Yusuke Onoda, PhD
Contact address
Division of Forest and Biomaterials Science
Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University
Oiwake, Kitashirakawa, Kyoto, 606-8502 Japan
tel +81-(0)75-753-6079 / fax +81-(0)75-753-6080
onoda.yusuke.6c(a)kyoto-u.ac.jp
Academic Career
PhD (2005) Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
JSPS research fellow (2002-2005) Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
JSPS Post-doc (2005-2007) Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Research fellow (2007-2010) Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Research fellow (2010-2012) Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Assistant professor (2012-2018) Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Associate professor (2018-2023 ) Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Professor (2023- ) Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
During my PhD in Tohoku University, Japan, I worked on plant physiological responses to high CO2 and temperature under a supervision of Prof. Tadaki Hirose and Dr. Kouki Hikosaka. As a part of my PhD project, I exploited natural CO2 springs as a model ecosystem of future high CO2 world (Onoda et al. 2005c; 2007), and I studied plant acclimation and adaption to high CO2 environments. By transplanting experiments, I found some genotypic differences such as lower stomatal conductance and lower starch accumulation in plants originated from high CO2 environments. These were considered as adaptive traits that have been selected under high CO2 environment (Onoda et al. 2009; Nakamura et al. 2011).
After my PhD, I worked as a post-doc at Utrecht University (2005-2007) in The Netherlands. I started a leaf biomechanical work with Dr. Niels Anten, Dr. Feike Schieving and other people. We customized the general testing machine for leaf biomechanics measurements and did a quite lot of experiments, which brought us a lot of insights about how a leaf is built. Combination of theory, mechanics, physiology and anatomy has improved our understanding of leaf mechanical structure (Onoda et al. 2008; Onoda et al. 2015). We also did some work on induced defense and mechanical adaptation to aquatic environments (Gomez et al. 2007; de los Santos et al. 2012).
From 2007 to 2010, I worked as a research fellow in ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function, at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. With supports of Prof. Mark Westoby and Dr. Ian Wright, I organised a working group on leaf biomechanics and we have amassed a unparalleled database (>2800 species) from around the world. We showed the global trends of leaf mechanical properties for the first time (Onoda et al. 2011). Also I did some field work and experiments including stem biomechanics (Onoda et al. 2010; Butler et al. 2012), cuticle mechanics (Onoda et al. 2012) and latitudinal comparison of leaf plasticity to light.
From Feb 2010 to 2012, I worked as a research fellow in the GCOE (global center of excellence) program "Asia Conservation Ecology" in Kyushu University. In this program, I organized symposiums and field courses for PhD students to enhance their experiences and the level of research. I have organised a big field campaign to understand plant functional diversity in Yakushima island which accommodates pristine vegetation across 1936m elevational gradient. In addition, I did a study on light competition among coexisting individuals in forest and found a trade-off between light interception efficiency and light use efficiency allows species with different sizes coexist in one-sided light competition (Onoda et al. 2014)
From April 2012 to Oct 2018, I worked as an assistant professor in Forest Ecology Lab in Kyoto University. Then from Nov 2018 to March 2023, I worked as an associate professor in Tropical Forest Resources and Environment Lab in Kyoto University. And now, I work as a professor in Forest Ecology Lab in Kyoto University.
Journals (editor)
Ecological Research, Associate Editor in Chief, 2015-2019
Frontiers in Plant Science, Review Editor, 2011-2018