The 1st IFB Seminar

The 1st IFB Seminar took place in the conference room of the Institute of Freshwater Biology.

Title: Research Plan for Master’s Program

Lecturer: Hiromichi Suzuki

Affiliation: Tohoku University Graduate School of Life Sciences

Abstract: Neonicotinoid pesticides are a general term for chloronicotinyl pesticides, which are widely used around the world because of their long-lasting residual effect, which allows for more efficient pest control. While these pesticides can effectively control pests such as stink bugs, several studies have reported that they also have a negative impact on aquatic organisms such as zooplankton. However, these studies do not take into account interactions between organisms, such as competition for food or prey-predator relationships, and the effects of pesticides on species in similar taxonomic groups have been reported to have both positive and negative effects. Therefore, in my master’s thesis, I hypothesized that the response of zooplankton communities to disturbance varies depending on the combination and number of species in the community, and I wanted to test this using microcosm experiments. In this seminar I will discuss this research plan in more detail.