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Animal Ecology Lab
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The lab studies behavioral ecology, exploring the behavior of shore animals such as hermit crabs and sea snails.
AboutAbout the lab
Delving into the little-known lives of small seaside animals
The Animal Ecology Lab studies ecology, especially behavioral ecology, and its applications.
Its subjects include a wide variety of animals, such as hermit crabs, barnacles, sea snails like the Ezo whelk (Neptunea), sea stars, and white-spotted char.
The lab investigates how animals interact with predators, food, and mates by closely observing their behavior.
The lab's predecessors are the Saltwater Aquaculture Chair and the Benthos Chair.
Key terms
- Behavioral ecology
- A branch of ecology that studies, through behavior, how individual animals interact with their surrounding environment and other organisms
- Seed production
- Raising and multiplying young fish and shellfish by human hands for use in aquaculture or release
- Sex allocation
- The proportion in which an organism that performs both male and female functions in one individual divides its resources between those functions
NewsLab news
An undergraduate student received an Excellence Award at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Japan Ethological Society
A doctoral student's paper was accepted by Zoological Science
A master's student's paper was accepted by Plankton and Benthos Research
A master's student's paper was accepted by Biology Letters
A doctoral student's paper was accepted by Molecular Biology Reports
ResearchResearch themes
Within ecology, which elucidates the interactions between organisms and their environment, the lab studies behavioral ecology, which focuses on individual animals, and its applications. Its subjects are shore-dwelling arthropods, mollusks, cnidarians, and echinoderms, as well as fish such as white-spotted char.
*Illustrative imageMate choice by male hermit crabs
Male hermit crabs grip the shells of females that are close to laying eggs and carry them around, a behavior called precopulatory mate guarding. The lab uses experiments to investigate how males use information such as a female's degree of maturity, the sex ratio, and the strength of rivals when choosing a female.
*Illustrative image“Egg-entrusting” behavior in the Ezo whelk
In a joint study on seed production of the Ezo whelk (Neptunea), a large sea snail known in Hokkaido as matsubu, the lab keeps broodstock and observes them. It found behavior in which a female lays her eggs not on her own shell but on the shells of other individuals, and calls it “takuran behavior” (egg-entrusting behavior).
*Illustrative imageEffects of parasitism on barnacle reproduction
Many intertidal barnacles are hermaphrodites, with a single individual performing both male and female functions. The lab investigates how the allocation of resources to the male and female functions (sex allocation) changes when a barnacle is parasitized and has fewer resources available.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorSatoshi Wada
- Assistant ProfessorChiaki Ishihara
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: “Hon-yadokari1104-1” ふうけ / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Mate choice by male hermit crabs: “Hon-yadokari1104-2” ふうけ / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- “Egg-entrusting” behavior in the Ezo whelk: “Japan sea animal, Neptunea arthritica ( )” harum.koh from Kobe city, Japan / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Effects of parasitism on barnacle reproduction: “Chthamalus challengeri” harumkoh / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plankton Lab): “Ice algae” Fionajwhite / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Fishing Ground Science Lab): “Flounder Larva, Woods Hole, MA, USA” Taeylenol / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Salmon Biology Lab (Marine Symbiosis Division)): “Chum salmon leaping ( )” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Usujiri Fisheries Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere): “Usujiri Fishing Port 20220605” Reh gambare / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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