biology

Nanako Shigesada

Nanako Shigesada is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nanako Shigesada rather than just read about it. In short: Nanako Shigesada (重定南奈子, Shigesada Nanako) is a Professor Emeritus at Nara Women's University in Japan, most notable for her work in the fields of mathematical biology and theoretical ecology. Her established career in academia has seen many of her articles published to acclaim, as well as contributing to the education of researchers at Kyoto University and Doshisha University.

Key takeaways

Nanako Shigesada belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nanako Shigesada to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nanako Shigesada from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nanako Shigesada (重定南奈子, Shigesada Nanako) is a Professor Emeritus at Nara Women's University in Japan, most notable for her work in the fields of mathematical biology and theoretical ecology. Her established career in academia has seen many of her articles published to acclaim, as well as contributing to the education of researchers at Kyoto University and Doshisha University. Shigesada has served as the Research Supervisor for the Basic Research Program PRESTO in the research area "Innovative Models of Biological Processes and its Development", supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency from 2007-2013. She has also served as Secretary General and President for The Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology. In 2013, she was awarded the Akira Okubo Prize.

Career In the 1970s Shigesada was an active member of Mumay Tansky, a group composed of Shigesasda and colleagues Ei Teramoto, Hiroshi Ashida, Hisao Nakajima, Kohkichi Kawasaki, and Norio Yamamura. The group, organized by Teramoto, published papers on structure, stability and efficiency of ecosystems. In 1979, Shigesada focused on the observational study of the spatial distribution of ant lions by ecologist Masaaki Morisita. She studied the concept of the structures of experience and consciousness (phenomenology) with regards to environmental density and the degree to which a habitat might be unfavorable. She introduced a model that combined population pressure, due to mutual interference between individuals, with environmental potential. Shigesada extended Morisita's work, explaining how coexistence of competing species can arise through spatial segregation. In the last twenty years, Shigesada has studied pine wilt disease which is caused by the pinewood roundworm with a pine sawyer beetle as vector. Through the study of population dynamics, she estimated beetle densities and parameter values, finding that there is a threshold host density above which the disease can spread, and that the minimum density critically depends on the eradication rate.

Notable works

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nanako Shigesada

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nanako Shigesada claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nanako Shigesada before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nanako Shigesada ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nanako Shigesada

In research: Nanako Shigesada appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nanako Shigesada in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nanako Shigesada is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century Japanese biologists, Academic staff of Doshisha University, Academic staff of Kyoto University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nanako Shigesada outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nanako Shigesada in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nanako Shigesada means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nanako Shigesada out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nanako Shigesada in simple terms?

Why does Nanako Shigesada matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nanako Shigesada?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nanako Shigesada.