Professor YASUHARA, Moriaki

Teaching Areas

• Marine Biology
• Invertebrate zoology
• Environmental Science
• Paleontology
• Deep-sea Biology

Research Interests

• Paleontology
• Ecology
• Biodiversity
• Biogeography
• Paleoecology
• Macroecology
• Macroevolution
• Paleoclimatology
• Ostracoda

Current Research

• Eocene marine latitudinal diversity gradients
• Cenozoic marine biodiversity and biogeography
• Pliocene–Pleistocene deep-sea biotic responses in the Western Pacific Warm Pool region
• Southwestern Pacific deep-sea biodiversity
• Tropical biodiversity
• Polar marine ecosystem
• Deep-sea biodiversity patterns
• Global diversity patterns
• Eutrophication and deoxygenation
• Conservation paleoecology

 

Fellowships

• Jan 2023-Dec 2027 RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) 2022/23
• Sep 2013 Temminck Fellow, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands
• Oct 2010-Dec 2010 Postdoctoral Fellow of Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University (Adviser: Minoru Ikehara)
• Oct 2008-Sep 2010 Smithsonian Marine Science Network Postdoctoral Fellow (Adviser: Gene Hunt; co-advisers: Denise Breitburg, Martin Buzas)
• Oct. 2007-Oct. 2008 Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellow (Adviser: Gene Hunt; co-adviser: Brian Huber)
• Oct. 2005-Oct. 2007 JSPS (the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
• Postdoctoral Fellow for Research Abroad, at US Geological Survey (Adviser: Thomas M. Cronin)
• Apr 2003-Mar 2005 Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, at Osaka City University (Adviser: Shusaku Yoshikawa)

Publications and News

• Yasuhara, M.*, Huang, H.-H.M.§*, Chong, R.W.K.†*, Hong, Y.§, Iwatani, H.§, Zhang, J.#, Kimoto, K. and Ikehara, M., 2025. Climatic forcing of the Southern Ocean deep-sea ecosystem. Current Biology, 35(2): 347-353.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.026
• Yasuhara, M.* and Hong, Y.§, 2024. The first study on Chinese marine ostracods revisited: historical ecology of Hong Kong ostracods. J. Micropalaeontol., 43(2): 519-527. https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-43-519-2024
• Tian, S.Y.#*, Yasuhara, M.*, Condamine, F.L.*, Huang, H.-H.M.#, Fernando, A.G.S., Aguilar, Y.M., Pandita, H., Irizuki, T., Iwatani, H.§, Shin, C.P.#, Renema, W., Kase, T. 2024 Cenozoic history of the tropical marine biodiversity hotspot. Nature: 632(8024), 343–349. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07617-4
• Jöst, A.B.#*, Huang, H.-H.M.#, Hong, Y.#, Wei, C.-L., Bauch, H.A., Thibodeau, B., Cronin, T.M., Okahashi, H., Yasuhara, M.* 2024 Testing the deep-sea glacial disturbance hypothesis as a cause of low, present-day Norwegian Sea diversity and resulting steep latitudinal diversity gradient, using fossil records. Global Ecology and Biogeography: 33(7), e13844. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13844
• Zhang, J.†#*, Yasuhara*, M., Wei, C.-L.*, Tian, S.Y.#, Aye, K.K.T.#, Gemery, L., Cronin, T.M., Frenzel, P., Horne, D.J. 2024 Sight and blindness: The relationship between ostracod eyes, water depth, and light availability in the Arctic Ocean. Limnology and Oceanography: 69(6), 1418–1428. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12584
• Yasuhara, M.*, Deutsch, C.A.*, Zhang, J.#* 2024 Tropical paleobiology discovers biodiversity in a warmer past. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 121(15), e2404036121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2404036121
• Chu, R. W. C.†*, Yasuhara, M.*, Myrvang Riise, K.*, Asahi, H.*, Cotton, L. J.*, Hong, Y.§*, Rasmussen, T. L.* 2023. Late Quaternary paleoceanography of Vestnesa Ridge, Fram Strait: Ostracode species as a potential indicator of cold seep activity: Geology: 51 (8), 758–762. https://doi.org/10.1130/G51237.1
• Yasuhara, M.*, Deutsch, C. A.* 2023. Tropical biodiversity linked to polar climate. Nature: 614, 626–628. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00392-8
• Yasuhara, M.*, Huang, H.-H.M.§*, Reuter, M.*, Tian, S.Y.#*, Cybulski, J.D.*, O’Dea, A.*, Mamo, B.L.§*, Cotton, L.J.§*, Di Martino, E.*, Feng, R., Tabor, C.R., Reygondeau, G., Zhao, Q., Warne, M.T., Aye, K.K.T.#, Zhang, J.#, Chao, A., Wei, C.L., Condamine, F.L., Kocsis, A.T., Kiessling, W., Costello, M.J., Tittensor, D.P., Chaudhary, C., Rillo, M.C., Doi, H., Dong, Y.W., Cronin, T.M., Saupe, E.E., Lotze, H.K., Johnson, K.G., Renema, W., Pandolfi, J.M., Harzhauser, M., Jackson, J.B.C., Hong, Y.§*, 2022. Hotspots of Cenozoic tropical marine biodiversity. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review: 60, 243–300. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003288602-5
• Yasuhara, M.*, Deutsch, C. A., 2022. Paleobiology provides glimpses of future ocean: Fossil records from tropical oceans predict biodiversity loss in a warmer world. Science: 375 (6576), 25–26. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn2384
• Yasuhara, M.*, Wei, C.-L.*, Kucera, M., Costello, M.J., Tittensor, D.P., Kiessling, W., Bonebrake, T.C., Tabor, C.R., Feng, R., Baselga, A., Kretschmer, K., Kusumoto, B., Kubota, Y., 2020. Past and future decline of tropical pelagic biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: 117, 12891–12896. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916923117

(* correspondence or equal contribution; # postgraduate student author; § postdoc author; † undergraduate student author)

Awards and Honours

• RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) 2022/23
• W.S. Cooper Award, 2022, Ecological Society of America
• The 20th Biwako Prize for Ecology (2019), The Ecological Society of Japan
• The Academic Award, 2018, The Paleontological Society of Japan
• Outstanding Young Researcher Award (OYRA) 2014-2015, The University of Hong Kong
• Research Output Prize 2013, The University of Hong Kong