Joseph Alexander Heller (born April 10, 1941 in

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) is an Israeli zoologist- malacologist. Heller is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the Department of Ecology, Evolution and

Behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...

in the Silverman Institute of

Life Sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

, Faculty of Science, at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. Heller immigrated to Israel in 1949. He received his

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Life Science; Zoology and

Microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

in 1965,

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

in Zoology in 1968 and his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1972 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His dissertation thesis is titled "Studies on the systematics distribution and ecology of the landsnail

Buliminus ''Buliminus'', is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Enidae. Species Species within the genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of ...

in Israel". Heller was a visiting scientist at the University of Liverpool, University of Bristol, University of Cape Town, and

the State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...

. He published 4 books and over 100 articles. His books are the first ever on the

land snails A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

of Israel and on

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

molluscs of the land of Israel.

Research fields

Heller's cardinal studies concern the taxonomy,

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

and reproductive biology of gastropods, of Israel and in general. Natural history of recent and fossil terrestrial and aquatic gastropods in various aspects such as resistance to heat and

desiccation Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...

. Research results in developing a new bio-geographic methodology for modeling faunal responses to climatic gradients. Heller evolved and set priorities for planning strategies of conservation of terrestrial invertebrate faunas.

Academic activities

Since 1979, Heller was appointed as an Academic curator of the National Molluscs Collection at the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. and holds this position till present. He participates in the Committee for Hebrew terms in Zoology and Biology at the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...

and member in the Fauna Committee of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. As a veteran scientist, Heller was

editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of The Israel Journal of Zoology in the years 1989 -1990. During his career at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Heller was elected Head of the Department of Zoology. For his genuine research, decades of activities in the scientific community in general and in designing the scientific education in Israel, Heller was awarded in 2010 as an Honorary Member of the Zoological Society of Israel.

Notable publications

* * * (in Hebrew). English edition published by Pensoft in 2009 . * * * *

References

External links

Evolution and Behaviour in Animal world
Lectures. (Hebrew)

, Lecture, SHOMU SHAMAYM series, Hebrew University Jerusalem, October 25, 2009 (Hebrew) * Ben-Hur, Y.

KIMAAT 2000 Journal of Science and Technology, vol.1. (Hebrew) * Rinat, Z.
"HAKER et Ha-REKICHA"
(To Know the Mollusc).

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

, May 25, 2012, internet edition.(Hebrew) * List of malacologists List of malacologists#H * Citations number of Heller's publications

* Heller detailed curriculu

* Panel Discussion – The 21st International Congress of Zoology, Haifa Israel, September 201

* Tentacle, Molluscs Specialist Grou

* List of Non- Marine Molluscs of Israel List of non-marine molluscs of Israel {{DEFAULTSORT:Heller, Joseph 1941 births Living people Israeli malacologists Israeli zoologists Israeli curators Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 21st-century Israeli scientists Academic journal editors Conservation biologists Australian emigrants to Israel