The Institute of Algological Research (sometimes referred to as Muroran Marine Station, or Northern Hemisphere Field Station) in

Muroran is a city and port located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture. As of February 29, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 93,716, with 47,868 households and a population density of . The ...

, is one of the oldest research institutes for

Phycology Phycology () is the scientific study of algae. Also known as algology, phycology is a branch of life science. Algae are important as primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. Most algae are eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms that live in a w ...

research in Japan. Institute of Algological Research is located in the town of

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, Japan and is involved in research leading to MS and PhD degrees in

. Graduate students are often registered with

Hokkaido University , or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...

History

The Institute of Algological Research was founded in 1933.

Habitat

Coastal zone surrounding the institute has one of the largest seaweed biodiversity in Japan, with over 200 species of macroalgae. The

intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of Marine habitat, habitats with var ...

rocky shore is covered with luxuriant growth of seaweeds belonging to such diverse genera as

Ulvophyceae The Ulvophyceae or ulvophytes are a class of green algae, distinguished mainly on the basis of ultrastructural morphology, life cycle and molecular phylogenetic data.Graham LE, Graham JM, Wilcox LW (2009) ''Algae''. 2nd Edition. Benjamin Cummin ...

Rhodophyceae Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...

and

Phaeophyceae Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and po ...

. The close proximity to this very diverse natural habitat makes Institute of Algological Research, one of the most prominent Phycological research institute in the world.

Faculty and Research

Faculty

Taizo Motomura
Working on Spindle formation in Brown algal zygotes)

Working on Mitosis and

Cytokinesis Cytokinesis () is the part of the cell division process during which the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell divides into two daughter cells. Cytoplasmic division begins during or after the late stages of nuclear division in mitosis and meios ...

Brown algae Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and po ...

).
Chikako Nagasato
Working on

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

ecophysiology Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to enviro ...

Laminariales Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underw ...

)

Notable alumni

* Ichiro Mine * Kazuo Okuda * Tatewaki

References

Motomura, T. and Nagasato, C. (2003) The first spindle formation in brown algal zygotes.

Hydrobiologia ''Hydrobiologia'', ''The International Journal of Aquatic Sciences'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing 21 issues per year, for a total of well over 4000 pages per year. ''Hydrobiologia'' publishes original research, reviews and opi ...

(in press). Nagasato, C. and Motomura, T. (2002) New pyrenoid formation in the brown alga, Scytosiphon lomentaria (Scytosiphonales, Phaeophyceae). Journal of Phycology 38: 800-806. Yotsukura, N., Kawai, T., Motomura, T. and Ichimura, T. (2001) Random amplified polymorphic DNA markers for three Japanese laminarian species. Fisheries Science 67:857-862.

External links

Institute of Algological Research
{{authority control Oceanographic organizations