Contact:
Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry,
Wyler Department for Dryland Agriculture,
French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands,
Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Sede Boqer Campus,
Israel, 84990.
E-mail: degen@bgu.ac.il
Academic Status:
Full Professor
Short Introduction:
Allan Degen is an environmental physiologist who does research on animal adaptations and production in extensive and intensive management systems under extreme conditions. For examples, he has done studies on pastoralists under desert conditions as well at high altitude. In these studies, he examines the role of livestock in the livelihood of the producers.
Research Interests:
1. Livestock production under desert conditions
2. Energy and water balances in captive and free-living desert birds and mammals
3. Reproduction in captive and free-living desert birds and mammals
4. Secondary compounds as anti-nutritive agents against grazing herbivores
5. Biotic and abiotic effects on the behavioral and physiological responses of animals
6. Host-parasite relationships and reciprocal physiological and immunological effects
Selected Publications:
1. Degen, A.A., M. Kam, S.B. Pandey, C.R. Upreti, S. El-Meccawi, and N.P. Osti (2010). In vitro gas production of leaves from fodder trees and shrubs from mid-hills of Nepal using cow, sheep and goat rumen liquor. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 148:445-451.
2. Degen, A.A., S. El-Meccawi and M. Kam (2010). Cafeteria trials to determine relative preference of six desert trees and shrubs by sheep and goats. Livestock Science 132:19-25.
3. Khokhlova, I.S., V. Serobyan, A.A. Degen and B.R. Krasnov (2010). Host gender and offspring quality in a flea parasitic on a rodent. Journal of Experimental Biology 213:3299-3304.
4. Degen, A.A., L.N. Pandey, M. Kam, S.B. Pandey, C.R. Upreti and N.P. Osti (2010). Goat production and fodder leaves offered by local villagers in the mid-hills of Nepal. Human Ecology 38:625-637.
5. Kam, M., A.A. Degen, I.S. Khokhlova, B.R. Krasnov and E. Geffen (2010). Parasites increase energy expenditure of their free-living hosts. Public Library of Science One (PLoS One) 5 (10):e13686.
6. Khokhlova, I.S., V. Serobyan, A.A. Degen and B.R. Krasnov (2011). Discrimination of host gender by a haematophagous ectoparasite. Animal Behaviour 81:275-281.
7. Degen, A.A. (2011). Transformation of Borana from nomadic pastoralists to agropastoralists and shift of livestock from cattle to include more goats, camels and sheep in southern Ethiopia. International Journal of Business and Globalization 6 (3/4):292-312.
8. Degen, A.A., I.S. Khokhlova and M. Kam (2011). Milk production of the dam limits the growth rate of Sundevall's jird (Meriones crassus) pups. Mammalian Biology 76:285-289.
9. Degen, A.A. and S. El-Meccawi (2011). Bedouin chefs catering Bedouin weddings in the Negev Desert of Southern Israel. International Journal of Business and Globalization 3:303-318.
10. Kam, M., I.S. Khokhlova, B.R. Krasnov and A.A. Degen (2011). Flea infestation does not cause a long-term increase in energy metabolism in Gerbillus nanus. Journal of Experimental Biology 214:3968-3971.
11. Khokhlova, I.S., L.J Fielden, A.A. Degen and B.R. Krasnov (2012). Feeding performance of fleas on hosts of different rodent species: is phylogenetic distance between hosts important? Parasitology 139:60-68.
12. Khokhlova, I.S., L.J Fielden, A.A. Degen and B.R. Krasnov (2012). Digesting blood of an auxiliary host in fleas: effect of phylogenetic distance from a principal host. Journal of Experimental Biology 215:1259-1265.
13. Kam, M., S. El-Meccawi and A.A. Degen (2012). Foraging behavior and diet selection of free-ranging sheep and goats in the Negev Desert, Israel. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 150:379-387.
14. Khokhlova, I.S., L.J. Fielden, A. A. Degen and B.R. Krasnov (2012). Phylogenetic distance of an auxiliary host from a principal host affects fitness in haematophagous ectoparasites. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 25:2005-2013.
15. Sivan, J., M. Kam, S. Hadad, A. A. Degen, I. Rozenboim and A. Rosenstrauch (2012). Reproductive cycle of free-living male Saharan Sand Vipers, Cerastes vipera (Viperidae), in the Negev Desert, Israel. General and Comparative Endocrinology 179:241-247.
16. Degen, A.A. (2013). Karakul sheep production in Kazakhstan: an efficient collective enterprise under the state farm (sovkhoz) system and its collapse with the break-up of the Soviet Union. World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 9 (1):1-9.
17. Pandey, L.N., M. Kam, S.B. Pandey, C.R. Upreti, N.P. Osti and A.A. Degen (2013). Effect of stylo grass (Stylosanthes guianensis) supplement on body mass and forage intake of Khari goats in the mid-hills of Nepal. International Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 1:1-10.
18. Khokhlova, I.S., L,J. Fielden, J.B. Williams, A.A. Degen and B.R. Krasnov (2013). Energy expenditure for egg production and food source: a case study with two species of haematophagous insects. Parasitology 140:1070-1077.
