Report of iTHEMS colloquium - Tropical Rain Forest

iTHEMS Colloquium was held on February 21st, inviting Dr. Akiko Satake, Professor of Kyushu University. Her lecture was entitled “Tropical Rain Forest.” In forests, flowering and fruit production are synchronized between different trees with irregular intervals of several years. Dr. Satake integrated long-term data and mathematical modeling, and found the triggers for mass flowering are temperature and drought. In fact, by using her model and the data of temperature and precipitation, she accurately predicted the mass flowering timing. This study will reveal the link between macroscopic (ecosystem) and microscopic (gene regulatory system) phenomena. Because the research topic is interesting and her presentation was easy for non-specialist to understand, we enjoyed active discussion.