Sharoni Shafir

Director, B. Triwaks Bee Research Center

 

Ph.D. 1995, Stanford University; Associate Professor 2009

 

Department Head

 

 

Department of Entomology,
The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment,
P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.

   

    Tel: 972-8-948-9401

    Fax: 972-8-948-9842

 

    e-mail: shafir@agri.huji.ac.il

 

 

    Research Areas:

    Animal Cognition

    Behavioral Ecology

    Pollination Ecology

 

    Teaching:

    Entomology Lab

    Honey Bee Biology

    Behavioral Ecology of Pollination

 

    Research Interests:

    Decision-making processes in honey bees

    Cognitive ecology of pollination

    Crop pollination

 

 

    Selected Publications:

 

1. Shafir, S. 1994. Intransitivity of preferences in honey bees -- support for comparative evaluation of foraging options. Animal Behaviour 48: 55 -- 67.

 

2. Shafir, S. 2000. Risk-sensitive foraging: the effect of relative variability. Oikos. 89: 663-669.

 

3. Shafir, S., T.A. Waite, and B.H. Smith. 2002. Context-dependent violations of rational choice in honeybees (Apis mellifera) and gray jays. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 51: 180-187.

 

4. Dag , A., A.E. Fetscher , O. Afik , Y. Yeselson , A.A. Schaffer , Y. Kamer , N.M. Waser , M.A. Madore  , M.L. Arpaia , R. Hofshi , and S. Shafir . 2003. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) strains differ in avocado (Persea americana) nectar foraging preferences. Apidologie 34: 299-309.

 

5. Shafir, S., A. Bechar , and E. U. Weber . 2003. Cognition-mediated coevolution – context-dependent evaluations and sensitivity of pollinators to variability in nectar rewards. Plant Systematics and Evolution 238: 195-209.

 

6. Weber, E. U., S. Shafir , and A.R. Blais . 2004. Predicting risk‑sensitivity in humans and lower animals: risk as variance or coefficient of variation. Psychological Review 111: 430-445.

 

7. Shafir, S., G. Menda  and B.H. Smith . 2005. Caste-specific differences in risk-sensitivity in honey bees (Apis mellifera). Animal Behaviour 69: 859-868.

 

8. Afik, O., A. Dag, Z. Kerem, and S. Shafir. 2006. Analyses of avocado (Persea americana) nectar properties and their perception by honey bees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Chemical Ecology. 32: 1949-1963.

 

9. Drezner-Levy, T. and S. Shafir. 2007. Parameters of variable reward distributions that affect risk sensitivity of honey bees. Journal of Experimental Biology. 210: 269-277.

 

10. Stern, R.A., G. Sapir, S. Shafir, A. Dag, and M. Goldway. 2007. The appropriate management of honey bee colonies for pollination of Rosaceae fruit trees in warm climates. Middle Eastern and Russian Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology. 1: 13-19.

 

11. Afik, O., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2008. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) round dance is influenced by trace elements composition of floral nectar. Animal Behaviour. 75: 371-377.

 

12. Shafir S., T. Reich, E. Tsur, I. Erev and A. Lotem. 2008. Perceptual accuracy and conflicting effects of certainty on risk-taking behaviour. Nature 453: 917-920.

 

13. Avni, D., A. Dag, and S. Shafir. 2009. The effect of surface area of pollen patties fed to honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies on their consumption, brood production and honey yields. Journal of Apicultural Research 48: 23-28.