DIVISION OF HUMAN ECOSYSTEM


In the broad and varied areas from mountainous zones to coastal zones, a lot of activities of human beings have been continued for a long time in various intensities. As a result characteristic ecosystems have been formed by the interaction between nature and human beings and/or by the coexistence of human beings and nature. This ecosystem is under the strong influence of human livelihood, specifically in the forms of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and so on, and also involves the villages, towns and cities that are human residential areas. The understanding of these ecosystems, which is one of the main subjects of this division, leads the solution of essence to the global environmental problems. Here we are trying to analyze interactions between human activities and nature, and practicing the education and research to build up the coexistence system.

LABORATORY OF HUMAN ECOSYSTEM CONSERVATION

Where, when and how the human ecosystem has evolved from the nature ecosystem and how the human ecosystem should be managed in relation to nature ecosystem conservation are studied in this laboratory. The modes of vegetation evolution and domestication continua from the wild to the weed, the encouraged, the semi-tamed to the tamed in the human ecosystem of Asian civilization and regional cultures are also field-surveyed.

■Associate Professor

LABORATORY OF COASTAL FISHERIES ECOLOGY

The main recent research activities have included: (1) field and laboratory studies on the life history and ecology of fish and invertebrates, (2) systematics of marine fish, (3) studies on environments and biological production systems in coastal waters, and (4) current interests which have been expanded to include an elucidation of the effects of human activities on terrestrial areas to coastal ecosystems through river discharge. This laboratory consists of the Maizuru Fisheries Research Station and educates graduate school students of the Graduate School of Agriculture.

■Professor
MASUDA, Reiji, D. Agr. (Univ. of Tokyo), Fish Behavior, Ecology and Psychology
E-mail : masuda.reiji.3w_at_kyoto-u.ac.jp

* Nakayama, S. ; Masuda, R. ; Tanaka, M. “Onset of schooling behavior and social transmission in chub mackerelScomber japonicus.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 2007, 61, p.1383-1390.
* Masuda, R. ; Shoji, J. ; Aoyama, M. ; Tanaka, M. “Chub mackerel larvae fed with fish larvae can swim faster than those fed with rotifers and Artemia nauplii.” Fisheries Science. 2002, 68, p.320-324
* Masuda R. “Seasonal and interannual variation of subtidal fish assemblages in Wakasa Bay with reference to the warming trend in the Sea of Japan.” Environmental Biology of Fishes. 2008, 82, p.387-399.
* Masuda R. ; Yamashita Y. ; Matsuyama M. “Jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus juveniles utilize jellyfish for predator avoidance and as a prey collector.” Fisheries Science. 2008, 74, p.282-290.

■Associate Professor
KAI, Yoshiaki, D. Agr. (Kyoto Univ.) Systematics of Fishes, Phylogenetics, Taxonomy
E-mail : kai.yoshiaki.4c_at_kyoto-u.ac.jp

* Kikko, T. ; Kuwahara, M. ; Iguchi, K. ; Kurumi, S. ; Yamamoto, S. ; Kai, Y. ; Nakayama, K. “Phylogeography of white-spotted charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis) in the Lake Biwa water system Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences.” Zoo-logical Science. 2008, 25, p.146-153
* Kai, Y. ; Nakabo, T. “Taxonomic review of the Sebastes inermis species complex (Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae).” Ichthyological Research. 2008, 55, p.238-259
* Kai, Y. ; Nakabo, T. “Taxonomic review of the genus Cottiusculus (Cottoidei: Cottidae) with description of a new species from the Sea of Japan.” Ichthyological Research in press. 2009.

■Assistant Professor
SUZUKI, Keita, D. Agr. (Kyoto Univ.) Coastal and Estuarine Ecology, Life Histories of Fish and Zooplankton
E-mail : suzuki.keita.3r_at_kyoto-u.ac.jp

* Suzuki KW. ; Kasai A, ; Ohta T. ; Nakayama K. ; Tanaka M. (2008) “Migration of Japanese temperate bass Lateolabrax japonicus juveniles within the Chikugo River estuary revealed by δ13C analysis.” Marine Ecology Progress Series. 2008, 358, p.245-256
* Suzuki KW. ; Nakayama K. ; Tanaka M. “Horizontal distribution and population dynamics of the dominant mysid Hyperacanthomysis longirostris along a temperate macrotidal estuary (Chikugo River estuary, Japan).” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 2009, 83, p.516-528
* Suzuki KW. ; Ueda H. ; Nakayama K. ; Tanaka M. “Different patterns of stage-specific horizontal distribution between two sympatric oligohaline copepods along a macrotidal estuary (Chikugo River, Japan): implications for life-history strategies.” Journal of Plankton Research. 2012, 34, p.1042-1057

■Assistant Professor
HENMI, Yumi, Ph. D. (Kochi Univ.) Symbiotic Ecology
E-mail : henmi.yumi.7c_at_kyoto-u.ac.jp

* Henmi Y.; Itani G. (2021) Species-specific patterns of the use of burrows of Upogebia Leach, 1814 (Decapoda: Gebiidae: Upogebiidae) by the symbiotic alpheid shrimps Stenalpheops anacanthus Miya, 1997 and Athanas japonicus Kubo, 1936 (Decapoda: Caridea: Alpheidae) as revealed by laboratory quantification. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 41: ruaa095.
* Henmi Y.; Okada Y.; Itani G. (2020) Occasional utilization of crustacean burrows by the estuarine goby Mugilogobius abei. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 528: 151383.
* Henmi Y.; Fujiwara C.; Itani G. (2020) Mesocosm experiments revealed a possible negative effect exerted by the facultatively symbiotic goby on the host alpheid shrimp burrow. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 527: 151379.

■Assistant Professor
TAKAHASHI, Kohji, D. Agr. (Kyoto Univ.), Cognitive Science of Fish
E-mail : takahashi.kohji.5n_at_kyoto-u.ac.jp

* Takahashi K.; Masuda R. (2021) Angling gear avoidance learning in juvenile red sea bream: evidence from individual-based experiments. Journal of Experimental Biology, 224: jeb239533.
* Takahashi K.; Masuda R. (2018) Net-chasing training improves the behavioral characteristics of hatchery-reared red sea bream (Pagrus major) juveniles. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 75: 861-867.
* Takahashi K.; Masuda R.; Yamashita Y. (2014) What to copy: the key factor of observational learning in striped jack (Pseudocaranx dentex) juveniles. Animal Cognition, 17: 495-501.

■Program-Specific Assistant Professor
ITO, Takeshi, D.Sci. (Osaka City Univ.), Evolutionary Ecology
E-mail : ito.takeshi.4p_at_kyoto-u.ac.jp

* Ito T., & Awata S. (2019). Optimal methods to fix fish sperm for optical microscopic observation: comparisons among different fixative solutions using sperms of copulatory and non-copulatory marine fishes. Ichthyological Research, 66: 307–315.
* Ito T., Kinoshita I., Tahara D., Goto A., Tojima S., Sideleva V.G., Kupchinsky A.B., & Awata S. (2021). Fertilization modes drive the evolution of sperm traits in Baikal sculpins. Journal of Zoology, 314: 20–30.
* Ito, T., Morita, M., Okuno, S., Inaba, K., Shiba, K., Munehara, H., Koya Y., Homma M., & Awata, S. (2022). Fertilization modes and the evolution of sperm characteristics in marine fishes: Paired comparisons of externally and internally fertilizing species. Ecology and Evolution, 12: e9562.