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Yoshitake Lab
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The lab goes out into the field to read material cycles from plants, soil, and microorganisms.
AboutAbout the lab
What matters lies underground.
The Yoshitake Lab studies how carbon and nitrogen cycle through terrestrial ecosystems such as forests.
Carbon and nitrogen move back and forth between living organisms and the external environment while changing form, and the lab observes and describes the pathways and amounts of this cycling through field surveys.
Much of what is still unknown about these cycles lies in the soil beneath our feet, so the lab focuses on the functions of soil microbial communities.
Field surveys are the foundation of the lab's work, and they are combined with laboratory and cultivation experiments to confirm the detailed mechanisms.
Key terms
- Material cycle
- The cycling of elements such as carbon and nitrogen as they move back and forth between living organisms and the atmosphere or soil while changing form
- Biochar
- Charcoal made by heating materials such as fallen leaves and thinned wood at relatively low temperatures. It is also called bio-charcoal
- Primary succession
- The change in which plants colonize bare land exposed by volcanic eruptions or glacial retreat and an ecosystem develops
NewsLab news
A student won a poster award at the 11th Tokyo Women's Medical University–Waseda University Joint Research Seminar
A student won an Excellent Young Researcher Poster Presentation Award at the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition meeting
A master's student won an Excellent Poster Award at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan
A master's student won a poster award at the 10th Tokyo Women's Medical University–Waseda University Joint Research Seminar
ResearchResearch themes
The Yoshitake Lab seeks to understand material cycles in a variety of ecosystems from the perspective of the interrelationships among plants, soil, and microorganisms. Covering terrestrial ecosystems from the Arctic to the tropics, the lab observes and describes cycling processes mainly through field surveys, with the aim of clarifying their mechanisms.
*Illustrative imageCarbon and nitrogen cycles in ecosystems
Carbon taken into an ecosystem through photosynthesis travels along various pathways and is then decomposed by microorganisms and returned to the atmosphere. Focusing mainly on forest ecosystems, the lab investigates how and how much carbon and nitrogen cycle, and the roles of the plants, animals, and microorganisms that drive these cycles.
*Illustrative imageCarbon sequestration using biochar
When fallen leaves and thinned wood are turned into charcoal that microorganisms find difficult to decompose and are returned to the soil, carbon can be locked in the soil for a long time. The lab sets up experimental plots in forests where biochar is applied and conducts long-term monitoring to examine changes in plants, soil, and microbial communities, and the effect on carbon sequestration.
*Illustrative imageAbundance and function of soil microbial communities and the factors that cause them to vary
Fungi, bacteria, and archaea in the soil carry out many of its important functions, such as mineralization, nitrification, and denitrification. To learn how these invisible organisms live, the lab examines the relationship between soil conditions and the abundance and composition of microbial communities.
*Illustrative imageEcosystem development and microbial communities
Primary succession is the process in which land newly exposed by volcanic eruptions or glacial retreat develops into a mature ecosystem. Compared with research on aboveground parts, changes belowground are poorly understood. By comparing sites of different ages, the lab investigates how the abundance and composition of soil microbial communities change during succession.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Yoshitake Lab are faculty, invited researchers, postdoctoral researchers, research assistants, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorShinpei Yoshitake
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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: “Beech forest Mátra in winter” Susulyka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Carbon and nitrogen cycles in ecosystems: “Fuchsia excorticata leaf litter (cropped)” Alexeyevitch / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Carbon sequestration using biochar: “Biochar pile” Oregon Department of Forestry / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Abundance and function of soil microbial communities and the factors that cause them to vary: “Petri dish 1” Drhx / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Ecosystem development and microbial communities: “Glacier foreland Triftsee 02” Mary Leibundgut / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kubo Lab): “CSIRO ScienceImage 7113 Honey bee comb showing cells” Nick Pitsas, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ito Lab): “Antibody IgG1 surface” Tokenzero / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kato Lab): “Megakaryocyte in bone marrow” Animalculist / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Sonoike Lab): “Lime chloroplasts” Mjolk1 / CC0 (cropped)
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