Masahiro Nakaoka

Masahiro (Massa) Nakaoka is a professor of Hokkaido University and the director of Akkeshi Marine Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University where he has been working for since 2008.

Massa completed his Ph.D and undergraduate studies at University of Tokyo. His research interests lie in the area of marine ecology, ranging from basic subjects like plant-animal interactions in eelgrass beds, to more applied ones like evaluation of multiple ecosystem services from coastal ecosystems in Asia. He has collaborating activity with researchers in other countries, using Akkeshi Marine Station as a node of international network studies including ZEN (Zostera Experimental Network), GAME (Global approach by Modular Experiments) and TSUNAGARI (Belmont Forum-funded international project).

Massa has served on committees on international and Japanese academic societies and journals such as Steering Committee of World Seagrass Association (2012-present), Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Research (Springer) and an Associate Editor of Estuaries and Coasts (Springer).