Abstract:

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a promising tool for effective and comprehensive biodiversity monitoring, especially in aquatic systems. It analyzes DNAs remaining in environmental samples and enables time-, labor-, and cost-effective detection of micro- and macro-organisms. In this talk, I will introduce several recent advances in eDNA analysis that our research group has made, and explain how it contributes to efficient biodiversity monitoring. The advances in the eDNA-based monitoring techniques enable generating high-quality ecological time series data which contains a large amount of information. I will show that analyzing the data with state-of-the-art statistical and/or machine learning tools will help understand the mechanism of ecosystem dynamics and that it will contribute to forecasting future biodiversity changes, and potentially, sustainable ecosystem and society.

Biography:

Dr. Ushio earned his Ph.D. at Kyoto University in 2010. His graduate research involved empirical and theoretical studies on the plant-soil feedback in tropical montane forests. After completing his Ph.D., he has contributed to developing novel tools in environmental DNA analysis and statistical modeling. These tools are becoming popular in environmental sciences. He is now trying to integrate these interdisciplinary tools to understand, forecast, and manage the dynamics of natural and human-impacted ecosystems.

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