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The past year was a historical milestone in the Steinhardt Museum development, with the begin­ning of the move into the new building and opening our galleries to the general public. This process began decades ago, most formally with a science policy decision made by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1986, to consider our collections as National Collections, a National Museum of Natural History in the making. We have finalized Phase I of the Steinhardt Museum development and now face challenges of Phase II — the continuing development of our public programs and scientific and professional ca­pabilities, while strategically advancing the organizational and financial structure of the Stein­hardt Museum. The Steinhardt Museum comprises three major divisions. The Public Division was very active with finishing the exhibitions, developing an application and educational materials for museum visitors, and training guides, ushers and cashiers to work with the public. July and August saw a trial run with limited numbers of visitors and in September we opened the museum for all who purchased tickets on-line. The interest in the museum was gratifying, exceeding our most op­ti­mistic expectations, with the tickets sold out weeks ahead. Very positive responses were received from the public representing all sectors of the Israeli society; we feel privileged to share our trea­sures and knowledge with all. The Collections & Research Division has developed dramatically over the past few years — now comprising ca. 5.5 million specimens, over 40 expert collections managers, taxidermists and tech­nical assistants, 24 curators, 5 associate curators and a number of active curators emeriti. The Israel Taxonomy Initiative and the Aliya from the former USSR have contributed highly qua­lified museum professionals, in particular expert taxonomists, to this division, and the relevant aca­demic units have hired excellent young faculty members who serve as curators and develop collections-based research programs. Consequently, the rate of our collecting and the numbers of graduate students and international colleagues who use the collections for research have in­creased substantially. The staff members were entrusted with an arduous task of transferring the col­lections to the new museum building and reorganizing the collections in the storage facilities; they have been dealing with this admirably. Two special projects in the Collections & Research Division — the Israel Taxonomy Initiative and the Ancient DNA Program — continued to perform well, and the joint molecular systematics laboratory moved from cramped quarters to a spacious lab in the new museum building that would allow its development and use by all collections-based researchers. The Applied Policy-Relevant Research Division comprises three centers supported and co-ma­naged by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and KKL-JNF: The Israel National Center for Aquatic Ecology, the Open Landscape Institute (with part­nership also of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel) and HaMaarag – Israel National Nature Assessment Program. The experts working in these centers have added a new dimension to the research carried out in the museum, and we trust that the synergy between them and the Collections & Research Division of the museum will continue to add depth to the museum’s mission and activities. The Applied Policy-Relevant Research Division also comprises special projects and services provided by the museum to governmental and other agencies: The Entomology Lab for Applied Ecology, the Feather Identification Lab, Agricultural Biodiversity and Marine Biodiversity, which produce knowledge required to support important activities of the Plant Protection and Inspection Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, monitor and survey arthropods, monitor bird-strikes for the Airports Authority and the Israeli Air-Force, and do forensic work and monitor marine nature reserves for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. It was a very intensive, uneasy yet rewarding year, and we are privileged to have a dedicated hard-working team that meets challenges successfully and good-humoredly. We are also fortunate to have excellent colleagues in all relevant agencies and organizations who work with us, to attain the common goal of recording Israel’s biodiversity, studying it and sharing our knowledge and trea­sures with decision-makers and with the general public.

The relationships between parasites and their hosts are intimate, dynamic and complex; the evolution of one is inevitably linked to the other. Despite multiple origins of parasitism in the Cnidaria, only parasites belonging to the Myxozoa are characterized by a complex life cycle, alternating between fish and invertebrate hosts, as well as by exceptionally high species diversity. This inspired us to examine the history of reciprocal interactions and adaptive radiations in myxozoans and their hosts by determining the degree of congruence between their phylogenies and by timing the emergence of myxozoan lineages in relation to their hosts. Recent genomic analyses suggested a common origin of Polypodium hydriforme, a cnidarian parasite of acipenseriform fishes, and the Myxozoa, and proposed fish as original hosts for both sister lineages. We clearly demonstrate that the Myxozoa emerged long before fish populated Earth and that phylogenetic congruence with their invertebrate hosts is evident down to the most basal branches of the tree, indicating bryozoans and annelids as original hosts and challenging previous hypothesis. We provide evidence that, following invertebrate invasion, fish hosts were acquired multiple times, leading to parallel cospeciation patterns in all major phylogenetic lineages. We identify the acquisition of vertebrate hosts that facilitate alternative transmission and dispersion strategies as reason for the distinct success of the Myxozoa, and identify massive host specification-linked parasite diversification events. The results of this study transform our understanding of the origins and evolution of parasitism in the most basal metazoan parasites known. Trees for cophylogeny reconciliationHost and parasite trees (24) used for cophylogeny reconciliation and based on the alignments of 18S rDNA and 16S rRNA gene sequences deposited in the same dryad folder.trees for cophylogeny reconciliation.nexMolClock_alignmentAlignment of 6 concatenated protein-coding genes, i.e. aldolase (200 aa), triosephosphate isomerase (217 aa), phosphofructokinase (175 aa), methionine adenosyltransferase (348 aa), elongation factor 1 alpha (418 aa) and ATP synthase beta chain (430 aa), for molecular clock analysis of myxozoan and other metazoan taxa.18S rDNA aligment_myxozoans_in_vertebrate_hostsCut alignment of 18S rDNA sequences of 682 taxa of myxozoans from vertebrate hosts in fasta format18S_myxozoans_in_vertebrate_hosts.fasta18S rDNA_myxozoans_from_invertebrate_hostsCut alignment of 18S rDNA sequences of 124 taxa of myxozoans from invertebrate hosts in fasta format18S_myxozoans_from_invertebrates_53M.fasta18S rDNA alignment_invertebrate hostsCut alignment of 18S rDNA sequences of 25 taxa of invertebrate hosts of myxozoans in fasta format18S_invertebrate hosts.fasta16S rRNA_vertebrate_hostsCut alignment of 16S rRNA gene sequences of 246 taxa of vertebrate hosts of myxozoans in fasta format16S_vertebrate_hosts.fastafull__mitogenome_vertebrate_hostsCut alignment of full mitogenome sequences of 105 taxa of invertebrate host families of myxozoans in fasta format

