and northern areas (Israel), indicating that the productivity of the dominant species are also modulated by local yet unknown environmental factors.

Biofouling is the main challenge in the operation of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs). Biofouling strongly depends on temperature; therefore, we hypothesize that the interactions and viscoelastic properties of soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) vary with temperature, consequently influencing membrane permeability. This study compares the performance of an AnMBR operated at a similar permeate flux at two temperatures. The transmembrane pressure (TMP) rose rapidly after 5 ± 2 days at 25 °C but only after 18 ± 2 days at 35 °C, although the reactor's biological performance was similar at both temperatures, in terms of the efficiency of dissolved organic carbon removal and biogas composition, which were obtained by changing the hydraulic retention time. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), a higher biofilm amount was detected at 25 °C than at 35 °C, while quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) showed a more adhesive, but less viscous and elastic EPS layer. In situ optical coherence tomography (OCT) of an ultra-filtration membrane, fed with the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) at the two temperatures, revealed that while a higher rate of TMP increase was obtained at 25 °C, the attachment of biomass from MLSS was markedly less. Increased EPS adhesion to the membrane can accelerate TMP increase during the operation of both the AnMBR and the OCT filtration cell. EPS's reduced viscoelasticity at 25 °C suggests reduced floc integrity and possible increased EPS penetration into the membrane pores. Analysis of the structures of the microbial communities constituting the AnMBR flocs and membrane biofilms reveals temperature's effects on microbial richness, diversity, and abundance, which likely influence the observed EPS properties and consequent AnMBR fouling.

Cymodocea nodosa is a temperate seagrass that grows in shallow and sheltered waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Although it is found in both the western and eastern basins, it was thought to be absent from the extremely warm and salty waters along the Israeli coastline, the most eastern part of the Mediterranean. We conducted methodical, seasonal, towed-diver surveys along the Mediterranean coast of Israel, recording position, depth, presence/absence of C. nodosa, seabed characteristics, and habitat complexity. We used general additive models (GAMs) to understand how the combination of depth, latitude (space), and season (time), explained the distribution of local meadows. We then compared the habitat affinity of these Israeli meadows with other sites in the Eastern Mediterranean by conducting a systematic literature review and using Species Distribution Models (SDMs). Underwater surveys unveiled the extensive distribution of C. nodosa over a narrow depth range of 8-21m (with peak occurrence at 14m) in exposed habitats. These locations are distinct from other Eastern Mediterranean populations, in which C. nodosa is found in shallower and sheltered habitats. SDMs confirmed the increase in the geographical range also reflects an increase in realized niche breadth into higher values of temperatures, salinity, and current velocity. Considering that the eastern tip of the Mediterranean is a climate change hotspot, finding C. nodosa populations surviving these harsh conditions holds implications for seagrass conservation and restoration in the entire Mediterranean. However, the low density of observed meadows suggests that these populations require careful monitoring to prevent local extirpation.