People

Previous positions

2010-2012 M.Sc. at the Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University & The Interuniversity Institute in Eilat (IUI). Title: “Ecology and taxonomy of mesophotic communities in Israel (Red Sea and Mediterranean)”, Supervisor: Prof. Yossi Loya

2012-2017 Ph.D. at the Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University & IUI. Title: “Ecology and physiology of mesophotic scleractinian corals at Eilat (northern Red Sea)”, Supervisor: Prof. Yossi Loya

2017-2018 Postdoctoral fellow at The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel-Aviv University. Title: “Comprehensive and taxonomical study of the mesophotic coral fauna from the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba”

2007-2017 Teaching Assistant positions at Ruppin Academic Center, Israel. Courses: “Underwater Research Methods”, “Mediterranean Ecosystem”.

2010-2017 Teaching Assistant positions in the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Science in Eilat (IUI), Israel. Courses: “Biology of Corals”, “Marine Sedimentology”, “Biology and Systematics of Marine Invertebrates”, “Time and Rhythms in Aquatic Systems”, and “Marine Geology and Geophysics”

Publications

Peer-reviewed journals

Gal Eyal, Lee Eyal-Shaham, Yossi Loya (2011) “Teeth-anchorage”: sleeping behavior of a Red Sea filefish on a branching coral. Coral Reefs 30:707. DOI: 10.1007/s00338-011-0766-y

Galia Pasternak, Roni Ziv, Gal Eyal, Sigal Shefer, Henk K. Mienis, Oz Rittner, Bella S. Galil (2011) On the population of Chromodoris annulata Eliot, 1904 (Mollusca: Opistobranchia: Chromodorididae) off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Aquatic Invasions 6/1:S91–S93. DOI: 10.3391/ai.2011.6.S1.021

Adi Lavy, Gal Eyal, Benjamin Neal, Ray Keren, Yossi Loya, Micha Ilan (2015) A quick, easy, and non-intrusive method for underwater volume and surface area evaluation of benthic organisms by 3D computer modeling. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 6: 521–531. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12331

Or Ben-Zvi, Gal Eyal, Yossi Loya (2015) Light-dependent fluorescence in the coral Galaxea fascicularis. Hydrobiologia 759:15-26. DOI: 10.1007/s10750-014-2063-6

Timor Katz, Hanan Ginat, Gal Eyal, Zvi Steiner, Yael Braun, Shariel Shalev, Beverly Goodman-Tchernov (2015) Desert flash floods form hyperpycnal plumes in the coral-rich Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 417:87-98. DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.02.025

Gal Eyal, Jörg Wiedenmann, Mila Grinblat, Cecilia D’Angelo, Raz Tamir, Esti Kramarsky-Winter, Tali Treibitz, Or Ben-Zvi, Yonathan Shaked, Tyler Smith, Saki Harii, Vianney Denis, Tim Noyes, Yossi Loya (2015) Spectral diversity and regulation of coral fluorescence in a mesophotic reef habitat in the Red Sea. PloS One, 10:e0128697. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128697

Gal Eyal, Lee Eyal-Shaham, Itay Cohen, Or Ben-Zvi, Frederic Sinniger, Yossi Loya (2016) Euphyllia paradivisa, a successful mesophotic coral in the northern Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba, Red Sea. Coral Reefs 35:91-102. DOI: 10.1007/s00338-015-1372-1

Lee Eyal-Shaham*, Gal Eyal*, Raz Tamir, Yossi Loya (2016) Reproduction, abundance and survivorship of two Alveopora spp. in the mesophotic reefs of Eilat, Red Sea. Scientific Reports 6:20964. DOI: 10.1038/srep20964*equal contribution

Yossi Loya, Gal Eyal, Tali Tribitz, Michael Lesser, Richard Appeldoorn (2016) Theme section on mesophotic coral reef ecosystems: advancements in knowledge and future perspectives. Coral Reefs 35:1-9. DOI: 10.1007/s00338-016-1410-7

