Airborne pollen, spores, and dust across the East Mediterranean Sea

Airborne pollen and spores, as well as airflow directions, were continuously monitored during a cruise across the East Mediterranean from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Istanbul, Turkey. In spite of the fact that a high-altitude dust cloud moved, at that, time from North Africa, across the East Mediterranean, only a few dust particles were monitored on the boat. The numbers of counted airborne pollen along the cruise path were rather small. This is, in part, because the trip was taken after the main flowering season in the East Mediterranean region. Nevertheless, airborne pollen grains were still found, either as a result of remnant pollen releases by late-flowering plants or because of secondary lift-up of previously settled pollen. The presented pollen counts are average pollen counts /m³ air /6 h. The counts ranged between ∼5 pollen/m³ of air in mid-sea (July 16th–July 17th) or ∼6 pollen/m³ of air on the Israeli coast (July 16–July 17th), and 30 pollen/m³ of air near the coasts of Turkey and of the Greek Islands (July 18th–July 19th) and some 18 taxa of pollen were identified, most of them at the family level. Some 30 taxa of different spores were recorded. The numbers of airborne spores were relatively low in mid-sea (300–750 spores/m³ air), but were high near the coasts of Turkey (1,200–2,400 spores/m³ air) and of Israel (340–1,695 spores/m³ air).     

Spatial variations in vegetation as related to the soil moisture regime over an arid limestone hillside,northern Negev,Israel

Summary A detailed study of the distribution of plant communities was conducted in an experimental site, located in the arid northern Negev of Israel, where the spatial variation in rainfall, runoff and soil moisture regime are currently being studied. Phytogeographical methods of analysis usually used for studies on a regional scale were applied for a small area extending over 11,325 m² of a north-facing hillside. Data obtained indicate that the best water regime and a high diversity of plant species are characteristic of a massive limestone rock unit; whereas worse water regimes characterize densely jointed and thinly bedded limestones. Over slopes, developed in a uniform lithology, whose lower part is composed of a colluvial mantle, a gradual downslope worsening of the soil moisture regime is recorded within the colluvium. These changes are well expressed in the distribution of the plant communities and their phytogeographical affinities along the slopes.     

PRELIMINARY DATA ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ISRAEL FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THE WHITE PELICAN PELECANUS ONOCROTALUS L.

Izhaki, I. 1994. Preliminary data on the importance of Israel for the conservation of the White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus L. Ostrich 65:213-217.

The majority of the western Palaearctic populations of the Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus stop over in Israel during their autumn migration. The annual average number of pelicans observed over Israel in autumn was 71,421±5,027. Although most of these birds were transient over Israel, increasing numbers of individuals (1130±303, between 1990 and 1993) stay and winter in the northern part of Israel. The natural feeding sites for pelicans were diminished during recent decades due to human activities such as the drainage of the Hula swamp in northern Israel 40 years ago. However, intensive fishery and aqua-culture sites became their favourite feeding laces either during migration or in winter. The fish industry complained that the birds seriously affect fish yield. The pelicans not only cause direct damage to the fix industry by predation, but they also transfer nematodes to fish (Oreochromis sp.). As et. there is no solution to the problem of these parasitic nematodes. This preliminary study revealed that the average daily fish consumption per individual was 0,52kg and the small sample size did not indicate any selection for certain fish species or size. Flight range estimation indicated that the pelicans, especially the weak individuals, nee xo feed during their stopover in Israel or in the relatively rare appropriate feeding sites along their southward migratory route over the desert in order to reach their wintering areas in eastern central Africa.     

