Plants × Weather × Sensing
PEDAL is a laboratory at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology that investigates how plants respond to rain and wind, and how these responses shape water movement, mechanical stability, and land-surface processes. We combine field observations, controlled experiments, instrument development, and data analysis to reveal dynamic interactions between plants and their environment.
Raindrops collide with leaves and branches, adhere to their surfaces, and fall again. Trees deform and sway under rain, wind, and snow. Rainfall passing through the canopy reaches the forest floor and affects soils and slopes. PEDAL examines these dynamic processes across spatial and temporal scales.
When conventional instruments cannot capture the phenomenon of interest, we develop new measurement methods and observation systems by combining sensors, microcontrollers, IoT, GNSS, three-dimensional printing, high-speed imaging, and image or point-cloud analysis.
Rainfall dynamics and plant biomechanics form our two core research axes. Our work extends from these axes to land-surface and slope processes, while environmental sensing and instrument development provide a shared technological foundation.
Core research axes
We investigate where rain falls, how individual raindrops vary, and how rainfall is transformed as it passes through vegetation—from individual leaves to entire trees and forests.
We investigate how trees deform, sway, and respond mechanically to wind, rain, and snow through measurements, experiments, and mechanical analysis.
Extended domain and cross-cutting foundation
We examine how rainfall modified by vegetation affects forest floors, soils, and mountain slopes.
We develop the measurement methods and instruments needed for our research by combining sensors, IoT, GNSS, three-dimensional printing, high-speed imaging, and image or point-cloud analysis.
Information for undergraduate students and prospective master's, doctoral, and research students is provided on our Recruitment page. Before contacting us, please read both the Research and Recruitment pages carefully and confirm that your interests fit the laboratory.
PEDAL welcomes enquiries concerning joint observations, measurement methods, instrument development and evaluation, data analysis, and related research activities.
Professor, Division of International Environmental and Agricultural Science, Institute of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT)
The Plant-Environment Dynamics and Applied Sensing Laboratory (PEDAL) was established in March 2025. Within TUAT, we collaborate with the Katsushige Shiraki Laboratory in the fields of forest hydrology, mountain conservation, and erosion-control engineering.