Mini-symposium on "Connectivity of Hills, Humans and Oceans" entitled "Environment and Life in Lake Biwa" held (24 October 2015)

Educational Unit for Studies on Connectivity of Hills, Humans and Oceans (CoHHO) of the Center for the Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research, Kyoto University, co-hosted a mini-symposium entitled "Environment and Life in Lake Biwa" with Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (GSGES) and the Nippon Foundation. This was held at the meeting room of Field Science Education and Research Center (FSERC), which was packed with 58 participants from wide range of disciplines, including university students, primary school teachers, and researchers.

The symposium started with a keynote lecture by Emeritus Professor Masami Nakanishi, who discussed the features of Lake Biwa in terms of the three elements of the ecosystem, including physical environment, chemical environment, and bio-community, by making comparison between Lake Biwa and Lake Baikal in Russia, both of which are ancient lakes. It was followed by a lecture by Professor Kazumi Hosoya of Kinki University on issues of fish diversity in Lake Biwa from perspectives of ecology, systematic taxonomy, and biological geography. In his lecture, Professor Hosoya explained the ecology of introduced species, such as black bass and bluegill, and their impact on the native fish as threads to this diversity. Subsequently, Mr Toshikazu Ishii, a former KU staff, talked about citizen science activities organized by Lake Biwa Museum to conduct environmental assessment of Lake Biwa, and his experience of rearing willow shiners, one of Lake Biwa's endemic species. Through his talk, he stressed the importance of preserving environment and life in the lake.

Two presentations were delivered prior to the panel discussion to provide guiding topics. Firstly, Ms Hiroka Onishi, a first-year student of Master's program at GSGES, introduced a research project of investigating proliferation of large water primrose (Obanamizukinbai), an introduced species thriving in Lake Biwa, in which her laboratory is involved. She also maintained her ambition for her study in the Master's program. Secondly, Ms Kaori Abutsu, Researcher at CoHHO, showed the result of water quality assessment in and around Nishinoko, which is the largest "Naiko" (attached lake) in Lake Biwa and currently being used as the training field for the CoHHO program. Based on the result, she discussed ecological roles of wetland areas with reeds on the shore. In the following discussion, lecturers and topic presenters engaged in active debate, especially focusing on two issues. One was the importance of "Naiko" and wetland with reeds, which bridge between the land and the lake, from ecological point of view as well as from the perspective of conservation of native species. The other was the difficulties in building consensus in establishing measures against introduced species among people with different evaluation criteria depending on what they stand for. The discussion concluded that researchers must present well established and evidence-based data in order to facilitate smooth consensus building.