Late cretaceous paleogeography of northern Israel and its significance for the Levant geology

Senonian-Maastrichtian sediments in northern Israel are characterized by a thick sequence of homogeneous chalk containing profuse planktonic foraminiferids and coccolithophorids. The occurrence (or absence) of chert, bitumen, quartz grains, phosphate content, the variations of plankton-benthos ratio, the generic and family composition of Foraminifera and thickness variations indicate that the sediments were deposited on an outer shelf area in a very non-turbulent pelagic sea. This sea, part of the Tethys ocean which covered all the Levant during the Late Cretaceous, became epicontinental in the vicinity of the Arabo-Nubian Massif. Thickness of sediments is a function of submarine depressions, wedge-out occurring towards uplifted areas which by and large are also present-day structures, except for the western part of the area. Here, non-sedimentation or sediments of reduced thickness can be explained by deposition on a steep part of the continental shelf beyond the shelf break or by erosion due to submarine currents on the outer shelf.

The depth of the sea changed with time. Santonian sediments were deposited in water of relatively great depth (several hundred metres) which decreased during the Early Campanian and attained a minimum in very Late Campanian time. During Early to Late Maastrichtian time subsidence recommenced.

Three marine facies belts are differentiated in the Late Cretaceous chalks of the Levant countries. The data of these rocks in northern Israel (part of the extreme western belt having poorly-defined continental affinities) were utilized in the palaeogeographic analysis of the Levant region.     

Late Pleistocene and Holocene equid remains from Israel

Equid remains–mostly isolated teeth–from archaeological sites in Israel are described. Particular attention is paid to dental enamel fold morphology and criteria are established tor separating several Old World Quaternary equid species. Eauus hydruntinus , which is here considered a zebra rather than an ass, was present until 12,000 bp in northern Israel, while at the same time E-asinus/hemionus inhabited the arid regions in the south. Inirequent remains of E. caballus are also described. By 4000 years ago ass, probably the domestic form, was present in northern Israel.     

Genetic characterization of populations of the golden jackal and the red fox in Israel

The golden jackal and red fox are among the wildlife species protected by Israeli law as enforced by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. In 1964, as a part of a management program to control rabies in Israel, a poison eradication campaign was launched to exterminate golden jackals, considered to be the main reservoir of the disease. The program resulted in the near-complete extermination of jackals in Israel, while foxes were only mildly affected. Jackals have since regained their original numbers and have recolonized southern Israel. We here examined the population structure of the golden jackal and red fox in Israel, 48 years after the poison eradication campaign. DNA from 88 golden jackals and 89 red foxes representing five different geographic regions was extracted and amplified at 13 microsatellite loci in order to characterize the populations on a genetic level. High genetic diversity was found among the jackal and fox populations. A possible migration route through the Jordan Rift Valley was suggested for both species by the genetic similarity of populations in northern and southern Israel. However, in both species, the animals from the center of Israel were distinctive from those north or south, indicating the relative isolation of central populations, likely due to fragmentation or a high abundance of food resources. Genetic profiles obtained for the golden jackal and the red fox in Israel may aid in their conservation management and in the study of zoonotic diseases.     

Dating the End of the Greek Bronze Age: A Robust Radiocarbon-Based Chronology from Assiros Toumba

Over 60 recent analyses of animal bones, plant remains, and building timbers from Assiros in northern Greece form an unique series from the 14^th to the 10^th century BC. With the exception of Thera, the number of ¹⁴C determinations from other Late Bronze Age sites in Greece has been small and their contribution to chronologies minimal. The absolute dates determined for Assiros through Bayesian modelling are both consistent and unexpected, since they are systematically earlier than the conventional chronologies of southern Greece by between 70 and 100 years. They have not been skewed by reference to assumed historical dates used as priors. They support high rather than low Iron Age chronologies from Spain to Israel where the merits of each are fiercely debated but remain unresolved.     

