“My name is Shahar Chaikin, and I am a direct-Ph.D. candidate in Tel-Aviv University, Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Zoology in professor’s Jonathan Belmaker lab.”

I study the impact of climate change on marine species depth distributions in the Mediterranean Sea.

 Earth’s climate is warming at unprecedented rates, and evidence for species that track climate and migrate to cooler regions is increasing. However, in the oceans, the water temperature decreases with depth, and theoretically, species can deepen to track their preferred temperature and avoid adverse climate effects. Nevertheless, studies about the impact of climate change on species distribution and abundance are limited.

My dissertation’s overarching goal is to elucidate the patterns of marine species depth change in the face of climate change and biological invasions. I recently published a paper regarding the research mentioned above:

Chaikin, S., Dubiner, S., & Belmaker, J. (2021). Cold‐water species deepen to escape warm water temperatures. Global Ecology and Biogeography.

I also delt in a small scale study the describes the phenology of batoids in the Gdor marine protected area:

Chaikin, S., Belmaker, J., & Barash, A. (2020). Coastal breeding aggregations of threatened stingrays and guitarfish in the Levant. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 30(6), 1160-1171.”

Received Award An Encouragement Of Mediterranean Sea Research Scholarship To Students Holding Advanced Degrees, Year A 5771