Ecosystem Research Section

Productivity and diversity of marine ecosystem show dynamic fluctuation in response to variations in physical environment. Our research section aims to understand the structure of marine ecosystem and elucidate the variability in living marine resources through integration of observation and modeling.
Because components of marine ecosystems interact with each other, modeling requires investigation of individual phenomena, extraction of key processes, and validation of model parameters. Therefore, our approach is based on mutual feedback between observational data and model simulations. Target fields of modeling are the open ocean (mainly the North Pacific) and Japanese coastal waters. We also focus on field surveys and modeling of physical environments and ecosystems of the Sanriku area, which was severely damaged by the Tsunami in March 2011.