A missense mutation in the low density lipoprotein receptor gene causes familial hypercholesterolemia in Sephardic Jews

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disease caused by mutations in the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor gene. Here, we characterize an LDL receptor mutation that is associated with a distinct haplotype and that causes FH in the Jewish Sephardic population originating from Safed, a town in northern Israel. The mutation was found in eight FH families originating from this community comprising 10% of heterozygote FH index cases screened in Israel. The mutation was not found in four additional FH heterozygotes whose hypercholesterolemia co-segregated with an identical LDL receptor gene haplotype. A guanine to cytosine substitution results in a missense mutation (asp¹⁴⁷ to his) in the fourth repeat of the binding domain encoded by exon 4 of the LDL receptor gene. The mutant receptor protein was synthesized in cultured cells as a 120kDa precursor form that failed to undergo normal processing to a mature cell surface form. Most of the receptor precursors were degraded in the endoplasmic reticulum. The small number of mutant receptors on the cell surface were unable to bind LDL or very low density lipoprotein. The abnormal behavior of the mutant receptor was reproduced by site-directed mutagenesis and expression of the mutant protein in CHO cells. The mutation can be diagnosed by allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization of polymerase chain reaction amplified DNA from FH patients.     

A nonsense mutation in the LDL receptor gene leads to familial hypercholesterolemia in the Druze sect.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disease caused by mutations in the LDL receptor gene. Here we characterize an LDL receptor mutation that is associated with a distinct haplotype and causes FH in the Druze, a small Middle Eastern Islamic sect with a high degree of inbreeding. The mutation was found in FH families from two distinct Druze villages from the Golan Heights (northern Israel). It was not found neither in another Druze FH family residing in a different geographical area nor in eight Arab and four Jewish FH heterozygote index cases whose hypercholesterolemia cosegregates with an identical LDL receptor gene haplotype. The mutation, a single-base substitution, results in a termination codon in exon 4 of the LDL receptor gene that encodes for the fourth repeat of the binding domain of the mature receptor. It can be diagnosed by allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization of PCR-amplified DNA from FH patients.     

Population genetics of Leishmania infantum in Israel and the Palestinian Authority through microsatellite analysis

Multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) was used to investigate the genetic variation among 44 Israeli and Palestinian strains of L. infantum isolated from infected dogs and human cases to determine their population structure and to compare them with strains isolated from different European countries. Most of the Israeli and Palestinian strains had their own individual MLMT profiles; a few shared the same profile. A Bayesian model-based approach and phylogenetic reconstructions based on genetic distances inferred two main populations that were significantly different from the European strains: population A, containing 16 strains from places in the West Bank and 11 strains from central Israel; and population B, containing 7 strains from northern Israel, 9 from central Israel, and one Palestinian strain from the Jenin District. Geographically distributed sub-populations were detected within population B. These results demonstrate similar disease dynamics in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The re-emergence of VL in the case of population A is more likely owing to increased dog and human contact with sylvatic cycles of parasitic infection rather than to recent introduction from the older foci of northern Israel. The latter scenario could be true for population B found in few foci of Central Israel.     

Low nekton abundance in the western Bering Sea according to trawl survey data and model estimates

Complex trawl surveys were conducted in the upper epipelagic zone of the western Bering Sea and adjacent Pacific waters in the summer and fall seasons of 2002–2006. The abundance of small nekton (micronekton) was estimated using two independent methods: traditional trawling and a mathematical model of selective feeding by fish. According to the trawl data, total micronekton density varied from 1 to 158 (average 40) mg/m³ on the northwestern Bering Sea shelf and from 6 to 151 (37) mg/m³ in deep-water areas of the southwestern Bering Sea and adjacent Pacific waters. According to model calculations, micronekton density was higher—72–193 (141) mg/m³ on the shelf and 78–507 (228) mg/m³ in the deep-water part of the studied area. Both trawl and model data showed that small nekton on the northwestern shelf mostly consisted of larval and juvenile walleye pollock, as well as small fish species, such as capelin and Pacific sand lance. In the deepwater areas, mesopelagic fish and squid (northern lampfish, northern smoothtongue, and boreopacific gonate squid), which migrate to the surface at night, juvenile Atka mackerel, and shortarm gonate squid dominated among micronekton. The advantages and disadvantages of both the trawl and model methods for calculating the abundance of small fish and squid were considered. Comparison of abundance estimates for mass fish species, obtained through trawl and model methods, enabled us to analyze trawl catchability coefficients and propose a more differentiated division of micronekton into size classes than had been done earlier. A function that characterizes the dependence of the catchability coefficient (CC) on body length was offered for juvenile Atka mackerel. This equation can be also used for evaluation of CC for other fishes that have similar size and behavior.     

