The Center for Ecological Research (CER) conducts research into how biodiversity and ecosystems support our everyday lives, and what we can do in order to sustain rich biodiversity and healthy ecosystems into the future. It is a small research center, but it is designated as Joint Usage/Collaborative Research Center, and serves as the hub of the DIVERSITAS in the Western Pacific and Asia (DIWPA*) network, pursuing a broad range of research projects in collaboration with researchers across the world.

　IToday, many of the world’s ecosystems and the biodiversity within them are under threat. The core missions of the CER are to provide researchers from Japan and abroad with opportunities to use cutting-edge research facilities, to support network-building and the acquisition of research skills by early-career researchers, and to promote research on biodiversity in Japan and across the world. The Biodiversity and Ecology Research Fund has been established in order for the CER to perform these crucial missions reliably even as national government funding continues to be reduced.