Our Aim:

Microbial food webs in freshwater and marine environments have been intensively studied during the last two decades, but there still remains a controversy over the relative importance of the microbial food web versus the classical food chain as the major supply of organic matter to metazoan zooplankton. In the classical food chain phytoplankton are directly grazed by zooplankton, whereas most zooplankters also utilize protists such as heterotrophic flagellates and ciliates, which consume bacteria as a crop from the microbial food web, since the sizes of bacteria are too small for them to serve directly as prey for most zooplankters.

We Nakano Lab have been conducting researches on microbial food webs in lakes, ponds, coastal seas and streams, together with those on the ecology of microalgae and cyanobacteria in the environments. Our goal is to elucidate complex interactions within ecosystems and to determine what can be done for the better management of ecosystems for the sustainable existence of human beings and other living organisms.

From 1 July 2009, we conduct a new project of Ministry of Environment, Japan, as below:

Ecophysiology, phylogeography and environmental sociology on water blooms of the globally distributed cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa   

Principal Investigator  Shin-ichi NAKANO, Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University
Collaborative universities: Tsukuba University, Fukui Prefectural University

Blooms of freshwater cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa, are a serious symptom of eutrophication and　have harmful effects on lake ecology and human beings. We aim to elucidate transport, growth and genetic diversity of the cyanobacterium, together with the dynamics of its toxic strains, using large experimental systems and the most sophisticated molecular biological/ecological techniques. We also clarify the relationship between Microcystis blooms and human activities conducted around the lakes with the blooms. The present study will contribute the success in the Millennium Development Goals, ODA, demonstrating the raison d’etre of the Japanese Government.