21-Hydroxylase deficiency: screening and incidence in Israel

BACKGROUND: Neonatal screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia was introduced in 1977. However, even today only a few national screening programs exist and their cost effectiveness is still debatable. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the advisability of a national or regional screening program in Israel. METHODS: From June 1987 until December 1992 we screened a countrywide random sample of 113,846 newborns for 21-hydroxylase (21-OH) deficiency measuring 17alpha-OH progesterone (17-OHP) from blood spotted on filter paper. Between January 1993 and August 1995 we continued the screening program concentrating on the population of northern Israel. A total of 56,958 newborns were screened. We compared these findings with the incidence of 21-OH deficiency in the total population born in Israel during the years 1986-1991. RESULTS: In the countrywide screening program, 4 newborns (2 Arabs and 2 Jews) were found to have levels of 17-OHP between 409 and 2,049 nmol/l (2 males and 2 females). This constitutes a low incidence of 1 in 28,462 live births. In the north-Israel screening program 4 newborns (all Arabs) were detected (2 males and 2 females) constituting a much higher incidence of 1 in 14,240 live births. The data obtained from the archives revealed that the incidence of 21-OH deficiency nationwide during the years 1986-1991 was 1:19,000 live births, 1:30,000 for Jews and 1:8,000 for Arabs. The incidence of 21-OH deficiency among Arab newborns in the northern part of the country was as high as 1:5,000 (14:71,130). The female to male (F:M) ratio was 2.6:1 and the ratio of the salt-losing to the simple virilizing variant was 5:1. Two male patients were diagnosed prenatally, 21 patients (17 F and 4 M) during the first month after birth and 6 others subsequently. CONCLUSIONS: The high F:M ratio of 21-OH deficiency in the total population compared to a 1:1 ratio in our random screening programs suggests that 21-OH-deficient male patients in the general population might have been missed or died early due to a salt-losing crisis. The high incidence of this disease in the northern part of the country and especially among the Arabs, suggests that screening in this part of the country, especially among the Arab population, is warranted and might save the lives of some male patients.     

Complementary medicine in the primary care setting: Results of a survey of gender and cultural patterns in Israel

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in a primary care practice in Israel to determine prevalence and patterns of use.Methods: Trained research assistants invited all patients attending the administrative, medical, pharmaceutical, or nursing services of 7 clinics in urban and rural areas of northern Israel over a 16-month period, from April 1, 2005, through August 1, 2006, to complete a 13-item written questionnaire about CAM use and beliefs about CAM safety and efficacy. CAM was defined as therapies often referred to as alternative, complementary, natural, or folk/traditional medicine, and which are not usually offered as part of the medical treatment in the clinic, including herbal medicine, Chinese medicine (including acupuncture), homeopathy, folk and traditional remedies, dietary/nutritional therapy (including nutritional supplements), chiropractic, movement/manual healing therapies (including massage, reflexology, yoga, and Alexander and Feldenkrais techniques), mind-body techniques (including meditation, guided imagery, and relaxation), energy and healing therapies, and other naturopathic therapies. The Pearson χ² test and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess univariate associations with the odds ratios of CAM use among Arab and Jewish women. A t test was performed to determine whether there were any differences in the continuous variables between the 2 groups.Results: Of 3972 consecutive patients who received the questionnaire, 3447 responded; 2139 respondents (62%) were women. Of the female respondents, 2121 reported their religion (1238 respondents [58%] self-identified as being Arab, and 883 [41.6%] as being Jewish). Compared with men, more women used CAM during the previous year (46.4% vs 39.4%; P < 0.001). Women were more likely to use CAM and to be interested in receiving CAM at primary care clinics. Arab women reported less CAM use than Jewish women but were more interested in experiencing CAM, had a higher degree of confidence in CAM efficacy and safety, and more frequently supported the integration of CAM practitioners in primary care clinics.Conclusions: In this study, women visiting primary care clinics in northern Israel used CAM more often than men did. Arab women reported less use of CAM than did Jewish women but also reported greater confidence in CAM efficacy and safety.     

