Forests, which supply oxygen essential for life, and oceans, which regulate the Earth’s climate, provide vital “ecosystem services” that sustain human survival and economic activity. Yet these ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change and biodiversity loss. To use these services wisely while protecting nature, we must first assess ecosystem health accurately. However, current methods still leave room for improvement.

Satellite data are often used to visualize land cover and vegetation, but such tools miss key details—such as the internal structure of forests, the diversity of life within them, and the complex underwater landscapes and biological communities of coastal seas. These elements are crucial for ecosystem resilience but remain difficult to capture.

This project aims to pioneer a new field called “Blue-Green Systems Science,” integrating cutting-edge ecology with advanced information science. Our goal is to develop methods to analyze the three-dimensional structures of forests (green) and coastal seas (blue). Starting with the forests and seas around Hokkaido, Japan, we will use the latest technology to monitor marine life, track tree health, and estimate the total amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by entire forests. These approaches will help create models showing how ecosystems function—from species composition to habitat use—and how they respond to environmental changes.

We are also building an open data infrastructure to manage, analyze, and share complex environmental data among researchers. This platform will promote collaboration and turn scientific insights into practical solutions, supporting policymakers and society in making informed, science-based decisions for a truly sustainable future.

Project Members

Principal Investigator

Tatsuro Nakaji

Professor
Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere
Hokkaido University

Forest Remote Sensing and Non-Destructive Observation of Plant Function