Contact : cty[at]mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

1. Conservation ecology of lake ecosystems
Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most severely degraded ecosystems and are threatened by various human impacts. For successful ecological restoration, a deep understanding of the causes and consequences of human impacts is necessary. By collaborating with scientists from ecology, social sciences and the humanities, I study lake ecosystems in order to support ecological restoration by local residents and government.

2. Interaction between ecological and evolutionary processes
Organisms can adapt their traits in response to changes in ecological environments by rapid evolution (genetic change) and phenotypic plasticity (non-genetic change). Such adaptation should alter the way organisms interact with the environments, leading to a feedback between adaptation and ecology. I study this feedback using planktonic organisms by combining laboratory experiments and theoretical modeling.

Suzuki K & Yoshida T (2012) Non-random spatial coupling induces desynchronization, chaos and multistability in a predator-prey-resource system. Journal of Theoretical Biology in press.

Yamamichi M, Yoshida T, Sasaki A (2011) Comparing the effects of rapid evolution and phenotypic plasticity on predator-prey dynamics. The American Naturalist 178:287-304
Yoshida T, Goka K, Ishihama F, Ishihara M, Kudo S (2007) Biological invasion as natural experiment of evolutionary process: introduction of the special feature. Ecological Research 22:849-854
Yoshida T, Ellner SP, Jones LE, Bohannan BJM, Lenski RE, Hairston NGJr (2007) Cryptic population dynamics: rapid evolution masks trophic interactions. PLoS Biology 5: 1868-1879
Yoshida T, Jones LE, Ellner SP, Fussmann GF and Hairston NGJr (2003) Rapid evolution drives ecological dynamics in a predator-prey system. Nature 424: 303-306