Stream 3. Healthy Environment

R&D Leader

Timothy Ravasi (OIST, Professor)

Projects

Fish Biodiversity Monitoring in Coral Reefs through Environmental DNA and Environmental RNA

PI: Timothy Ravasi

Development of Coral eDNA Metabarcoding

PI: Noriyuki Satoh

Impact of typhoons on the ocean environment, marine life, and the blue economy around Okinawa

PI: Satoshi Mitarai

Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring

OKEON

Developing Tools and Databases for Integrated Monitoring of Marine Plankton Diversity

PI: Filip HUSNIK

Soil to Plants to Herbivores: Exploring the Hidden Flow of Health

PI: Chikae TATSUMI

Partner (Academic)

University of the Ryukyus (Japan),
RIKEN (Japan)

Partner (Business)

NTT Communications Corp. (Japan),
NTT DOCOMO Inc. (Japan),
Zamami Village Tourism Association (Japan),
Hyatt Regency Seragaki Island, Okinawa (Japan), Okinawa Municipal Museum (Japan), Okinawa Prefectural Kyuyo Senior High School (Japan), Onna Village (Japan), Zamami Village (Japan), Japan Coast Guard (Japan)

R&D Goal

In this stream, we aim to conserve and utilize environmental resources through genomics analysis and monitoring of marine and land environments, aim to enhance environmental quality and maintain a healthy ecosystem.

From R&D Leader

Our team measures “environmental health” on land and at sea, contributing to conserving and utilizing ecological resources. Our Environmental DNA (eDNA) technology allows us to understand the corals and fish communities that live there simply by analyzing the DNA present in seawater. So, in the ocean we can monitor changes in the ocean environment. For example, the results can be used to develop policies and guidelines for developing nearby resort hotels. In addition, we will use the scientifically collected data in the terrestrial environment to create educational programs. The program helps understand how natural and human-induced factors affect the environment, and it will promote the conservation and utilization of environmental resources.