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Forest Biosphere Management Lab
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A lab that studies how to maintain the diversity of forests and the living things that inhabit them.
AboutAbout the lab
Keeping rich forests healthy for the future
The Forest Biosphere Management Lab conducts research aimed at understanding, and taking action on, how to maintain the diversity of forests and the organisms that live in them.
Forests are home to a wide variety of organisms, and they serve many functions, such as maintaining the global environment and providing resources that support our livelihoods.
At the same time, forests face many problems, including shrinking area due to development and declining quality due to timber use.
With a particular focus on the relationship with human activity, the lab aims to gain and propose the knowledge and technologies needed to sustain diverse and rich forests over the long term.
Key terms
- Functional traits
- Characteristics of an organism, such as leaf shape or growth rate, that are related to how it lives and functions
- Dynamic vegetation model
- A computational system that reproduces how plants in forests and grasslands grow and replace one another over time
- Genetic diversity
- The richness of genetic differences found within a single species. It also reflects the history that a population has gone through
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to scientifically understand the state of forest ecosystems and to establish appropriate measures and technologies for keeping forests healthy. It studies regional differences in trees and how ecosystems function, long-term changes in forests caused by climate change, and the genetic structure of trees and shifts in their distribution over time.
*Illustrative imageRegional differences in Japanese cedar and beech, and ecosystems
Trees that are widely distributed across Japan, such as Japanese cedar (sugi) and beech (buna), show regional differences in their functional traits. The lab seeks to clarify what these differences are, what causes them, and how they relate to ecosystem functioning, from the level of genes to the level of ecosystems.
*Illustrative imageLong-term changes in forests under climate change
The lab evaluates the effects of climate change by analyzing long-term observation data from forests across Japan and by conducting chemical analysis of preserved specimens. It also works on future projections using simulations with dynamic vegetation models.
*Illustrative imageTracing the origins of forests through genes
The lab estimates how tree distributions have shifted in the past from their genetic diversity, and investigates how Japan's forests came to be. For species such as the sawtooth oak (kunugi), it also estimates the effects of human activity on forests, such as the transport of seedlings.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Forest Biosphere Management Lab consist of faculty, faculty with collaborative or concurrent appointments, researchers, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTsutom HiuraPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorYoko SaitoPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorTetsuo KohyamaPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorSayori Inoue
- Affiliated Concurrent ProfessorTakuya Saito
- Affiliated Concurrent Associate ProfessorHisashi Sato
- Concurrent ProfessorAkira Mori
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “UonumaPhoto Oshirakawa Buna Forest 201705” 魚沼市 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Regional differences in Japanese cedar and beech, and ecosystems: “Fagus crenata in Mount Daimon” Alpsdake / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Long-term changes in forests under climate change: “Бикин, верховья” Russian.dissident / Public domain (cropped)
- Tracing the origins of forests through genes: “Quercus acutissima branch” Júlio Reis / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Aquatic Conservation Lab): “NOAA divers coral reef north coast Pagan 2022” NOAA Fisheries / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Biodiversity Science Lab): “Satoyama landscape near Hida, Gifu” Seth Vidal / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Forest Biological Function and Ecology Lab): “Okuchichibu-Forest 01” Σ64 / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Forest Symbiosis Biology Lab): “D500-1070 Achim-Lammerts Laccaria-amethystina” Achim Lammerts (Syntaxys) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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