Research Areas

  • Behavioral ecology of insects
  • Ecology of blood feeding flies
  • Sexual behavior and nutritional ecology of fruit flies
  • Insect microbe interactions
  • Integrated pest management

Current teaching activities:

Undergraduate

Graduate

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Current Research Projects:

Manipulation of the post teneral environment to increase sexual competitiveness and survival of male Mediterranean fruit flies.

Bacteria - Fruit fly interactions

Functional and evolutionary aspects of sperm storage in Mediterranean Fruit flies.

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Representative Publications:

a. Book Chapters and Review Articles:

Yuval B. 1992. The other habit- sugar feeding by mosquitoes. Bulletin of the Society for Vector Ecology 17:150-156.

Yuval, B., & J. Hendrichs. 2000. Behavior of flies in the genus Ceratitis. pp. 429-456. In: Fruit Flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior. (Aluja, M. & A. Norrbom, eds), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Yuval, B., R. Kaspi, S.A. Field, S. Blay, and P. Taylor. 2002. Effects of post-teneral nutrition on reproductive success of male Mediterranean fruit flies. Florida Entomologist 85: 165-170.

Yuval, B. Mating systems of blood feeding flies. 2006. Annual Review of Entomology 51: 413-440.

Yuval, B., M. Maor, K. Levy, R Kaspi, P Taylor and T.E. Shelly. 2007. Breakfast of champions or kiss of death - survival and sexual performance of protein fed sterile Mediterranean fruit flies. Florida Entomologist 90: 115-122.

b. Research Articles:

Yuval B. & A. Spielman. 1990. Duration and regulation of the developmental cycle of Ixodes dammini (Acari: Ixodidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 27:196-201.

Yuval B. & A. Bouskila. 1993. Temporal dynamics of mating and predation in mosquito swarms. Oecologia 95:65-69.

Blay, S., & B. Yuval. 1997. Nutritional correlates of reproductive success of male Mediterranean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). Animal Behaviour 54:59-66.

Yuval, B., R. Kaspi, S. Shloush & M.S. Warburg. 1998. Nutritional reserves regulate male participation in Mediterranean fruit fly leks. Ecological Entomology 23:211-215.

Kaspi, R. & B. Yuval. 1999. Mediterranean fruit fly leks: factors affecting male location. Functional Ecology 13: 539-545.

Taylor P.W. & B. Yuval. 1999. Post-copulatory sexual selection in the Mediterranean fruit fly: advantages for large and protein fed males. Animal Behaviour 58: 247-254.

Mossinson, S. and B. Yuval. 2003. Regulation of sexual receptivity of female Mediterranean fruit flies: old hypotheses revisited and a new synthesis proposed. Journal of Insect Physiology 49: 561-567.

Twig, E. & B.Yuval. 2005. Function of multiple sperm storage organs in female Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata, Diptera: Tephritidae). Journal of Insect Physiology 51: 67-74.

Behar, A., E. Jurkevitch & B. Yuval. 2008. Bringing back the fruit to fruit fly-bacteria interactions. Molecular Ecology, 17, 1375-1386.

Ben-Yosef, M., Jurkevitch, E. & Yuval B. 2008. Effect of bacteria on nutritional status and reproductive success of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata. Physiological Entomology 33, 145-154.

Ben-Ami, E., B. Yuval & E. Jurkevitch. 2010. Manipulation of the microbiota of mass-reared Mediterranean fruit flies Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) improves sterile male sexual performance. The ISME Journal 4: 28-37.

Ben-Yosef, M., Jurkevitch, E. Aharon, Y & Yuval B. 2010. Give us the tools and we will do the job: Symbiotic bacteria affect olive fly fitness

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