Rate My Professor Atsushi Kawakita

Atsushi Kawakita is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, where he also serves as Director of the Koishikawa Botanical Garden. He received his Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 2007. His research centers on plant ecology and plant evolutionary biology, with a focus on the evolution of floral diversity, plant adaptation to insect herbivores, and the diversity of mining patterns by leaf-mining insects. Kawakita studies how interactions with pollinators and herbivores have shaped the traits of angiosperm flowers and leaves, employing fieldwork in native habitats, morphological and chemical analyses, and molecular phylogenetic methods. His laboratory investigates the diversity and evolution of angiosperm pollination systems, plant–herbivore and plant–seed disperser interactions, plant adaptation strategies to elevation gradients, taxonomic studies of vascular plants, and museomics using herbarium specimens. The work draws on the extensive collections of the Koishikawa and Nikko Botanical Gardens, including approximately 6,000 species of wild plants and 800,000 herbarium specimens, to advance understanding of plant diversity through the lens of biological interactions.

Kawakita holds appointments in the Koishikawa Botanical Garden and the Department of Biological Sciences (both undergraduate and graduate programs). His research keywords include natural history, diversity, ecology, pollination, mutualism, species interaction, and herbivorous insects. Recent laboratory activities have included studies on gall midge pollination and sap beetle pollination of specific plant species, as well as conservation efforts involving threatened endemic plants in the Ogasawara Islands. Kawakita contributes to the broader scientific community through his roles in advancing knowledge of plant–animal interactions and plant systematics within the framework of the Graduate School of Science.