TOHOKU UNIVERSITY Researchers

Research History 3

2020/04 - Present

Tohoku University　International Research Institute of Disaster Science　Earthquake induced Tsunami Risk Evaluation Field (Tokio Marin Nichido)
2022/08 - 2023/03

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZurich)　guest professosr
2017/04 - 2020/03

Tohoku University　Graduate School of Engineering　Research Fellow (DC1), JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)

Education 4

Tohoku University　Graduate School of Engineering　Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

2017/04 - 2020/03
Tohoku University　Inter-Graduate School of Doctoral Degree Program on Science for global safety

2016/04 - 2020/03
Tohoku University　Graduate School of Engineering　Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

2015/04 - 2017/03
Hokkaido University　School of Engineering　Department of Socio-Environmental Engineering

2011/04 - 2015/03

Committee Memberships 4

The eDNA Society　PR committee member

2023/01 - Present
The eDNA Society　Director

2024/12 - 2026/12
Iwate Prefecture　Technical Review Committee on Environmental Impact Assessment

2024/09 - 2026/09
Fukushima Prefecture　Technical Review Committee on Environmental Impact Assessment

2023/03 - 2026/03

Research Interests 4

Ecological resilience
environmental DNA (eDNA)
macroinvertebrate
river ecosystem

Research Areas 1

Social infrastructure (civil Engineering, architecture, disaster prevention) / Civil engineering (environmental systems) /

Awards 3

Incentive award for Construction Engineering Researches

2020/06　Foundation for Construction Engineering Research
'Dean's award', Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University

2017/03　Tohoku University
'Outstanding presenter', JSCE 2016 Annual Meeting

2016/11　Japan Society of Civil Engineering

Papers 8

Environmental DNA metabarcoding for insect biodiversity surveys: Current status and future prospects for potential applications in highly diverse insect taxa Peer-reviewed

Masaki Takenaka, Noriko Uchida, Yuta Hasebe, Koki Yano, Gaku Ueki

Entomological Science　29　(1)　2026/01/06
Publisher: Wiley
DOI： 10.1111/ens.12616 　

ISSN： 1343-8786

eISSN： 1479-8298

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Abstract Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a groundbreaking molecular tool that despite its challenges, offers a powerful and comprehensive method for surveying biodiversity. Insects, as key bioindicators of water quality in river ecosystems, make insect eDNA an especially promising tool for biomonitoring and water management. However, significant issues remain. This review explores historical and ongoing eDNA studies, focusing on the genetic diversity of insects, which underpins eDNA analysis. We address two key issues regarding eDNA metabarcoding: selecting suitable DNA barcoding regions for accurate molecular identification and the importance of DNA databases. A review of 82 papers showed that while the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) COI region is widely used, it often amplifies nontarget groups. Regarding primer concordance rates among insects, the mtDNA COI region, mixed nucleotide bases are often used to increase the match rate for insects. In contrast, primers targeting the mtDNA 16S rRNA region actually show higher match rates for insects. In addition, we highlight the critical role of regional DNA databases, particularly for species that exhibit genetic differentiation across regions. Also, using a local database, we demonstrated improved detection sensitivity, underscoring the importance of local databases for accurate species identification. To guide future database construction, we reviewed phylogeographic studies and using the Japanese Archipelago, which is a region with high species diversity, proposed genetic ecoregions that demonstrate genetic regionality globally. Our findings emphasize that insect eDNA is at the forefront of species identification technology, offering immense potential for future applications. With innovative approaches, it could revolutionize biomonitoring tools for diverse ecosystems.
Application of Environmental <scp>DNA</scp> ‐Based Assessment for Upstream–Downstream Comparison of River Macroinvertebrates in a Metal‐Contaminated River Peer-reviewed

