Center for Frontier Natural History
Kyoto Prefectural University

Creating Sustainable Future from the Eternal City, Kyoto

Kyoto is Japan's former capital and has many historical and touristic places, and is the ninth
biggest city in Japan having nearly 1.5 million residents.
Nevertheless, Kyoto maintains nature environments such as native forest, ancient pond
inside of the city area for over thousand years.
Thus, Kyoto area is a fine model system for thinking sustainable environment of the earth.

Midorogaike pond
An ancient pond originatedfrom the last ice age.

Tadasunomori forest
A native forest protectedfrom the Jomon period

Bamboo forest
An old bamboo forest
Maintained over thousand years

Our mission is to pioneer the frontier of natural history science, which is a novel research system for thenatural history of the Earth's ecosystem by using traditional and cutting-edge technologies.

International Center

Graduate School ofJapanese Food Culture

KIRP
Kyoto Institute for Regional Prospects

CFNH
Center for Frontier Natural History

Graduate School ofLetters

Graduate School ofLife and Environmental Sciences

Graduate School of
Public Policy

We conduct researches across a wide variety of academic fields
to collaborate with related facilities in Kyoto Prefecture.

Summary of our researches
related to sustainability study

Make cities and regions inKyoto more sustainable
togetherTakeshi KAWAKATSU, Ph.D. in Economics
Professor, Faculty of Public Policy
Director, Kyoto Institute for Regional Prospects
Senior Fellow, Center for Public Service (Portland StateUniversity, USA)
Served in Japan on several government advisory councils
kawakatsu@kpu.ac.jp

My academic expertise is in environmental economics andpublic finance with a special focus on urban sustainability,
sustainable transportation and Multi-governed carbon
pricing in North America, EU countries and Japan.
I am also recently focusing my research on public
administration and finance management (e.g. budgetaryprocess, administrative/policy evaluation systems) in Kyoto
that improves sustainability of a local commons (forest,mountain, groundwater..) and civic quality of life.

Kyoto Institute for Regional Prospects (KIRP)
We coordinate special research funds, “Academic Contribution To
the Region: ACTR,” about 20 research projects a year for sustainable
Kyoto and also locally provide some academic or educational
programs for public sector, nonprofit organization, local businesses
and communities in order toimprove governance, civic
capacity and publicmanagement, especially inthe underpopulated area,Kyoto.

Biogeochemistry and human adaptation to “Ophiolite” ecosystem(Dr. Atsushi Nakao)
Ophiolite belt
(Mt. Oe)

California

Terracedpaddies

Kyoto●Ophiolite●Serpentinite→

Yosano-town, Kyoto
Harlow and Sorensen 2005••

Excess elements in ophiolite rocks (e.g. Ni, Cr) cause impact on soils, rice plants, and human health.
Transfer mechanisms of these elements from soil to rice plants are being investigated at the ophiolitic terraces in Kyoto.

8 DAT

17 DAT

Flooding period

29 DAT

45 DAT59 DAT

Drainage period

73 DAT

87 DAT

101 DAT

Re-flooding

116 DATHarvest

Sustainable use of soil resources based on
their fertility status and carbon sequestration
potential• Prof. Junta Yanai (Soil Science)yanai@kpu.ac.jp• Local sustainability of food production and environmental conservationis addressed based on the rational management of soil resources inAsia• Proposal of balanced inorganic and organic fertilizer use based onlong-term changes in fertility status of paddy soils in Asia
• Optimization of soil organic matter accumulation in agricultural soils
to improve soil fertility and to mitigate climate change

KyotoBiodiversity

Center“For the Conservation and Sustainable Useof Biological Diversity in Kyoto Prefecture”

Kyoto Biodiv e
connects m rsity Centerul t i p l eorganizati
ons, citizen andothers as ah ub

Kyoto Prefectural University
Center for Frontier Natural History
Institutes &Researchers

Schools &Students

Networks of conservation

Kyoto Prefecture

Governments + University ＋ Companies+ participatory action research in Kyoto

Data base on biological information

Zhe.g. 1920 〜 2020 ★

ansa luxig

scEnvironmental changes
Habitat losses

Collection of distribution records& academic papers on ecology and biogeography& voucher specimen from Kyoto etc.
Education and Researches etc.

Local residents,
Citizen-scientists

Organized
Kyoto
Biodiversity groups of localresidents
CenterCompanies

ligeelhnakao@kpu.ac.jp

Localgovernmentsi◆Zhangixalus
arboreus◆：Zhangixalus arboreus Visualization of★：Zhangixalus schlegelii biodiversity in Kyoto

Distribution of endangered insects, frogs, fishes, birds,plants, moss etc. → Action Plan for Biological Conservation

An archaeological study of acceptance and spread of equestrian culture in Japan
Fact: Japanese native horses are descendants of exotic animals transported by ship fromKorea during the Kofun period (5th century A.D.).
Question: Who and why transported large numbers of horses? How was this possible?
Archaeological evidences: Ancient horse remains, Harnesses, Horse-shaped haniwa, etc.

