Rate My Professor Kenji Suetsugu

Kenji Suetsugu is Professor in the Division of Biodiversity, Ecology and Speciation at the Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University. His research centers on heterotrophic plants that obtain carbon resources by exploiting other organisms rather than through photosynthesis. He investigates the ecological and evolutionary processes involved in the transition from autotrophic to heterotrophic lifestyles, with particular attention to the spectrum between mutualism and parasitism. His work examines diverse interactions of these plants with their fungal hosts, pollinators, and seed dispersers. Suetsugu has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed papers on topics including mycoheterotrophy in orchids and other species, novel seed dispersal mechanisms, and isotopic evidence for carbon acquisition from sources such as deadwood.

Key publications include the 2023 description of Monotropastrum kirishimense as a new mycoheterotrophic plant species in the Journal of Plant Research, the 2022 paper on novel mycorrhizal cheating in Cremastra appendiculata published in New Phytologist, and the 2021 study providing evidence for mycorrhizal cheating in Apostasia nipponica also in New Phytologist. Additional works from 2020 cover isotopic and molecular data supporting mixotrophy in Ophioglossum, radiocarbon evidence for carbon dependence on dead wood in mycoheterotrophic orchids, and a novel seed dispersal system in Apostasia nipponica in Evolution Letters. Earlier contributions include research on avian seed dispersal in Cyrtosia septentrionalis published in Nature Plants in 2015. Suetsugu previously held an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Hakubi Project at Kyoto University.