Noriko Uchida, Yuichi Iwasaki, Ryoichi Kuranishi, Natsuko Ito Kondo

Environmental DNA　7　(5)　2025/09
Publisher: Wiley
DOI： 10.1002/edn3.70200 　

ISSN： 2637-4943

eISSN： 2637-4943

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ABSTRACT Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a powerful tool for biological monitoring that may overcome limitations of conventional macroinvertebrate surveys in running waters. However, the ability of eDNA to detect macroinvertebrate community changes immediately downstream of a perturbation, particularly in upstream–downstream comparisons, has not been adequately explored. To address this, we compared eDNA‐based assessments with macroinvertebrate surveys in a river receiving inflow from a metal‐contaminated tributary. Results from both eDNA‐based assessment and benthic macroinvertebrate collection revealed distinctly lower richness of taxa and zero‐radius operational taxonomic units (ZOTUs) at the metal‐contaminated tributary site compared to other study sites. Results from the collection of macroinvertebrates indicated that most richness and abundance metrics were significantly reduced at three metal‐contaminated sites located 150–1350 m downstream from the inflow of the tributary, compared with an upstream reference site. In contrast, the eDNA‐based assessment revealed similar ZOTU richness at the reference site and the three contaminated sites. Although statistically not significant because sample sizes were small, eDNA‐based nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) revealed some separation between the reference site and two downstream sites. However, no separation was apparent between the reference site and the site immediately downstream. This result suggested that eDNA at a site 150 m downstream from the inflow was likely affected by downstream drift of eDNA from the upstream reference area. That drift complicated the assessment of the community a short distance from the perturbation. The site separation detected by eDNA‐based assessment was promising, but the ZOTUs that contributed to the separation were mainly from dipteran taxa rather than from metal‐sensitive mayflies, which were significantly lower in abundance at the downstream, contaminated sites. Developing reliable local DNA barcoding information, particularly for these mayflies, may help overcome the limitations of making evaluations over relatively small spatial scales, such as upstream–downstream comparisons.
EVALUATION OF HUMIC SUBSTANCES PROFILES AND THEIR CHANGES BY CHLORINATION USING COMBINED METHODOLOGY OF LC-QTOF/MS AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY Peer-reviewed

Ryosuke YANO, Yuji SUZUKI, Yuichi IWASAKI, Noriko UCHIDA, Tatsunori KIMURA

Japanese Journal of JSCE　81　(25)　2025
Publisher: Japan Society of Civil Engineers
DOI： 10.2208/jscejj.25-25041 　

eISSN： 2436-6021
Time-series transition of the community structure of aquatic insects at middle domain of Natori river basin in Miyagi Prefecture as revealed by eDNA metabarcoding analysis. Peer-reviewed

Noriko UCHIDA, Kengo KUBOTA, Shunsuke AITA, So KAZAMA

Ecology and Civil Engineering　23　(1)　21-36　2020/09/28
Publisher: Ecology and Civil Engineering Society
DOI： 10.3825/ece.23.21 　

ISSN： 1344-3755

eISSN： 1882-5974
Aquatic insect community structure revealed by eDNA metabarcoding derives indices for environmental assessment Peer-reviewed

Noriko Uchida, Kengo Kubota, Shunsuke Aita, So Kazama

PEERJ　8　2020/06

DOI： 10.7717/peerj.9176 　

ISSN： 2167-8359
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STREAM INSECTS' BIOMASS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DNA DERIVED BY METABARCODING AND QUANTITATIVE PCR Peer-reviewed

UCHIDA Noriko, KUBOTA Kengo, AITA Shunsuke, KAZAMA So

Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. G (Environmental Research)　75　(7)　III_281-III_288　2019
Publisher: Japan Society of Civil Engineers
DOI： 10.2208/jscejer.75.7_III_281 　

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<p> Invertebrate species DNA of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 region were quantified using environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from river water using quantitative PCR (qPCR). Subsequently, metabarcoding was conducted to obtain the proportion of stream insects of six taxonomic orders (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Diptera, Odonata, Coleoptera) in the community. Finally, eDNA concentrations of the six taxonomic groups were calculated by multiplying the proportion of each taxonomy and the quantified invertebrate DNA concentration. As a result, aquatic insect eDNA concentrations displayed significant positive correlations with aquatic insect individuals collected by the conventional surber net sampling (Spearman's rank correlation = 0.74, p < 0.01). Furthermore, positive correlations were observed between the population densities and eDNA concentrations for orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Dipetra. These results indicate that the combination of eDNA metabarcoding and qPCR can be an effective way to estimate the abundance of stream insect.</p>
VEGETATION SEEDS SETTLING PATTERN ON ALTERNATE SANDBARS IN A STRAIGHT CHANNEL AND THE EFFECT ON RIVER BED MORPHOLOGY Peer-reviewed