Oscar Beijbom, Tali Treibitz, David I. Kline, Gal Eyal, Adi Khen, Benjamin Neal, Yossi Loya, B. Greg Mitchell, David Kriegman (2016) Improving Automated Annotation of Benthic Survey Images Using Wide-band Fluorescence. Scientific Reports 6: 23166. DOI: 10.1038/srep23166

Benjamin CC Hume, Christian R Voolstra, Chatchanit Arif, Cecilia d’Angelo, John Burt, Gal Eyal, Yossi Loya, Jörg Wiedenmann (2016) Ancestral genetic diversity associated with the rapid spread of stress-tolerant coral symbionts in response to Holocene climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113:4416-4421. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601910113

Dominic A Andradi-Brown, Mark JA Vermeij, Marc Slattery, Michael Lesser, Ivonne Bejarano, Richard Appeldoorn, Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley, Alex D Chequer, Joanna M Pitt, Corey Eddy, Struan R Smith, Eran Brokovich, Hudson T Pinheiro, Elliott Jessup, Bart Shepherd, Luiz A Rocha, Jocelyn Curtis-Quick, Gal Eyal, Timothy J Noyes, Alex D Rogers, Dan A Exton (2017) Large-scale invasion of western Atlantic mesophotic reefs by lionfish potentially undermines culling-based management. Biological Invasions 19:939–954. DOI: 10.1007/s10530-016-1358-0

Gal Eyal, Itay Cohen, Lee Eyal-Shaham, Or Ben-Zvi, Yaron Tikochinski, Yossi Loya (2019) Photoacclimation and induction of light-enhanced calcification in the mesophotic coral Euphyllia paradivisa. Royal Society Open Sciences 6:180527. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180527

Netanel Kramer, Gal Eyal, Raz Tamir, Yossi Loya (2019) Upper mesophotic depths in the coral reefs of Eilat, Red Sea, offer suitable refuge grounds for coral settlement. Scientific Reports 9:2263. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38795-1

Lee Eyal-Shaham, Gal Eyal, Kazuhiko Sakai, Yoko Nozawa, Saki Harii, Frederic Sinniger, Omri Bronstein, Or Ben-Zvi, Tom Shlesinger, Yossi Loya (2019) Repetitive sex change in the stony coral Herpolitha limax across a wide geographic range. Scientific Reports 9:2936. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37619-y

Or Ben-Zvi, Gal Eyal, Yossi Loya (2019) Response of fluorescence morphs of the mesophotic coral Euphyllia paradivisa to ultra-violet radiation. Scientific Reports 9:5245. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41710-3

Hudson T Pinheiro, Gal Eyal, Bart Shepherd, Luiz A Rocha (2019) Ecological insights from environmental disturbances in mesophotic coral ecosystems. Ecosphere 10:e02666. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2666

Yoav Lindemann, Gal Eyal, Amatzia Genin (2019) Intense capture of swarming pteropods by large-polyp corals. Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies 21:9-10. DOI: 10.3755/galaxea.21.1_9

Dalit Meron, Keren Maor-Landaw, Eviatar Weizman, Hiba Waldman Ben-Asher, Gal Eyal, Ehud Banin, Yossi Loya, Oren Levy (2019) The Algal Symbiont Modifies the Transcriptome of the Scleractinian Coral Euphyllia paradivisa During Heat Stress. Microorganisms 7:256.
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms7080256

Raz Tamir, Gal Eyal, Netanel Kramer, Jack H. Laverick, Yossi Loya (2019) Light environment drives the shallow-to-mesophotic coral community transition. Ecosphere 10:e02839. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2839

Inigo Alonso, Matan Yuval, Gal Eyal, Tali Treibitz, Ana C. Murillo (2019) CoralSeg: Learning Coral Segmentation from Sparse Annotations. Journal of Field Robotics 36:1456–1477. DOI: 10.1002/rob.21915

