Bio

2018-present –U.S: Japan Society For The Promotion of Science (JSPS) Overseas Research Fellowship (2018), Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
2013-2015 – Ph.D., Geology and Paleontology, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
2011-2013 – Master of Geology and Paleontology, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
2011 – Bachelor of Geology and Paleontology, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

Research

The objective of my research is to unravel (i) the mechanisms that had an impact on both terrestrial and marine ecosystems at the end-Permian mass extinction, and (ii) causes of the delayed recovery from the mass extinction event. In my work, I describe secular changes for the mass extinction event to reveal detailed changes in redox conditions and in the structures of primary producers and bacterial communities during the mass extinction events, and such secular changes at standard and ultra-high temporal resolution (at 200 μm intervals) for the Early Triassic, to evaluate their influence on the carbon-cycle perturbations and the cause of the delayed recovery.

Select Publications

Saito R., Oba M., Kaiho K., Schaeffer P., Adam P., Takahashi S., Nara-Watanabe F., Chen Z-Q., Tong J. and Tsuchiya N., (2014) Extreme euxinia just prior to the Middle Triassic biotic recovery from the latest Permian mass extinction. Org. Geochem 73, 113-122.

Saito R., Kaiho K., Oba M., Fujibayashi M., Tong J. and Tian L. (2015) Predominance of archaea-derived hydrocarbons in an Early Triassic microbialite. Org. Geochem. 85, 66-75.

Saito R., Kaiho K., Oba M., Tong J., Chen Z-Q., Takahashi S., Chen J., Tian L. and Biswas R. K. (2016). Secular changes in environmental stresses and eukaryotes during the Early Triassic to the early Middle Triassic. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 451, 35-45.

Kaiho, K., Oshima, N., Adachi, K., Adachi, Y., Mizukami, T., Fujibayashi, M., Saito, R., (2016). Global climate change driven by soot at the K-Pg boundary as the cause of the mass extinction. Scientific Reports 6.

Saito R., Kaiho K., Oba M., Tong J., Chen Z-Q., Tian L., Takahashi S., and Fujibayashi, M. (2017). Tentative identification of diagenetic products of cyclic biphytanes in sedimentary rocks from the uppermost Permian and Lower Triassic. Org. Geochem. 111, 144-153.

• Alumni