Noriko Uchida, Tomoko Kyuka, Ichiro Kimura, Yasuyuki Shimizu

11TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ECOHYDRAULICS　2016
THE SETTLING PATTERN OF VEGETATION SEEDS ON ALTERNATE BARE SANDBARS AND THE EFFECT OF CORRESPONDING VEGETATION ON RIVER BED MORPHOLOGY Peer-reviewed

UCHIDA Noriko, KYUKA Tomoko, KIMURA Ichiro, SHIMIZU Yasuyuki

Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. B1 (Hydraulic Engineering)　72　(4)　I_1087-I_1092　2016
Publisher: Japan Society of Civil Engineers
DOI： 10.2208/jscejhe.72.I_1087 　

ISSN： 1880-8751

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 The objective of this study is to observe the characteristics of lotic seeds distribution on bare sandbars, and to confirm the differences of bed morphology change without vegetation and with vegetation patches on sandbars by means of laboratory experiments and numerical analysis. In the experiments, after sandbars were formed, enough amounts of alfalfa seeds were supplied from the inlet section of the flume. The result of experimental flume tests showed that alfalfa seeds, transported by flow, were settled at the front edge of sandbars during the recession stage of the discharge. This is because, the flow at most downstream areas of sandbars and the front edge of sandbars decreased earlier than that of middle area of sandbars during decreasing of discharge, as shown with the numerical results. This flow causes the specific seeds deposition areas. Those results imply that invading vegetation has specific settling characteristics and make vegetation patches on sandbars.

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Misc. 5

レジリエント社会構築に向けた新たな連携World Bosai Forum 2025 でのセッション開催報告;よりよい復興をもたらす身近な【つながり】

内田典子, 今村文彦, 保田真理, サッパシー・アナワット, 小野高宏, 板橋恵子, 葛西啓之

津波工学研究報告　(42)　125-131　2025
Panel Discussion in WBF 2023: New Collaboration for Building a Resilient Society Peer-reviewed

Noriko Uchida, Shuji Seto, Anawat Suppasri, Takahiro Ono, Makoto Kobayashi, Mari Yasuda, Fumika Iitoyo, Keiko Itabashi, Fumihiko Imamura

Journal of Disaster Research　19　(3)　523-533　2024/06/01
Publisher: Fuji Technology Press Ltd.
DOI： 10.20965/jdr.2024.p0523 　

ISSN： 1881-2473

eISSN： 1883-8030

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Building a resilient society is key to preparing for disasters beyond the planned scale. To achieve this, it is necessary to create a clear common understanding of what “resilient” disaster management means and to consider concrete methods to accelerate its social implementation. However, few opportunities have occurred to have these discussions with diverse stakeholders. Therefore, a panel discussion was held to consider the type of cooperation required to build a resilient society. Each speaker provided information from various perspectives, including emergency information, disaster prevention education, and scientific knowledge on the mechanism of tsunamis, and their impact on ecosystems. Based on the above, the panel discussion confirmed the need for various elements such as infrastructure, information, rules, and social structure. In particular, it is necessary to develop consistency with existing safety standards for disaster prevention using ecosystems. It was suggested that, in addition to the practice of education, cooperation with the media, which keeps up-to-date information on a long-term basis, is indispensable for raising awareness of disaster prevention. This panel discussion emphasized that disaster reduction is a difficult field for companies to enter and commercialize, however, it was emphasized that it is indispensable worldwide.
Distributional change of coastal vegetation by external forces of Tsunami after the Great East Japan Earthquake: A case study on the coast of Sendai

Noriko Uchida, Haruka Shimizu, Anawat Suppasri, Daisuke Sugawara, Fumihiko Imamura