All experimental trials were performed in 12-well polystyrene plates. Three food choice treatment groups were defined: (1) Artemia sp. nauplii only (n = 10 nauplii in each replicate); (2) microplastic particles only (n = 10 microplastic particles in each replicate); (3) evenly split food choice of Artemia sp. nauplii and microplastic (n = 5 each). A total of 12 replicates of each treatment group were set up, and a randomized design was created to assign treatments to wells. A total of five specimens of A. gibbosa were placed into each well. Approximately 24 hours after the initiation of the experiment, feeding activity of A. gibbosa on nauplii and microplastic was assessed visually under a Leica binocular microscope, by counting the number of remaining nauplii and feeding attempts on microplastic particles and nauplii. For the purpose of this experiment, feeding on microplastic is defined as any physical interaction with the LBFs’ pseudopodia. Two trials were conducted, with a total of 24 replicates (12 per trial) in each treatment. None of the specimens were used in both trials. To ensure counting accuracy, an additional four counting controls per treatment were established, in which no LBF were placed in the well. Increasing marine microplastic pollution has detrimentally impacted organismal physiology and ecosystem functioning. While previous studies document negative effects of microplastics on coral reef animals, the potential responses of organisms such as Large Benthic Foraminifera (LBF) are largely unknown. Here, we document the impact of microplastics on heterotrophic feeding behavior of LBF. Specimens of Amphistegina gibbosa were incubated in three experimental treatments: (1) Artemia sp. nauplii only; (2) pristine microplastic particles only; (3) choice of nauplii and pristine microplastic. Feeding rates were observed 24 h after initiation of treatments. A separate experiment was conducted to compare the effect of conditioned vs. pristine microplastic. Our results indicate that A. gibbosa is able to selectively feed on Artemia, avoiding interactions with pristine microplastic. However, the presence of conditioned microplastic causes similar feeding interaction rates as with Artemia. This suggests microplastics with longer residence times may have a larger impact on facultative detritivores. There are no missing values in the dataset. Pristine Microplastic, Exp. 1 trial refers to the time points at which the Experiment was conducted (trial 1 vs. trial 2) Food choice refers to the food source that was presented to the foraminifera (Artemia sp. Nauplii vs. Pristine Microplastic) Treatment represents the food choices that were offered to the foraminifera (single choice vs. Mixed choice) Feeding rate represents the number of particles ingested and/or pseudopodal interactions (Particles fed upon day-1) Soaked Microplastic, Exp. 2 trial refers to the time points at which the Experiment was conducted (trial 1 vs. trial 2) Food choice refers to the food source that was presented to the foraminifera (Artemia sp. Nauplii vs. soaked Microplastic) Treatment represents the food choices that were offered to the foraminifera (single choice vs. Mixed choice) Feeding rate represents the number of particles ingested and/or pseudopodal interactions (Particles fed upon day-1)

Background: Over the last decade, several coral genomes have been sequenced allowing a better understanding of these symbiotic organisms threatened by climate change. Scleractinian corals are reef builders and are central to coral reef ecosystems, providing habitat to a great diversity of species. Results: In the frame of the Tara Pacific expedition, we assemble two coral genomes, Porites lobata and Pocillopora cf. effusa, with vastly improved contiguity that allows us to study the functional organization of these genomes. We annotate their gene catalog and report a relatively higher gene number than that found in other public coral genome sequences, 43,000 and 32,000 genes, respectively. This finding is explained by a high number of tandemly duplicated genes, accounting for almost a third of the predicted genes. We show that these duplicated genes originate from multiple and distinct duplication events throughout the coral lineage. They contribute to the amplification of gene families, mostly related to the immune system and disease resistance, which we suggest to be functionally linked to coral host resilience. Conclusions: At large, we show the importance of duplicated genes to inform the biology of reef-building corals and provide novel avenues to understand and screen for differences in stress resilience. Genome Biology, 24 (1) ISSN:1474-760X

Turbulent fluxes across the air‐water interface are integral to determining lake heat budgets, evaporation, and carbon emissions from lakes. The stability of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) influences the exchange of turbulent energy. We explore the differences in over‐lake ABL stability using data from 39 globally distributed lakes. The frequency of unstable ABL conditions varied between lakes from 71 to 100% of the time, with average air temperatures typically several degrees below the average lake surface temperature. This difference increased with decreasing latitude, resulting in a more frequently unstable ABL and a more efficient energy transfer to and from the atmosphere, toward the tropics. In addition, during summer the frequency of unstable ABL conditions decreased with increasing lake surface area. The dependency of ABL stability on latitude and lake size has implications for heat loss and carbon fluxes from lakes, the hydrologic cycle, and climate change effects.