Why are rags tied to the sacred trees of the Holy Land?

A field study to survey the custom of tying rags on sacred trees in the northern part of Israel was carried out during 2000–2001. It included 60 interviewees: 24 Druze, 18 Moslem Arabs, 12 Moslem Bedouins and 6 Christian Arab individuals. Tree veneration was found to be quite uncommon among the Bedouins and rare among the Christian Arabs. The results of the present study suggest there are 17 reasons for tying rags on sacred trees. Five reasons, as far as the author is aware, were not previously reported from the literature (i.e., breaking an oath, marking a blessed tree, marking the road to a blessed tree, asking for permission to pick fruit, and setting out rags for needy people). These usages appear to be endemic to Israel and to the Druze. Two customs previously reported from Israel but not corroborated by the present survey are to pacify a tree’s spirit and as a charm for new clothes. Three of the 17 known reasons for tying rags on sacred trees are also known from regions beyond the Middle East (i.e., to transfer illness to the tree, to use a rag as a visiting card, and to pacify the tree’s spirits). And lastly, several customs never reported before from Israel appear to stem from the belief in ancient pagan polytheistic religions (to ensure a good yield, offerings to a tree’s deities/spirits, to pacify the ancestor’s spirits, to commemorate a death, and to pacify a tree’s spirit while picking fruits). Twelve of the reported 17 reasons for hanging rags on sacred trees are known from Israel. These findings elucidate the widespread and variable tree worship traditions that are prevalent today in the region. In spite of a monotheistic ban against ancient pagan beliefs, trees still remain a subject of worship in Israel today, as manifested by the daily tying of rags upon branches.     

Description and forecast of summer climate in physiologically significant terms

The Discomfort Index (DI) was found to be an accurate expression of the atmospheric evaporative (cooling) power, and hence the heat load. It conveys the relevant climatic conditions in summer in physiologically significant terms. From 22–24 units a slight heat load exists, from 24.1–28 the heat load is moderate and above 28.1 a severe heat load exists. The heat load during the month of August was analyzed for 2 towns in Israel: Tel-Aviv (in the coastal plain) and Beer-Sheba (in the northern part of the desert). On the basis of this example a method is suggested to express summer climate as daily hours of heat load. Information about heat stress can be conveyed in terms which are sïgnificant physiologically and meaningful to the public.     

Non-structural carbohydrate status in a phryganic (east Mediterranean) ecosystem

Only a small fraction of the energy which is needed for the maintenance of the biological structure during the dry and hot summer in a phryganic ecosystem comes from non-structural carbohydrates. Possibly the higher fraction comes from hemicellulose which is deposited in the inner part of the xylem cell wall during the mild winter.Presented at the Eighth International Congress of Biometeorology, 9–14 September 1979, Shefayim, Israel.     

General water chemistry and quality in newly-created subtropical wetland lake

Sixty km2 of the southern Hula Valley (northern Israel) peat lands were flooded in 1994 as part of the Hula Valley Restoration Project. The small, shallow lake (110 ha, mean depth < 1 m) and network of ca. 90 km of canals created were designed to ameliorate problems (e.g., underground fires, soil subsidence, increased nutrient loading downstream to Lake Kinneret) resulting from drying the Lake Hula wetlands in the 1950s. This new wetland area now serves as the focus for developing eco-tourism in northern Israel. The initial development of this new ecosystem has been followed closely by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, with an emphasis on water quality in the new lake and the potential impact of the project on Lake Kinneret. Here we report an overview of developments in general water chemistry of Lake Agmon during its first three years (1994–1996). Water quality in Agmon was within general expectations for a shallow lake situated on peat. The first year of Agmon was characterized by the heavy influence of stream and drainage inflows with high pH, alkalinity, turbidity and electrical conductivity and high concentrations of sulfate and total dissolved solids. By the third year, however, many in lake processes (e.g., nutrient cycling and algal and macrophytic production) were well-developed and thus strongly affected lake water quality. Excessive phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in the lake have led to hypertrophy, characterized by low dissolved oxygen concentrations and prolific blooms of nuisance algae. The management of this new ecosystem in the near future will require persistent, and innovative measures.     

