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Ecology and Evolution Lab
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The lab explores the principles of complex living systems through symbiosis among organisms.
AboutAbout the lab
From the natural history of interspecies interactions to the fusion of life sciences and information science.
The Ecology and Evolution Lab explores the principles that drive complex living systems, using relationships among organisms such as symbiosis (interspecies interactions) as a clue.
Its main research subjects are symbioses between plants and microbes and between fish and microbes. It also works with fungi, bacteria, insects, and soil animals, and uses gut microbiota data from humans and mice.
In addition to field surveys, laboratory experiments, molecular experiments, and culturing of microbial strains, the lab uses theoretical and informatics approaches.
The lab is part of the Graduate School of Life Sciences, and students join it at the graduate level.
Key terms
- Interspecies interactions
- Effects that organisms have on each other, such as eating and being eaten, or living in symbiosis
- Mycorrhizal fungi
- Fungi that live in symbiosis with plant roots. They collect water and nutrients with hyphae spread underground and pass them to the plant
- Alternative stable states
- A situation in which, under the same conditions, the composition of a microbial community settles into one of several stable states
- Informatics
- Information science methods that analyze large amounts of data with computers to extract meaningful information
NewsLab news
A review article on the stability of microbial communities was published in The ISME Journal
A paper by a doctoral student was published in Ecology Letters
A paper examining the spatial distribution of mycorrhizal fungi and endophytes was published in Environmental Microbiome
A study on diagnosing crop disease risk from the microbiota of agricultural soil was published in mSphere
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to clarify how biodiversity arises, using interactions between species, including symbiosis, as a key. By combining field work with genomics and information science, it seeks to understand the principles of living systems from molecules and cells to populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Symbiosis between plants and microbes
Starting from field work in forests, grasslands, and farmland, the lab combines inoculation experiments using its own library of microbial strains with gene expression analysis to study how the symbiotic systems formed by plants, fungi, and bacteria work. By identifying key species among many microbes, including mycorrhizal fungi and endophytes, it aims to build a foundation for predicting and controlling the behavior of the whole system.
Symbiosis between fish and microbes
The lab studies how changes in the microbiota in fish guts and in water affect fish physiology and ecology. Focusing on abrupt shifts between "alternative stable states" of the microbiota, it combines large-scale DNA sequencing with statistical physics, machine learning, and network science.
Developing new model systems
The lab actively works on developing new research subjects, such as groups of organisms with few researchers. It collects data through field surveys, molecular biology methods, image analysis, and DNA sequencing, and combines them with informatics analysis to explore new ways of conducting research.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Ecology and Evolution Lab include faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, researchers, project staff, technical assistants, administrative assistants, doctoral and master's students, and research students.As of 2026
- ProfessorHirokazu Toju
- Assistant ProfessorHiroaki Fujita
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