The primary goal of the 60th-anniversary symposium of the Ecological Society of Japan (ESJ) was to re-examine the role of the Society. The first of five lectures, ‘‘Development of Long-term Ecological Research in Japan,’’ discussed the increasingly important role of long-term and networked research studies. Eco-logical research in Asia faces many challenges because Asia features natural and anthropogenic landscapes with highly diverse ecosystems. ‘‘Developing Strategies of the Ecological Society of Japan for Worldwide Societies of Ecology with Special Reference to Strategies for Asia’’