Dynamics of resistance to the neonicotinoids acetamiprid and thiamethoxam in Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)

The dynamics of resistance in the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), to the neonicotinoids acetamiprid and thiamethoxam was studied extensively in cotton fields in Israel during the cotton-growing seasons 1999-2003. Whitefly strains were collected in early and late seasons mainly in three locations in northern, central, and southern Israel. The whiteflies were assayed under laboratory conditions for susceptibility to neonicotinoids, as part of the Israeli cotton insecticide resistance management strategy. Selections to both acetamiprid and thiamethoxam and cross-resistance between them also were conducted in the laboratory. Although no appreciable resistance to acetamiprid was observed up to 2001, a slight increase of approximately five-fold resistance was detected during 2002 and 2003. However, from 2001 to 2003 thiamethoxam resistance increased >100-fold in the Ayalon Valley and Carmel Coast cotton fields. In cross-resistance assays with both neonicotinoids, the strain that had been selected with thiamethoxam for 12 generations demonstrated almost no cross-resistance to acetamiprid, whereas the acetamiprid-selected strain exhibited high cross-resistance of >500-fold to thiamethoxam.     

The Earliest Lead Object in the Levant

In the deepest section of a large complex cave in the northern Negev desert, Israel, a bi-conical lead object was found logged onto a wooden shaft. Associated material remains and radiocarbon dating of the shaft place the object within the Late Chalcolithic period, at the late 5^th millennium BCE. Based on chemical and lead isotope analysis, we show that this unique object was made of almost pure metallic lead, likely smelted from lead ores originating in the Taurus range in Anatolia. Either the finished object, or the raw material, was brought to the southern Levant, adding another major component to the already-rich Late Chalcolithic metallurgical corpus known to-date. The paper also discusses possible uses of the object, suggesting that it may have been used as a spindle whorl, at least towards its deposition.     

Regionalized nitrogen budgets in forest soils for different deposition and forestry scenarios in Sweden

Aim The aim of this work was to estimate on a regional scale the effects of nitrogen (N) deposition and harvest intensity on N‐budgets in forest soils as a basis for strategies of emission reduction and sustainable forest management methods. Location The calculations were applied to Sweden, a country with a managed forest area of 23 × 10⁶ ha. Methods Mass balance calculations, including N‐deposition, N‐fixation, N‐loss through harvest, and N‐leaching, were performed on a GIS platform using 5 × 5 km grids. Modelled deposition data together with spatial data obtained from the National Forest Inventory served as the basis for the calculations. Four different scenarios were run: a ‘base scenario’ involving present deposition and conventional forestry (stem harvest only); a ‘whole‐tree harvesting scenario’ with present deposition and the harvesting of stems, branches and needles; a ‘decreased deposition scenario’; and a ‘whole‐tree harvesting and decreased deposition scenario’. Results There was a sharp N‐accumulation gradient with an increase in accumulation in the direction of the south‐western part of Sweden. In the ‘base scenario’, N‐accumulation appeared in the country as a whole, apart from certain small areas in the northern part. Whole‐tree harvesting led to net losses in extensive areas located mainly in northern and central Sweden. In most parts of the country, whole‐tree harvesting combined with decreased deposition was found to result in net losses. Main conclusions The intensity of the forestry has a strong impact on the N‐budget. Conventional forestry in combination with the present deposition level results in a high net accumulation of N in the south‐western parts of Sweden and accordingly, in a risk of unwanted environmental effects such as increased N‐leaching. With whole‐tree harvesting, the N‐balance is negative in parts of Sweden, mainly in the northern and central parts. N‐fertilization may become necessary there if the present level of forest production is to be maintained.