At the 83rd Japanese Society of LIMNOLOGY - Okayama Convention, held at Tsushima Campus at Okayama University from October 5 to 8, Soka University Assistant Professor Masatoshi Nakakuni of the Faculty of Science and Engineering won the “Most Excellent Poster Award,” with Ms. Keiko Takehara of the Graduate School of Engineering (Master’s program) winning a “Poster Award.”

This convention is an academic conference where comprehensive research conducted on various aquatic environments, such as lakes, rivers, groundwater, and hot springs, etc., is reported on from the standpoint of geophysics, geochemistry, biology, geography, and environmental science. The “Most Excellent Poster Award” and the “Poster Award” recipients were selected from among 50 presentations.
In the awardees’ studies, they attempted to understand changes in lake water quality and past climate conditions by consecutively analyzing organic matters within deposits. Assistant Professor Nakakuni, together with Professor Shuichi Yamamoto, Mr. Junichi Kitano, and Mr. Hitoshi Uemura, conducted research at Lake Suigetsu, which is one of the Mikata Five Lakes in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, under the title, “Historic Changes of Lake Suigetsu as Viewed from Composition Changes in Sterol,” following changes in the water quality of Lake Suigetsu from the Edo Period to the modern era by looking at lipid compositions included in the lake’s deposits.

Ms. Takehara conducted research under the theme, “Inflow Changes of Organic Matters into Lake Baikal and its Climate in the Latter Half of the Quaternary Period,” together with Professor Yamamoto and Assistant Professor Nakakuni. Ms. Takehara presented the results of her research in which she attempted to understand vegetation and climate changes in the surrounding areas of Lake Baikal from 10,000 years ago to the modern era.
Assistant Professor Nakakuni and Ms. Takehara commented as follows: “We are so happy to receive such an honor. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that is supporting the research office, including Professor Yamamoto. We will continue to strive harder.”