Contact:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology
Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research
BGU, Sede Boqer Campus, Midreshet Ben-Gurion 84990, Israel
Telephone: +972-8-6596785
Fax: +972-8-659-6772
E-mail: Kotler@bgu.ac.il

Born: 1954, USA.
Ph.D.: 1983, University of Arizona. Professor.
Board of Editors for Ecology and Ecological Monographs.

Research Interests:

Research Projects:

• Foraging games between gerbils and their predators.
• Measuring habitat suitability in hyraxes and ibex in desert habitats.
• Using mechanisms of species coexistence as a management tool in desert mammalian herbivores
  

Courses taught:

Recent Publications:

• Brown, J.S., and B.P. Kotler. The ecology of fear. In: Stephens, D., R. Ydenberg and J.S. Brown (Eds.), Foraging. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. In press.
  
  
• Kotler, B.P. and J.S. Brown. Community ecology. In: Stephens, D., R. Ydenberg and J.S. Brown (Eds.), Foraging. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. In press.
  
  
• Kotler, B.P., and M. Perrin. A test of five mechanisms of species coexistence between rodents in a southern African Savannah. African Journal of Zoology, in press.
  
  
• Kotler, B.P., C. Dickman, O. Ovadia and G. Wasserberg. The effect of resource renewal on the timing of nightly activity of male and female Allenbyi’s gerbils (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi). Oikos, in press.
  
  
• Ovadia, O. Z. Abramsky, B. P. Kotler, and B. Pinshow. Inter-specific competitors reduce inter-gender competition in Negev Desert gerbils. Oecologia 142:480-488 (2005).
  
  
• Ben-Natan, G., Z. Abramsky and B.P. Kotler. Daily renewal of seed resource patches provide the necessary environmental variability for two temporally partitoining gerbils. Oikos, 105:325-335 (2004).
  
  
• Brown, J.S. and B.P. Kotler. Hazardous duty pay: studying the foraging cost of predation. Ecology Letters, 7:999-1014 (2004).
  
  
• Kotler, B.P., J.S. Brown and A. Bouskila. Apprehension and time allocation in gerbils: the effects of predatory risk and energetic state. Ecology, 85:917-922 (2004).
  
  
• Markman, S., B. Pinshow, J. Wright and B.P. Kotler. Central place foraging: alternative patch-use by parents. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73:747-755 (2004).
  
  
• Mitchell, W.A., B.P. Kotler, J.S. Brown, L. Blaustein, and S.R.X. Dall. Species diversity, environmental heterogeneity, and species interactions. In: Shachak, M., J.R. Gosz, S.T.A. Pickett and A. Perevolotsky (Eds.), Diversity in Drylands: Towards a Unified Framework. Oxford University Press (2004).
  
  
• Kotler, B.P., J.S. Brown, A. Bouskila, S. Mukherjee and T. Goldberg. Foraging games between gerbils and their predators: seasonal changes in schedules of activity and apprehension. Israel Journal of Zoology 50:256-271 (2004).
  
  
• Polis, G.A., Y. Ayal, A. Bachi, S.R.X. Dall, D.E. Goldberg, R.D. Holt, S. Kark, B.P. Kotler and W.A. Mitchell. United framework I: Interspecific interactions and species diversity in drylands. In: Shachak, M., J.R. Gosz, S.T.A. Pickett and A. Perevolotsky (Eds.) Diversity in Drylands: Towards a Unified Framework. Oxford University Press (2004).
  
  
• Saltz, D. and B.P. Kotler. Maternal age is a predominant determinate of progeny sex ratio in ungulates: a reply to Hewison et al. Oikos, 101:646-648 (2003).
  
  
• Wasserberg, G., Z. Abramsky, B.P. Kotler, R.S. Ostfeld, I. Yarom and A. Warburg. Anthropogenic disturbances enhance occurence of Cutaneous leishmaniasis inIsrael deserts: patterns and mechanisms. Ecological Applications, 13:868-881 (2003).
  
  
• Ylonen, H., C. Dickman and B.P. Kotler. Estimating small mammal densities: why don’t Uglala traps work in arid environments? Annales Zoologici Fennici, 40:537-541 (2003).
  
  
• Ylonen, H. and B.P. Kotler. Preface: costs of coexistence in mammals. Evolutinary Ecology, 17:313-314 (2003).
  
  
• Ziv, Y. and B.P. Kotler. Giving-up densities of foraging gerbils: the effect of interspecific competition on patch use. Evolutionary Ecology, 17:333-347 (2003).
  
  
• Wasserberg, G., Z. Abramsky, G. Anders, M. El-Fari, G. Schoenian, L. Schnur, B.P.Kotler, I. Kabalo and A. Warburg. The ecology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Nizzana, Israel: infection patterns in the reservoir host, and epidemiological implications. International journal for parasitology, 32(2):133-143 (2002).
  
  
• Kotler, B.P., J.S. Brown, S.R.X. Dall, S. Gresser, D. Ganey and A. Bouskila. Foraging games between owls and gerbils: temporal dynamics of resource depletion and apprehension in gerbils. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 4:495-518 (2002).
  
  
• Brown, J.S., B.P. Kotler and A. Bouskila. The ecology of fear and the foraging game between owls and gerbils. Annales Zoologica Fennica, 38:71-87 (2001).
  
  
• Dall, S.R.X., B.P. Kotler and A. Bouskila. Attention, apprehension, and gerbils searching in patches. Annales Zoologica Fennica, 38:15-23 (2001).
  
  
• Kotler, B.P., J.S. Brown, A. Oldfield, J. Thorson and D. Cohen. Patch use in three species of gerbils in a risky environment: the role of escape substrate and foraging substrate. Ecology, 82:1781-1790 (2001).
  
  
• Ovadia, O., Y. Ziv, Z. Abramsky, B. Pinshow and B.P. Kotler. Harvest rates and foraging strategies in Negev Desert gerbils. Behavioral Ecology, 12:219-226 (2001).
  
  
• Fierer, N.G. and B. P. Kotler. Patch discrimination in gerbils: evidence for micropatch selection and the effects of distinct and vague boundaries. Journal of Functional Ecology, 14:176-182 (2000).
  
  
• Lortie.,C.J., D.T. Ganey and B.P. Kotler. The effects of gerbil foraging on the natural seedbank and consequences on the annual plant community. Oikos, 90:399-407 (2000).