Research Report of Tsunami Engineering　(40)　167-170　2023/07
Report of "workshop of river basin studies -towards the interdisciplinary study of the sustainable utilization and management of river basin systems-"

MARUYA Yasuyuki, TANAKA Tomohiro, UCHIDA Noriko, SHIOJIRI Daiya, MATSUURA Takuya

JOURNAL OF JAPAN SOCIETY OF HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES　32　(3)　148-150　2019
Publisher: THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES
DOI： 10.3178/jjshwr.32.148 　

ISSN： 0915-1389

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This research group held a workshop to discuss river basin research efforts with emphasis on future interdisciplinary studies of the sustainable utilization and management of river basin systems. This report describes the workshop activities and their related information, which was held during 18–19 July, 2018 in Takayama city, Gifu.
Inspire for Research from Wandering

UCHIDA Noriko

JOURNAL OF JAPAN SOCIETY OF HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES　30　(5)　339-339　2017
Publisher: THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES
DOI： 10.3178/jjshwr.30.339 　

ISSN： 0915-1389

Books and Other Publications 1

手しごとガクシャ

鷲谷洋輔, 内田典子, 一條花

のがく研究室　2026/03/01

Presentations 9

LC-QTOF/MSと環境DNA分析を用いた河川水中のフミン質や人工有機化合物と底生生物指標との関係性評価

矢野涼介, 鈴木裕識, 木村辰徳, 岩崎雄一, 内田典子

令和7年度土木学会中部支部研究発表会　2026/03/06
底生動物における環境DNA調査の可能性 Invited

内田典子

令和7年度環境専門委員会セミナー　2026/01/20
Integrated Assessment of Heavy-metal Pollution in Hokkaido-Tohoku Rivers Using Aquatic Insects and eDNA

2025/12/11
東北地方太平洋沖地震津波を対象とした仙台海岸での植生生存・回復過程の検討

向田祐翔, 内田典子, Constance Ting Chua, Anawat Suppasri, 菅原大助, 今村文彦

第72回海岸工学講演会　2025/11/27
降水時河川水の環境DNAによる陸生・水生昆虫多様性把握の可能性

内田典子

応用生態工学会第28回全国大会　2025/09/12
雨が集める流域の生物多様性〜昆虫編〜

内田典子

第15回雨水ネットワーク全国大会水の環フォーラムin神戸　2025/09/06
ふつうの虫がふつうにいることは尊い。人と同じく。

内田典子

全国キャラバン３Questions-東北地区編-　2025/08/26
Coastal Vegetation Succession on the Sendai Coast After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Yuto Mukaida, Noriko Uchida, Constance Chua, Anawat Suppasri, Daisuke Sugawara, Fumihiko Imamura

AOGS2025　2025/07/29
Benthic invertebrate eDNA, bioassays, and high-resolution mass spectrometry: An attempt to capture chemical risks in rivers

2025/07/16

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Research Projects 12

Does water quality improvement lead to the recovery of aquatic organisms in rivers? Assessment of recovery potential and influencing substance groups

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

System: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)

Institution: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

2024/04/01 - 2028/03/31
Building Sustainable and Disaster Resilient Communities: Navigating Shocks to the Biodiversity-Water-Food-Energy Nexus through Learnings from Japan, India, and the UK

Bruce Malamud, Soledad Garcia Ferrari, Shivani Singhal, Razia Sulthana Abdul Kareem, Racheal Adedokun, Raji Pushpalatha, Sruthy S., Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Vinaya Kumar HM, Debrupa Chakraborty, Premkumar A., Noriko Uchida, Miwako Kitamura, Upasana Jhariya, Jorge Enrique, Ascencio Damian

Offer Organization: British Council

System: International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF)

