Biography
Aviad Scheinin is currently serving as Head of Marine Apex Predator Lab, which specializes in conservation, behavioral science, and long-term ecological research of coastal dolphins, sharks, rays, bluefin tuna. Apex predators are important for maintaining the integrity of ecosystems, yet there exists a huge knowledge gap on these predators of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea which we plan to overcome. The Marine Apex Predator Lab is continuously engaged in developing new sampling protocols and indicators for pelagic megafauna. Emphasis is placed on the function of these species as sentinels of the marine environment and their ability to inform us about human perturbations. Photogrammetric measurements are employed using drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), both active and passive acoustic surveying techniques, mark-recapture methods, underwater observations, and cutting-edge technologies for molecular and stable isotope analyses, e-DNA and microbiome analysis.