The Northern Limits ofEquestrian Culture

Hypothesis: Increased demand for horses due to military tension in Northeast Asia causedby Goguryeo‘s expansion and the formation of mutually beneficial relations between thesouthern countries in Korea and Japan（倭） were behind the smooth introduction ofGoguryeo

Militarytensions

equestrian culture in Japan. (ISAHAYA 2010)

Wa

Next question: How did they achieve subsistence production in Japan, where grassland

BaekjeSillaenvironments are scarce? (ISAHAYA ed. 2023)
Gaya

Mutually beneficial relations
The Southern Limits ofEquestrian Culture

Acceptance and spread of equestrian culture in Japan

CONTACTISAHAYA Naoto 諫早 直⼈

Japanese native horses（Taishu-ba 対州馬）

Archaeological Lab.

Ancient horse remains （5th century）

E-mail: isahaya@kpu.ac.jp（2010）（2023）

Forest Evaluation & Planning based on Remote Sensing
Objective Search for new methods to provide useful information to

stakeholders for decision making to achieve sustainable forest
management

Data Collection!"#$%#&'()!*+,-.'#+/0-&&"&16'##'.5#"-7,-.'#+/0-&&"&1

Analysisllll/"5'+4#%9:05";"5<=-#;'.5-$"7"5<>-?-1'+$<+>''#+1#-@"&1/''9+9".A'#.-7+A%.."$"7"5<'50B

Evaluation

23//+4%."5"%&"&18"'79+/:#;'<Overlaying by using GIS

Propose Plansl /"5'.+.:"5-$7'+5%+0%&5"&:'+C%#'.5#<
l /"5'.+$'55'#+5%+0%&;'#5+5%+$#%-97'-C+C%#'.5.
l /"5'.+D"5E+E'"1E+A#"%#"5<5%+#'.5%#"&1+9'0"9:%:.++++C%#'.5.++++++++++++++++++++'50B
Ex: Forest management regime map(Nagashima, 2017)

Contact!"#$%&'()*#&+,-,./01,8%#'.5+F-&-1'?'&5+++G+47-&&"&1+,-$B
H?-"7I+&-1-J'"KJA:B-0BLA

Prof. Nakao Kubo, Lab. of Cell and Genome Biology
Genetic analysis of vegetable and tea plants.
- Detection of agronomic trait loci in carrot, turnip, tea, etc.
- Classification of plant cultivars and landraces based on molecular markers- Evolutionary study of angiosperm mitochondria

Nakao KUBO, Ph.D.
Professor
Graduate School of Life andEnvironmental Sciences,
Kyoto Prefectural University
E-mail: nkubo@kpu.ac.jp

Area-capability approach
AcademicResearchers

Sharing Data and Info.
Impact Evaluation

Local
Government

Local Community
Satoshi Ishikawa
oounagi@kpu.ac.jp

AdditionalValues

AC cycle

Limited entry
Licenses“Many AC cycles”
means
Many Resources
Many Communities
andMany Choices ofLives

Area-Capability Cycle as a model
for collaboration among
local community,
local government
and academic researchers

About AC | Coastal Area Capability Enhancement inSoutheast Asia (chikyu.ac.jp)

FUKUI Wataru
福井亘

Laboratory of Landscape,Graduate School of Kyoto Prefectural University
京都府立大学大学院 ランドスケープ学研究室
京都府立大学大学院 景观生态・绿地计划学研究室

Our laboratory researches+81-75-7035436 ／ wfukui @ kpu.ac.jp"landscape planning and design" and " landscape ecology "keyword : bird, urban and rural landscape, street tree,GIS, park, land use, Japanese garden, Chinese garden

Research on the history of food products in Kyoto
and Kyoto MALUI collaboration
Prof. Noboru Higashi, Ph. D.（n-higashi@kpu.ac.jp）• Building the platform for learning about local history and culture by collaborating with local
history study groups and local archives.
• Publishing a book, Kyotoʼs foods and products, describing of ancient food products, including
Ayu (sweetfish), amberjack, paulownia oil, wild boar deer, matsutake mushrooms, plums, andkisen-tou (sweets souvenirs) from the Edo period to the present day, and the history of theirsuccession and disappearance.
• MALUI Collaboration− Creating a new cycle for community development by consolidating andsharing cultural resource information from Museums, Archives, Libraries, Universities, andIndustry in Kyoto.

Development of a Peptide-type Bio Stimulant for Sustainable Agriculture
leaf

Gall formation

Stem cell
Dedifferentiation

Regeneration

insect effecter
peptide for gall
induction
Gall-inducing insects

Contact

Novel-type
Bio stimulant

Growth promotion
Disease resistanceDrought stress resistance
Chilling stress resistanceProf. Masa H. Sato, Ph. D.
mhsato@kpu.ac.jp

Assoc. Prof. Tomoko Hirano, Ph. D.
thirano@kpu.ac.jp

Simply soaking or spraying our novel peptide compound on various plants confers
disease resistance, freezing tolerance, and desiccation tolerance to plants.

Still there are substantial undescribed (not yet scientifically named)
insect species
Mine: tracks left by larvae inside leaves

Larva

Adult

1 mm

10 mm

Example:An undescribed“leaf-mining” moth species
found in the forests Kyoto

Discover Unknown Biodiversity&Understanding “Why there are so many species?”
Toward the establishment of basic knowledge for thinking about sustainability
Example:Do host-plant shifts
initiate insect speciation?
1 mm

Issei Ohshimaissei@kpu.ac.jp

Host: Wisteria

1 mm

Host: Aphananthe

What is species?
What mechanisms and processes are involved in speciation?