{"id":5913,"date":"2026-05-25T09:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T00:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/?post_type=research&p=5913"},"modified":"2026-05-25T09:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T00:50:28","slug":"nakakuni-masatoshi","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/research\/nakakuni-masatoshi\/","title":{"rendered":"NAKAKUNI, Masatoshi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Research Area:\u3000Environmental and Ecological Sciences<\/mark>\u3000
<\/strong>Research Specialization:\u3000Coastal Biogeochemistry<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name:\u3000NAKAKUNI, Masatoshi<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Key ward\uff1aSeto Inland Sea, material cycling, marine plastics, fatty acids, science and art<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Recent Research<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1\uff0eSeto Inland Sea: Science in a sea close to people’s lives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u3000The Seto Inland Sea lies right next to where many people live. This makes it especially vulnerable to human activities, and understanding its changes is crucial. Our research covers a wide range of topics in this “sea close to everyday life”\u2014from how nutrients cycle through the water, to the role of phytoplankton that sustains marine ecosystems, to the fate of plastic debris that has become a growing concern in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2\uff0eTracking the nutrition of plankton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The richness of the sea is not determined by the amount of phytoplankton alone. Fatty acids such as EPA and DHA produced by phytoplankton are passed along to zooplankton, fish, and ultimately to us. We analyze the fatty acids of plankton in the Seto Inland Sea to reveal how the “nutritional quality” underpinning the food web is changing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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3\uff0eWhere science meets art<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u3000Changes in the sea are difficult to communicate through data alone. By collaborating with artists, we transform seafloor sediments, observational data, and plankton into artworks and exhibitions. We explore ways to convey invisible changes in the sea as something people can feel, think about, and act upon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Nakakuni et al. (2026) Sustained phytoplankton productivity despite declining dissolved inorganic nitrogen
\u3000\u3000levels in Harima-Nada, eastern Seto Inland Sea, Japan. Cell Reports Sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nakakuni et al. (2024) Convergence zones of coastal waters as hotspots for floating microplastic accumulation.\u00a0
\u3000\u3000Marine Pollution Bulletin. 206, 116691.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nakakuni et al. (2024) Seasonal variation in pore water nutrients and their fluxes from the bottom sediments in
\u3000\u3000Harima Nada, Seto Inland Sea.\u00a0 Journal of Oceanography. 80, 219\u2013232.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nakakuni et al. (2023) Organic compounds in aquatic sediments analyzed by pyrolysis\u2013GC\u2013MS with
\u3000\u3000tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and alkaline CuO oxidation methods. Journal of Analytical and
\u3000\u3000Applied Pyrolysis. 172, 106016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nakakuni et al. (2021) Seagrass contributes substantially to the sedimentary lignin pool in an estuarine seagrass
\u3000\u3000meadow. Science of the Total Environment. 793, 148488.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research Area:\u3000Environmental and Ecological Sciences\u3000Research Specialization:\u3000Coastal Biogeochemistry Name:\u3000NAKAKUNI, Masatoshi Key ward\uff1aSeto Inland Sea, material cycling, marine plastics, fatty acids, science […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5913","research","type-research","status-publish","hentry","research_category-environmental-and-ecological-sciences"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Research Area:\u3000Environmental and Ecological Sciences\u3000Research Specialization:\u3000Coastal Biogeochemistry Name:\u3000NAKAKUNI, Masatoshi Key ward\uff1aSeto Inland Sea, material cycling, marine plastics, fatty acids, science […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/5913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5913"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/5913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5922,"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/5913\/revisions\/5922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}