Invertebrate Survival Journal, Vol 19 No 1 (2022)

The positive effect of fully protected Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on marine biodiversity, specifically on fishes, has been widely documented. In contrast, the potential of MPAs to mitigate the impact of adverse climatic conditions has seldom been investigated. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of MPAs, quantified as increasing fish biomass, across wide geographic and environmental gradients across the Mediterranean Sea. We performed underwater visual surveys within and outside MPAs to characterize fish assemblages in 52 rocky reef sites across an extent of over 3,300 km. We used the steep spatial temperature gradient across the Mediterranean as a ‘space-for-time’ substitution to infer climate-driven temporal changes. We found that, as expected, Mediterranean MPAs increased fish biomass. At the same time, higher seawater temperatures are associated with decreased fish biomass, changes in species composition, and shifts towards more thermophilic species. Importantly, we found that the rate of decrease in fish biomass with temperature was similar between protected and fished sites. Taken together, these results suggest that the capacity of MPAs to harbor higher fish biomass, compared to surrounding areas, is maintained across a broad temperature range. At the same time, MPAs will not be able to offset larger-scale biotic alterations associated with climate change. Policy implications: Our results suggest that sustained warming will likely reduce fish biomass in the Mediterranean Sea and shift community structure, requiring more conservative targets for fishery regulations. At the same time, protection from fishing will remain an important management tool even with future high-water temperatures, and MPAs are expected to continue to provide local-scale benefits to conservation and fisheries.

In the framework of the EU-FP7 BACCHUS (impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding) project, an intensive field campaign was performed in Cyprus (March 2015). Remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS), ground-based instruments, and remote-sensing observations were operating in parallel to provide an integrated characterization of aerosol–cloud interactions. Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) were equipped with a five-hole probe, pyranometers, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors, and measured vertical wind at cloud base and cloud optical properties of a stratocumulus layer. Ground-based measurements of dry aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei spectra, and RPA observations of updraft and meteorological state parameters are used here to initialize an aerosol–cloud parcel model (ACPM) and compare the in situ observations of cloud optical properties measured by the RPA to those simulated in the ACPM. Two different cases are studied with the ACPM, including an adiabatic case and an entrainment case, in which the in-cloud temperature profile from RPA is taken into account. Adiabatic ACPM simulation yields cloud droplet number concentrations at cloud base (approximately 400 cm−3) that are similar to those derived from a Hoppel minimum analysis. Cloud optical properties have been inferred using the transmitted fraction of shortwave radiation profile measured by downwelling and upwelling pyranometers mounted on a RPA, and the observed transmitted fraction of solar radiation is then compared to simulations from the ACPM. ACPM simulations and RPA observations shows better agreement when associated with entrainment compared to that of an adiabatic case. The mean difference between observed and adiabatic profiles of transmitted fraction of solar radiation is 0.12, while this difference is only 0.03 between observed and entrainment profiles. A sensitivity calculation is then conducted to quantify the relative impacts of 2-fold changes in aerosol concentration, and updraft to highlight the importance of accounting for the impact of entrainment in deriving cloud optical properties, as well as the ability of RPAs to leverage ground-based observations for studying aerosol–cloud interactions.

The past year has been a challenging one. The Steinhardt Museum only opened to the public in July 2018 for a trial run, became fully operational in September, and was gaining significant momentum, but a mere 8 months later, in March 2019, Covid struck and the world as we knew it was transformed. This caught us in the trajectory of an upwards momentum, prior to stabilizing our funding sources and getting government recognition as a museum and in the midst of team-building work and rapid content development. This is not something we had bargained for. That said, our team rose to the occasion. While unfortunately, we had to part with many great hourly workers in the Public Division of the museum and send them on unpaid leave, the remainder of the team stayed with us, and people continued to work as hard as ever in preparation for the museum re-opening, dealing with the many challenges that a new museum affords. The scientific staff continued its work throughout the pandemic. Our scientists and professionals worked in the collections and in the field under very complicated conditions indeed. The collection ma­nagers continued promoting the collections and taxonomic work and providing in­valuable services to a variety of agencies. The Applied Policy-Relevant Research Division Centers—Open Landscape Institute, HaMaarag, and the National Center for Aquatic Ecology—continued almost business as usual, as did the Entomological Laboratory for Applied Ecology. The museum was closed for a significant part of the year but during the months that it was open, albeit with restrictions, and particularly during the summer months, we were gratified by the level of renewed public interest. During the reporting period, the Museum researchers produced 202 scientific articles, which were published or accepted for publication, and 13 books/book chapters.