Natural rivers experience large fluctuations in discharge in response to rainfall and snowfall, and their channel morphology is constantly reshaped through interactions with sediment and fallen trees. In addition, many animals—such as fish, insects, and crustaceans—move dynamically among forests, rivers, and the sea within a watershed according to the seasons and their life-history stages. I study the roles that these physical dynamics and biological dynamism play in maintaining natural ecosystems.

As a child, I became fascinated with catching fish in rivers and keeping them, and that passion eventually led me to become a river researcher. Rivers are closely connected with forests and the sea, and studying them gives me opportunities to collaborate with researchers from many different fields and to think about a wide range of ecosystems—something I find especially appealing.

Dynamic natural ecosystem is probably hard to imagine in your everyday urban lives. Yet the very place where we now live was once covered by vast natural landscapes, and living organisms have evolved in adaptation to those environments. Let’s pause your daily routine for a moment, and listen to the voice of nature.