Pim Bongaerts, Gonzalo Perez-Rosales, Veronica Z. Radice, Gal Eyal, Andrea Gori, Erika Gress, Nicholas Hammerman, Alejandra Hernandez-Agreda, Jack Laverick, Paul Muir, Hudson Pinheiro, Richard Pyle, Luiz Rocha, Joseph A. Turner, Ryan Booker (2019) Mesophotic.org: a repository for scientific information on mesophotic ecosystems. Database: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation 2019:baz140. DOI: 10.1093/database/baz140

Raz Tamir, Gal Eyal, Itay Cohen, Yossi Loya (2020) Effects of light pollution on the early life stages of the most abundant northern Red Sea coral. Microorganisms 8:193. DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8020193

Dalit Meron, Keren Maor-Landaw, Gal Eyal, Hila Elifantz, Ehud Banin, Yossi Loya, Oren Levy (2020) The complexity of the holobiont in the Red Sea coral Euphyllia paradivisa under heat stress. Microorganisms 8:372. DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8030372

Or Ben-Zvi, Raz Tamir, Nir Keren, Dan Tchernov, Ilana Berman-Frank, Yuval Kolodny, Tal Benaltabet, Harel Bavli, Mor Friedman, Noga Glanz-Idan, Hadar Traugott, Yossi Loya, Gal Eyal (2020) Photophysiology of a mesophotic coral 3 years after transplantation to a shallow environment. Coral Reefs 1-11 DOI: 10.1007/s00338-020-01910-0

Peer-reviewed book chapters

Gal Eyal, Yossi Loya (2016) Eilat, Red Sea, Israel. in Baker EK, Puglise KA and Harris PT (Eds.). Mesophotic coral ecosystems – A lifeboat for coral reefs?, chapter 3.5: pages 28-30; The United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi and Arendal., ISBN: 978-82-7701-150-9

Dominic Andradi-Brown, Jack Laverick, Ivonne Bejarano, Thomas Bridge, Patrick L. Colin, Gal Eyal, et al. (2016) Threats to mesophotic coral ecosystems and management options. in Baker EK, Puglise KA and Harris PT (Eds.). Mesophotic coral ecosystems – A lifeboat for coral reefs?, chapter 6: pages 67-82; The United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal., ISBN: 978-82-7701-150-9

Gal Eyal, Raz Tamir, Netanel Kramer, Lee Eyal-Shaham, Yossi Loya (2019) The Red Sea: Israel. In: Loya Y, Puglise KA, Bridge TCL (Eds.) Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 12. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-92735-0_11

Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Takaaki K Watanabe, Atsuko Yamazaki, Shiori Yoneta, Kohki Sowa, Frederic Sinniger, Gal Eyal, Yossi Loya, Saki Harii (2019) Coral Sclerochronology: Similarities and Differences in the Coral Isotopic Signatures Between Mesophotic and Shallow-Water Reefs. In: Loya Y, Puglise KA, Bridge TCL (Eds.) Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 12. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-92735-0_36

Joseph A Turner, Dominic A Andradi-Brown, Andrea Gori, Pim Bongaerts, Heidi L Burdett, Christine Ferrier-Pagès, Christian R Voolstra, David K Weinstein, Tom CL Bridge, Federica Costantini, Erika Gress, Jack Laverick, Yossi Loya, Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley, Sergio Rossi, Michelle L Taylor, Nuria Viladrich, Joshua Voss, Joel Williams, Lucy C Woodall, Gal Eyal (2019) Key questions for research and conservation of mesophotic coral ecosystems and temperate mesophotic ecosystems. In: Loya Y, Puglise KA, Bridge TCL (Eds.) Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 12. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-92735-0_52

Web profiles

Research Gate

Mesophotic.org

Google Scholar

Main collaborators

Prof. John Pandolfi, Marine Palaeoecology Lab, University of Queensland, Australia

Prof. Oren Levy, Laboratory for Molecular Marine Ecology, Bar Ilan University, Israel

Prof. Yossi Loya, School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Dr. Tali Treibitz, Marine Imaging Lab, University of Haifa, Israel

Prof. Jörg Wiedenmann, Coral Reef Laboratory, NOCS, University of Southampton, UK