Overview
The Field Science Center of the Graduate School of Science at Tohoku University was opened in April 2003 with the aim of establishing and providing integrated education on non-environmental destructive biological production systems. Its establishment was based on a consolidation of the university's experimental farm (which conducted biological production research on terrestrial environments) and the Education and Research Center for Marine Bio-Resources (which conducted similar research on marine environments).
The Center consists of: 1) the Integrated Terrestrial Field Station (previously the university farm, located in Naruko Onsen, Osaki City), where forests, grassland and cultivated land are evenly distributed between a vast forest area and a hilly/mountainous area; 2) the Integrated Marine Field Station (previously the Education and Research Center for Marine Bio-Resources, located in Onagawa Town) on the Sanriku Coast, where cold and warm currents collide to create one of the world's best three fishing grounds; and 3) the Integrated Field Control Station (located in the major city of Sendai).
The Center's mission is to pursue increasingly efficient education and research on integrated ecological fields. To achieve this, the triangle formed by the above three stations is considered as an extension of the university campus, regional collaboration involving the bio-production activities of neighboring national research institutes is promoted, and work is conducted to establish an international network involving academic institutions in countries with ecosystems differing from those of Japan.
History
| Year | Integrated Terrestrial Field Station (Osaki City) | Integrated Marine Field Station (Onagawa Town) |
| 1888 | The Kajiyasawa Military-Horse Breeding Farm was inaugurated with the establishment of the Army Horse Training Team. | |
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| 1896 | The Breeding Farm was renamed the Kajiyasawa Branch of the Military Horse Corps. | |
| 1933 | The Institute of Marine and Fishery Science was established under the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science at Tohoku Imperial University. | |
| 1939 | The Onagawa Fishery Experiment Station was established under the Institute of Agricultural Research. | |
| 1944 | The Army Veterinarian School was established within the Army Horse Corps. | |
| 1945 | The operation of the Army Horse Corps was placed under the Ministry of Finance. | |
| 1947 | Kawatabi Farm was established. | |
| 1949 | The National School Establishment Law, which approved the establishment of experimental farms and forests, was promulgated. | |
| 1953 | The Onagawa Marine Fisheries Laboratory was established under the Faculty of Agriculture. | |
| 1956 | The Fishery Experiment Station was established under the Faculty of Agriculture. | |
| 1962 | The Kawatabi Farm was divided into the University Farm and the Experimental Forest. | |
| 1971 | The Grassland Research Laboratory was established. | |
| 1985 | The Experimental Forest was abolished. | |
| 1995 | The Grassland Research Laboratory was abolished. With the establishment of the Division of Environmental Bioremediation (Independent Major) at the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, its Crop Production Division was changed to the Environmental Crop Science Cooperative Laboratory. |
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| 1996 | The Fishery Experiment Station was reorganized as the Education and Research Center for Marine Bio-Resources of the Faculty of Agriculture. It became the Integrative Aquatic Biology Laboratory of the Division of Biological Resource Sciences. It then became the Education and Research Center for Marine Bio-Resources of the Graduate School of Agricultural Science. |
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| 2000 | The University Farm was reorganized as the University Farm of the Graduate School of Agricultural Science. | |
| 2003 | The University Farm and the Education and Research Center for Marine Bio-Resources were reorganized as the Field Science Center. | |
| 2004 | The Integrated Ecological Field Control Station (Sendai City) was established at the Field Science Center. | |