BIWAKO PRIZE FOR ECOLOGY

Invitation to apply “Biwako Prize for Ecology.”

Shin-ichi Nakano (Chair of the committee for the Biwako Prize, ESJ)

The Biwako Prize for Ecology is awarded to outstanding researchers under the age of 50 in ecology and other fields related to the aquatic environment, established in 1991 The prize has been awarded to 42 researchers from Japan and abroad. Although the Ecological Society of Japan is the main sponsor of the prize, non-members of the society are also eligible to apply and receive the prize.

The previous winners of the 22nd award were Dr. Maiko Kagami, Faculty of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, and Dr. Xu Jun, the Center of Freshwater Ecology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kagami is a plankton ecologist who clarified the importance of the food chain from phytoplankton to zooplankton via parasitic fungi (mycoloop) in the material cycle. She pioneered the elucidation of the importance of parasitic chytrid fungi in the food web and material cycle. Dr. Kagami has also been active in raising awareness of the importance of field dynamics research of pathogenic fungi through the Science Council of Japan for reflection in government and policy, publication of books in Japanese, and planning/running of symposiums. Dr. Xu studied the diversity patterns of fish, mollusks, and macrophytes in China at the national level and identified the factors driving these patterns at the watershed level. They also assessed the effectiveness of 440 Chinese government restoration projects and unearthed that the ecological damage caused by recent rapid economic development could potentially be mitigated by massive restoration investments dispersed across entire catchments. Dr. Xu and his colleagues evaluated the global changes in the multifaceted diversity patterns of fish and quantified the impact of human activities on these changes. In this study, they revealed that human activity has severely impacted the fish faunas in more than half of the world's rivers. Dr. Xu's work also includes conducting mesocosm experiments that demonstrate significant findings for the conservation of shallow lake systems in the face of global climate change.

As these facts indicate, the Biwako Prize for Ecology is an academic prize that encourages outstanding researchers who are expected to broaden the scope of science related to the aquatic environment and contribute to society at large in the future.

The panel of the prize consists of not only specialists in aquatic science, but also in biology and environmental science, so there is no bias in favor of any particular field of study. The winners will be honored by the Governor of Shiga Prefecture at an awards ceremony to be held before or after Lake Biwa Day in July 2025, and will also deliver an award commemorative lecture. We also ask that the winner(s) write a review article or a report in a scientific journal published by the Ecological Society of Japan.

We hope that you will have confidence in your own achievements and encourage you to apply for the Biwako Prize for Ecology.

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