Unit name:Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Unit

Keywords: biodiversity, evolution, interaction, ecosystem, environment

       Modern biological sciences have dramatically advanced with the development of molecular biological techniques to analyze life phenomena at cellular, molecular, and genetic levels. However, do we really understand organisms? Our research unit “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Unit” intends to establish biological perspectives from comprehensive viewpoints, including interactions between organisms and their environments, by taking over the traditions of biodiversity and ecosystem research at the University of Tsukuba, in order to gain a better understanding of organisms.

1K (1,000) Insect Transcriptome Evolution (1KITE) Project to understand all organisms

       Various organisms exist on the earth. They are believed to share an ancestor, which was born in the ancient sea and evolved into more complex lives. Advances in molecular biological techniques have facilitated the analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequences, improving the understanding of phylogenies at genetic and molecular levels. However, understanding a series of historical facts, evolution, requires comprehensive examinations, including paleontological and morphological, as well as molecular phylogenetic analysis. Our goal is “depiction of the evolution” from comprehensive viewpoints. For example, we have promoted 1K (1,000) Insect Transcriptome Evolution (1KITE) Project with 101 researchers from 43 institutions in 13 countries and regions, successfully elucidating phylogenetic relationships among various insects based on huge genome data obtained from 103 insect kinds, covering the entire taxonomic groups of insects (Figure 1).

Figure 1: New phylogenetic relationships of insects, revealed by the 1KITE

Utilize the accumulated academic findings and fields of the University of Tsukuba

Figure 2: Sugadaira Montane Research Center to observe vegetation succession for the past 100 years

       The Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Tsukuba has energetically investigated diverse organisms, accumulating enormous findings in the fields of phylogeny and ecology, unparalleled by no other university. In the Sugadaira Montane Research Center ^(*1), from which some of our members are participating in the research, there is a secondary sere, deliberately left for 80 years after the establishment of the center ^(*2), providing valuable fields, which, in addition to original natural forests, allows observation of vegetation for about 100 years (Figure 2). Using these resources, our unit will elucidate biodiversity, ecosystems, and interactions among biological environments, in order to provide data to solve various social problems of today (global environmental deterioration, disasters, and energy problems).

^{*1: Sugadaira Montane Research Center has Changed to “Sugadaira Research Station, Mountain Research Center” since April 1st, 2017.
*2: Secondary sere: Sera of plant populations, which are initiated with deforestation by humans}

Interviewed on June 27, 2014