Shai Meiri Lab - vertebrate evolution, biogeography and conservation

We are interested in various aspects of the evolution and ecology of terrestrial vertebrates, especially reptiles.

We develop and curate global datasets of reptile species traits and geographic ranges (the latter with the GARD working group) and use comparative methods to assess the relationship between species’ natural history, morphology, ecology, ecophysiology and life history and their biotic and abiotic environment.

We further develop and apply novel methods for assessing extinction risk, conservation needs, and conservation prioritisation. Mostly, we use macroecological and biogeographic approaches, but also conduct field surveys and studies, and lab experiments to answer similar questions at lower spatial and phylogenetic scales.

Major research themes of the lab include reptile and vertebrate macroecology, reptile natural history, phylogeny and taxonomy of Middle Eastern reptiles and mammals, reptile ecophysiology, and island biogeography.

​Our interests lie at an intersection of Evolutionary Biology, Biogeography, Conservation Biology, Macroecology and Zoology (mainly of reptiles, also of mammals, birds and amphibians, but we have had and have projects on fish, amphibians, and even, though we will not always admit it, on arthropods).

We are interested in the different ways animal morphology and natural history adapt them to their biotic and abiotic environment. Some traits are extremely labile within species, even across very restricted spatial scales (such as a group of islands) and temporal scales. Significant morphological changes can sometimes be detected over the course of a century or less. Presumably, many of these differences are evolutionary and adaptive - others, however, may be random with respect to selection.

We study natural history, life history, physiology and morphological variation within and between species at different spatial and temporal scales, and then compare the patterns of variation shown in whole clades or regions, to search for common evolutionary mechanisms that drive them.

We mainly study squamates, or reptiles as a whole, and often we expand to cover land vertebrates as a whole, both as models for biodiversity in general and because, well, they are fascinating in their own right.

We use four main approaches to study the phenomena we are interested in: Macroecological (i.e., large-scale and empirical), museum-specimen-based, lab-based, and field-based. We use published data, data we generate in the field, molecular data we obtain from specimens, and natural history, behavioural observations, life history data, and physiological data obtained in the field and in the lab.

Visit Global Assessment of Reptile Distributions working-group (GARD)

We examine the distribution of all (terrestrial) reptiles and the factors that affect the distribution and evolution of reptiles. We are trying to map reptile distribution globally (a work that many of the lab's alumni, especially Anat Feldman, who mapped snakes, Yuval Itescu (now a faculty member at the University of Haifa), who mapped turtles and crocs, and Maria Novosolov, who mapped small-island reptiles. Our wonderful collaborator, Uri Roll, is making the calls that require a responsible adult. We study diversity patterns and how our knowledge of them may be biased (e.g., Tal Raz's work, soon also with João Alencar), as well as other macroecological phenomena (relationships of features such as body size, range size, range position, macropgysiology, taxonomic trends, and trait geography, etc.).  Nowadays, Anna and Yan are assembling datasets that aim to map the morphospace of all squamates and see how these are related to a suite of ecological and life history traits.

With Gopal Murali, a joint postdoc at ours and Uri Roll's lab, we study diversification rates of squamates and of vertebrates in general. We aim to simultaneously test multiple hypotheses related to causes of variation in diversification rates - see here for details. With anotehr former postdoc, Gabriel Caetano, we looks at new ways to classify and assess extintion risk and threat status of reptiles, both using supervised machine learning methods to assign species with IUCN-like evaluations, and unsupervised methods to acheive a more nuanced view that more readily incorporates future threats, such as those of land-use change and climate change (which Gopal and Reut also study intensively).  Nowadays, Tao Liang studies multiple dimensions of reptile diversity, such as Beta diversity, sexual dimorphism, etc.

We are now working on producing better reptile maps (also looking into the best ways of constructing species distribution models - especially for poorly known taxa, together with Nico Dubos and Pasquale Raia), better assessments, and better trait data, to ask multiple questions regarding trait evolution and conservation status, among other things (and there is always room for the prospective student!).

We also teamed with Assaf Levy (BioDB), our (formerly) very own Alex Slavenko, and both Uri Roll and Yaron Ziv (Ben Gurion University) to create The Nature Conservation Index (NCI). The NCI is a tool that shows how well countries are protecting their natural environments. Covering 180 countries, the NCI looks at various factors like the number of plants and animals at risk, the size of protected areas, the health of habitats, and the effectiveness of conservation programs.

The Nature Conservation Index uses four key pillars and a framework of 25 performance indicators to provide a detailed, quantitative analysis of biodiversity and sustainability, and helps us to identify what’s working and where improvements are needed. This knowledge helps inform better decisions to protect our planet's biodiversity and natural resources.

We examine and measure museum specimens of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles in museums across the world in order to study both current patterns of diversity and body size evolution, and temporal changes in both these axes that may have important conservation implications, as well as teach us important lessons regarding the tempo and mode of evolution. Thus, for example, we study body size changes in recent times in relation to climate change and other anthropogenic influences with Inon Scharf - and as part of the PhD project of Shahar.

We likewise acquired a large dataset of carnivore skull and teeth measurements (currently > 24600 measured specimens belonging to 248 – nearly all carnivore species) and a slightly smaller dataset (~1000 specimens) of treeshrew measurements. We use these data mainly to examine the forces that affect body size evolution (often in collaboration with Tamar Dayan and Dan Simberloff), especially in relation to insularity, climate, resources, and community composition.

And of course, we use museum specimens from the collections of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and other institutions, for mapping species distributions and using these for conservation planning (e.g., with Uri Roll and Enav Vidan), studying taxonomy and phylogeny (see above), as well as morphological evolution.

“...What is needed in a collection of natural history is that it should be made as accessible and as useful as possible on the one hand to the general public, and on the other to scientific workers...  What the public wants is easy and unhindered access to such a collection as they can understand and appreciate, and what the men of science want is similar access to the materials of science. To this end, the vast mass of objects of natural history should be divided into two parts, -one open to the public, the other to men of science, every day, and all day long." Tomas Henry Huxley 1877. On the study of biology. American Naturalist, 11: 210-221.

With Eran Levin we study reptile physiology (metabolism, feeding, water loss, organ size, breathing rates, thermal biology, etc) - especially under all types of stress (brummation, pregnancy, extreme climate, and unfortunately, even war). Shahar is taking a comparative approach, both macroecological and field and lab-based, to study the effects that the diel cycle, thermal behaviour, season (brummating vs. active individuals), and geography, have on reptile metabolism, thermal traits, water loss rates, fatty acid utilisation, and organ size (all in the lab of Eran Levin). We capture reptiles in the field in Israel, bring them back to the lab to conduct the experiments, then release them, completely unharmed, back to nature where we found them.

We also started collaborating with Juan Pablo Muñoz Pérez, Gregory Lewbart, and others in studying the metabolism of Galapagos marine iguanas (Amblyrhinchus cristatus) during El Niño years, to see whether they reduce their metabolism to allow them to survive these events.​

"It (ecological equilibrium) has the disadvantage of being untrue. The 'balance of nature' does not exist" C.S. Elton 1930 Animal ecology and evolution" P. 17