Principal Investigator
Toshihide Hirao, Ph.D.
Specialties: Forest Ecology and Biodiversity
Faculty introduction by the University of Tokyo
Current Students
Rika Yasui (Department of Forest Science, PhD Student; JSPS Research Fellow)
Research topic: Are urban animals “bold explorers”? The role of animal personality in the urban expansion of mesocarnivores.
Tianyu Tang (Department of Forest Science, PhD Student; SPRING GX Fellow)
Research topic: Effects of microplastics on the diet and gut microbiome of forest birds through the food chain.
Yifan Gao (Department of Forest Science, Master’s Student)
Research topic: How deer browsing influences carbon sequestration via alterations in soil microbial functions.
Erika Naito (Department of Forest Science, Master’s Student)
Research topic: Ecological processes by which deer-induced regeneration failure drives biotic homogenization of forest vegetation.
Junsei Kumaki (Department of Forest Science, Master’s Student)
Research topic: Cascading effects of deer-driven vegetation decline on the diversity and functions of soil fauna.
Kohya Kitakaze (Department of Forest Science, Master’s Student)
Research topic: Habitat use and population structure of mesocarnivores along the forest–urban green-space gradient.
Chihiro Onai (Department of Ecoystem Studies, Master’s Student)
Research topic: Impacts of deer-driven vegetation decline and forest management abandonment on soil carbon storage functions.
Aya Fukami (Major in Forest Life Science, Undergraduate Student)
Research topic: Competition for nesting sites and nest-site preferences in cavity-nesting birds.
Kota Toshida (Major in Forest Environmental and Resource Science, Undergraduate Student)
Research topic: Effects of human activity–associated sounds on the behavior of human-habituated deer.
Lab Alumni
Masanori Fujii, Institute for Environmental Sciences
Post-doc 2012-2015
Tsunenori Iwaki
M.S. 2016, Elevational gradients of vegetation and its impacts on higher trophic levels in the Okuchichibu Mountains.
Mitsuru Kawasaki
M.S. 2018, Roles of season, habitat environment and genetic structure on the diet of Japanese deer.
Nobuhiko Shigyo, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
Ph.D. 2019, Spatio-temporal variability of soil microbial communities and their identity for litter decomposition in cool-temperate montane forests.
Akane Kobara
M.S. 2019, Influence of the link between aboveground and belowground ecosystems under deer browsing on seedling demography.
Shota Tanaka
M.S. 2020, Resprouting and its function based on forest disturbance regimes.
Kohsuke Tanigawa, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
M.S. 2021, Legacy effects of understory vegetation decline caused by Sika deer on tree seedlings through modification of soil microbial functionings.
Takara Tsukamoto
M.S. 2022, Factors affecting the historical population dynamics and genetic structure of taiga tick, the vector of Lyme Borrelia.
Takuya Yoshida
M.S. 2022, Source-sink effects of pollination services in forests under deer herbivory.
Kosuke Takeuchi
M.S. 2023, Genetic structure and morphological variation of Acer tschonoskii complex in the Japanese Archipelago.
Shu Morikawa
M.S. 2023, Effects of human activities in the natural environment on behavioral traits and spatio-temporal performances of mammals.
Daisuke Ueno
M.S. 2024, Niche differentiation of Reeves’s muntjac and Sika deer in the Boso Peninsula.
Rika Yasui
M.S. 2024, Effects of human activities on diel activity and habitat selection in carnivores.
Asaka Tamaki
M.S. 2025, Effects of human activity–induced non-consumptive effects on deer behavioral traits and spatiotemporal activity patterns.
Tianyu Tang
M.S. 2025, Effects of landscape structure on bird–plant interaction networks in urban green spaces.