B.Sc. Biology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
M.Sc. Zoology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (minor in Entomology), University of Arizona
My broad area of interest is in how organisms adjust growth and developmental in response to environmental variation. Specifically, I am focusing on the physiological mechanisms by which insects translate variation in diet quality and temperature, two environmental factors with strong effects on life histories, into phenotypic variation in body size and development time, two traits highly correlated with fitness. In my work I emphasize the regulation of these traits at the level of the whole organism. The complexity of the traits and the mechanisms that regulate them have led me to develop an integrative research program. Currently, I am employing techniques from quantitative genetics, physiology, respirometry, endocrinology, ecology, evolutionary biology, behavior, elemental stoichiometry, combining lab, greenhouse and field work.
Nijhout H. F., D.A. Roff and G. Davidowitz (2010). Conflicting Processes in the Evolution of Body Size and Development Time. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (in press).
Stillwell, R. C., C. W. Fox, W. Blanckenhorn, T. Teder and G. Davidowitz (2010 invited). Sex differences in phenotypic plasticity of body size and variation in sexual size dimorphism – from physiology to ecology. Annual Review of Entomology (in press).
Potter K., G. Davidowitz, H. A. Woods. (2009) Insect eggs protected from high temperatures by limited homeothermy of plant leaves. Journal of Experimental Biology (in press).
Bronstein J., T. Huxman, B. Horvath, M. Farabee, G. Davidowitz. (2009). Reproductive biology of Datura wrightii: the benefits of a herbivorous pollinator. Annals of Botany 103: 1435-1443.
Nijhout, H.F. and G. Davidowitz (2009). The developmental-physiological basis of phenotypic plasticity. In Whitman, D. W. and T. N. Ananthakrishnan (Eds.). Phenotypic Plasticity in Insects: Mechanisms and Consequences. Science Publishers, Inc. Plymouth, UK.
Davidowitz,G. (2008). Population and environmental effects on the size-fecundity relationship in a common grasshopper across an aridity gradient. Journal of Orthoptera Research 17(2):265-272.
Riffell, J.A., R. Alarcón, L. Abrell, G. Davidowitz, J. L. Bronstein, and J. G. Hildebrand (2008). Behavioral consequences of innate preferences and olfactory learning in hawkmoth-flower interactions Proceedings of the National Academy of Science U.S.A. 105:3404-3409.
Alarcon, R., G. Davidowitz, and J.L. Bronstein (2008). Nectar usage in a southern Arizona hawkmoth community. Ecological Entomology 33:503-509.
Davidowitz G. and L. Kolska Horwitz (2007). Inter-population variation in wild boar from Israel. In: Pigs and Humans: 10,000 Years of Interaction. Eds: Umberto Albarella, Keith Dobney,Anton Ervynck and Peter Rowley-Conwy.
