Research on fish ecology in Japan: a brief history and selected review

Authored by KD Fausch, S Nakano

Date Published: 1998

DOI: 10.1023/a:1007381807235

Sponsors: Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) United States National Science Foundation (NSF)

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Fish play an important role in the culture of Japan, supplying the primary source of food protein. Research on fish ecology in Japan began developing about 1955, and paralleled that in North America and Europe, but has a number of unique differences. Two main research foci, stream fish ecology and ecology of Lake Biwa, were founded by H. Kawanabe and his colleagues while graduate students in D. Miyadi's laboratory at Kyoto University in the 1950s. The focus on studies of individual differences in ecology, life history, and behavior by direct observation that were developed in this laboratory had a pervasive influence on research that has continued to the present. In the 1980s, Kawanabe, who had succeeded Miyadi as laboratory head, also co-organized a major research project on the complex communities of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika, which has involved nearly every major Japanese investigator in fish ecology since. A review of research conducted by Japanese investigators in stream fish ecology, ecology of fishes in lakes Biwa and Tanganyika, and marine reef fish ecology revealed a wealth of literature of which most English-speaking fish ecologists are unaware. The most striking difference between Western and Japanese research is the focus on detailed observations and experiments in natural habitats of individual differences in behavior, life history, and ecology, and how these ultimately affect processes at the population and community level, as amply demonstrated by Kawanabe's early work on ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis. This approach predated by 20-30 years the current interest in individual differences and individual-based models in North America and Europe.

Tags

Ayu plecoglossus-altivelis Anemonefish amphiprion-clarkii Sculpin cottus-hangiongensis Salmon oncorhynchus-masou Southern sanriku district Salvelinus-malma-miyabei Male mating success Goby paragobiodon-echinocephalus Perissodus-microlepis cichlidae Plecodus-straeleni cichlidae