2025/03 - 2027/01
D.ソローのアンコモンスクール（Uncommon Schools）論の現代的展開

鷲谷洋輔, 澤田哲生, 小倉振一郎, 高倉浩樹, 内田典子

Offer Organization: 東北大学先端教育研究実践センター

System: プロジェクト研究

Institution: 東北大学

2025/10 - 2026/09
魚類および水生昆虫環境DNAによる森林火災後の淡水生態系への影響把握

Offer Organization: 一般財団法人水源地環境センター

System: WEC応用生態研究助成申請書

Institution: 東北大学

2025/05 - 2026/03
手しごとの博物学

鷲谷洋輔, 内田典子

Offer Organization: 東北大学

System: Sustainability Open Knowledge-Action Program by Connecting Multi-stakeholder (SOKAP-Seeds)

Institution: 東北大学

2025/04 - 2026/03
「博物学の箱」プロジェクト

鷲谷洋輔, 内田典子

Offer Organization: サントリー文化財団

System: 研究助成「学問の未来を拓く」

Institution: 東北大学

2024/08 - 2025/07
Assessment of metal impacts on aquatic insects using environmental DNA by developing a database of highly reliable DNA references

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

System: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)

Institution: National Institute for Environmental Studies

2021/04/01 - 2025/03/31
Transdisciplinary research for eco-town development based on self-employed harvesting forestry and utilization of woody biomass

2021/04 - 2024/03
Verifying the flush regime of environmental DNA and developing monitoring methods for aquatic and terrestrial biotas

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

System: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up

Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up

Institution: Tohoku University

2020/09/11 - 2022/03/31
環境DNAを用いた陸・水域の無脊椎生物多様性および陸域ー水域間相互作用度の評価

内田典子

Offer Organization: 公益財団法人クリタ水・環境科学振興財団

System: 2020年度国内研究助成

Institution: 東北大学

2020/10 - 2021/09
Hyper-interdisciplinary practical research for constructing Eco-Town system based on the basic infrastructural society

Offer Organization: Tohoku university

2020/09 - 2021/03
流出解析と環境ＤＮＡ分析を用いた種の生息位置推定モデルの開発

内田典子

Offer Organization: 日本学術振興会

System: 科学研究費助成事業特別研究員奨励費

Category: 特別研究員奨励費

Institution: 東北大学

2017/04/26 - 2020/03/31

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水生昆虫を対象にした環境DNAメタバーコーディングに関して，バイオインフォマティクスのパイプラインを構築した．塩基配列情報同士の一致度の閾値は，メタバーコーディングデータの解析結果の信頼性を左右するが，水生昆虫に関して，データに基づいて閾値を設定した例はない．このため水生昆虫に特化した塩基配列一致度を調査した．その結果，水生昆虫CO1領域は属内の塩基配列一致度が85%であり，菌叢18SrRNAで用いられる90～97％属内一致度，魚類16SrRNAで一般的に用いられる97％属内一致度よりも閾値が低いことが示された． <BR> 環境DNAメタバーコーディング結果と従来のサーバーネット採集法における，水生昆虫検出度を比較した．さらに，それぞれの手法から得られる水生昆虫相の季節・空間的な群集構造の違いを示した．解析サンプルは2016年5月から12月において名取川流域中の13地点から採取した全75サンプルであり，解析対象遺伝子は無脊椎動物のミトコンドリアDNAのCO1領域である．環境DNAは従来法よりも多くの分類群を検出し，特に水際～陸に生息域を持つハエ目やカメムシ目等の検出が顕著であった．また2つの手法において得られる群集構造は似通っており，環境DNAと従来法の相関は高いものと考えられた．本結果は現在論文として投稿中である． <BR> 環境DNAのメタバーコーディングと定量PCRにより，水生昆虫個体数が推定できる可能性を示した．メタバーコーディングにより，分析する全DNA中における各水生昆虫分類群DNAの相対的存在量を得た．分析に供するDNAの濃度をqPCRによって定量した値と組み合わせ，目的の水生昆虫分類群のDNA絶対量を推計し，実際に採集された水生昆虫量との関係を解析した．その結果，カゲロウ目，カワゲラ目，ハエ目については環境DNAと実水生昆虫量の間に正の相関が得られた．本成果は平成30年度東北支部において口頭発表をしたほか，現在論文として投稿準備中である．

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Teaching Experience 1

Basic of Natural Disaster Science and Its Application for BOSAI Basics of Disaster Science for BOSAI 2025　Tohoku University