Moshe Shachak,^* Bertrand Boeken,^* Elli Groner,^* Ronen Kadmon,^* Yael Lubin,^* Ehud Meron,^* Gidi Ne'Eman,^* Avi Perevolotsky,^* Yehoshua Shkedy,^* Eugene David Ungar<sup>*


*</sup>Moshe Shachak (e-mail: shachak@bgu.ac.il) and Yael Lubin are ecology professors, and Elli Groner is an ecologist, in the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. Bertrand Boeken is a senior lecturer in the Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Ronen Kadmon is an associate professor in the Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Ehud Meron is a professor of physics in the Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and in the physics department at the Marcus Family Campus of Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Gidi Ne'eman is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Haifa–Oranim in Tivon, Israel. Avi Perevolotsky is an adjunct professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Eugene David Ungar is a scientist, and Perevolotsky is a senior scientist, at the Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel. Yehoshua Shkedy is chief scientist of the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority.