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Plankton Lab
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A lab that reads changes in the ocean through plankton in the Arctic and Antarctic seas.
AboutAbout the lab
Telling the story of ocean change through tiny plankton
The Plankton Lab travels by ship to the sea itself to collect plankton and studies the changes taking place in the ocean.
Plankton are small organisms with weak swimming ability and short lifespans, and they are thought to be easily affected by environmental change.
The Arctic and Antarctic oceans, where the effects of warming are thought to be large, are also among the lab's research fields.
Key terms
- Diatom
- A phytoplankton with a glassy shell. A major primary producer that supports marine ecosystems
- Resting cell
- A dormant cell that diatoms and other organisms form to endure environments unsuitable for growth
- Zooplankton
- Small animals that drift in the water. They serve as food that links phytoplankton to fish and whales
NewsLab news
Elucidating the mechanism behind seasonal changes in phytoplankton in Hakodate Bay
Revealing the decline in productivity caused by earlier sea ice melt in the northern Bering Sea
ResearchResearch themes
The lab travels by ship to the sea itself to collect plankton and investigates how changes in the marine environment, such as declining sea ice and warming, affect plankton. It studies plankton ecology in polar regions such as the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as the physiology, ecology, and life history of marine phytoplankton.
*Illustrative imageSurvival strategies of diatoms in frozen seas
Many diatoms form resting cells to endure environments unsuitable for growth. In places such as the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic, the lab investigates the distribution of resting cells that have accumulated on the seafloor and their ability to survive the cold and darkness of winter.
*Illustrative imageSea ice loss and zooplankton in the Arctic Ocean
Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is shrinking rapidly because of climate change. Through ship-based sampling and shipboard rearing experiments, the lab investigates changes in the distribution of zooplankton communities and whether species carried in from the Pacific can become established in the Arctic Ocean.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Plankton Lab are faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and research students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorKohei Matsuno
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: “Ice algae” Fionajwhite / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Survival strategies of diatoms in frozen seas: “Broken pack ice with cryopelagic antarctic diatoms” GeSHaFish / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Sea ice loss and zooplankton in the Arctic Ocean: “Calanus hyperboreus” Leïla Brunner / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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): “Chum salmon leaping ( )” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters / Public domain (cropped) - Related lab (海洋共生学講座
（秋田晋吾 准教授） ): “Kelp forest at Taranga pinnacles Hen and Chicken Islands PA232359” Peter Southwood / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped) - Related lab (北方生物圏フィールド科学センター 臼尻水産実験所): “Usujiri Fishing Port 20220605” Reh gambare / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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