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| Environmental Physics and Irrigation |
| Head: Shabtai Cohen, Ph.D. |
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| Staff |
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| Understanding agricultural crop water use and thereby optimizing its efficiency requires interdisciplinary approaches to analysis and measurement of the plant environment, both in the soil and in the atmosphere. Prediction of the flow and transport of water and solutes in the root and vadose zones, for both agricultural and environmental needs, requires understanding at all scales from molecular, through sample and column, up to field and regional scales. Through such in-depth understanding of the soil-water-plant-atmosphere continuum and of the associated dynamic processes, the Department seeks to use its state-of-the-art research facilities to promote wise management of soil and water resources both to sustain agricultural production and to safeguard environmental quality. |
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The scientific staff of the Department covers three major scientific disciplines: In addition to their research, members of the Department present courses in universities and technological institutes, and participate in short-term international courses organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Basic and applied research is focused on supporting agricultural practices that include: crop climate control, soil tillage, irrigation, fertilization, pesticide application, and conservation of environmental quality. Research fields covered by the Department staff include: - Climate change in recent decades (in particular "Global Dimming");
- Climate, climate control and crop and livestock response in agricultural structures: Screening in orchards; Screenhouses for vegetable production; Greenhouses; Chicken coops;
- Boundary layer flows in and above plant canopies;
- Natural ventilation of buildings and agricultural structures;
- Energy and water balance in agricultural and other wet systems, at all levels from individual organism, through crop, to ecosystem;
- Hydraulic architecture and water status of plants and crops;
- Measurement of plant and crop water use, by plant- and boundary- layer-based methods;
- Heat-pulse method for determination of transpiration;
- Electrical measurements in tree stems for water and salinity stress monitoring;
- Physiology of crop water stress and determination of water stress indexes;
- Cellular and physiological approaches for the study of salinity tolerance and sensitivity of plants;
- Numerical analyses of plant growth kinematics at cellular, tissue, organ and whole-plant levels;
- Tillage and soil-structure management;
- Water requirements and salt tolerance of crops;
- Irrigation practices and technologies;
- Irrigation with recycled and marginal water;
- Rainfall-infiltration-runoff relationships;
- Soil surface sealing;
- Erosion processes;
- Evaporation from soil and from water reservoirs;
- Water flow and solute transport in spatially variable, partially and fully saturated porous formations;
- Field-scale spatial variability of hydraulic and mechanical soil properties;
- Assessment of groundwater contamination hazards;
- Hydraulic properties of compacted soils;
- Hydrostatics and hydrodynamics of swelling soils;
- Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) for simultaneous in-situ determination of soil water content and salinity;
- Mapping of soil salinity for precision agriculture;
- Flow processes in fractured formations;
- Application of controlled-release formulations of agrochemicals;
- Soil-bacteria interactions.
Alon Ben-Gal, Gilat |
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| Staff |
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| Researchers |
| Name (Surname, First name) |
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Research Interests / Job description |
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| Assouline Shmuel, Ph.D. | |
Soil hydraulic properties.
Irrigation practices and… |
| Bernstein Nirit, Ph.D. | |
Plant Physiology
• Understanding salinity effects on plant… |
| Cohen Shabtai, Ph.D. | |
Micro-meteorology around vegetation and soil; Canopy… |
| Cohen Yehezkel, Ph.D. | |
Emeritus |
| Communar Gregory, Ph.D. | |
Trickle Irrigation, Irrigation with saline and recycled… |
| Friedman Shmulik, Ph.D. | |
Trickle Irrigation, Irrigation with saline and recycled… |
| Fuchs Marcel, Ph.D. | |
Greenhouse climate control
Micro-meteorology around… |
| Hadas Amos, Ph.D. | |
Emeritus,
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| Kurtzman Daniel (Dani), Ph.D. | |
Influence of agricultural practices on water… |
| Lemcoff Jorge Hugo, Prof. | |
To understand plant-water relationships, this means to… |
| Meiri Avraham, Ph.D. | |
Emeritus |
| Moreshet Samuel, Ph.D. | |
Emeritus,
Environmental plant physiology
Water transport… |
| Nadler Arie, Ph.D. | |
1. In-situ monitoring of water content and salinity down the… |
| Russo David, Ph.D. | |
(i) water flow and chemical transport in heterogeneous… |
| Stanhill Gerald, Ph.D. | |
Emeritus,
Climate change
Solar radiation measurement and… |
| Tanny Josef, Ph.D. | |
Agricultural meteorology; Crop water consumption;… |
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| Engineers/Technicians |
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| Scholars |
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| Retiree |
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