Matti NiissaloNational Parks Board · Singapore Botanic Gardens
Matti Niissalo
PhD
About
32
Publications
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172
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
Publications
Publications (32)
I discovered overlooked materials when I reviewed the botanical spirit specimens from the herbarium of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore. The materials are from two orchid species, Dendrobium singaporense and Bulbophyllum gusdorfii, which have been recently treated as nationally extinct in Singapore. Based...
The rediscovery in Singapore of the tree species Orophea hastata and the woody climber Uvaria clementis, two Annonaceae species that were previously presumed to be nationally extinct, is documented. Species descriptions and photo plates of flowering material of the two species are provided. Both species are assessed as Critically Endangered at the...
Species radiations, despite immense phenotypic variation, can be difficult to resolve phylogenetically when genetic change poorly matches the rapidity of diversification. Genomic potential furnished by palaeopolyploidy, and relative roles for adaptation, random drift and hybridisation in the apportionment of genetic variation, remain poorly underst...
A checklist of all species of bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms
and angiosperms that are found in the wild (native, naturalised and casual) in Singapore is
presented. We have attempted to account for all names of species and infraspecific taxa that
have ever been recorded for Singapore, along with the pertinent publications that reported e...
A checklist of all species of bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms that are found in the wild (native, naturalised and casual) in Singapore is presented. We have attempted to account for all names of species and infraspecific taxa that have ever been recorded for Singapore, along with the pertinent publications that reported e...
Lowiaceae (order Zingiberales) is a small family of forest herbs in Southeast Asia. All species belong to the genus Orchidantha. They are known for possessing orchid-like flowers that are smelly, apparently mimicking dead animals, feces, or mushrooms. Little is known of the biogeographic patterns or character evolution of the family. We sampled the...
Species radiations have long fascinated biologists, but the contribution of adaptation to observed diversity and speciation is still an open question. Here, we explore this question using the clove genus, Syzygium, the world’s largest genus of tree species comprising
approximately 1200 species. We dissect Syzygium diversity through shotgun sequenci...
Hanguana deflexa sp. nov. (Hanguanaceae) from Lawas district, Sarawak, Malaysia (northern Borneo) is described and illustrated, bringing the total number of species in Borneo to eight. The new species differs from all other recognized Hanguana species by a combination of flat leaf blade, deflexed infructescences, one-seeded dull red fruits with cen...
The genus Hoya is highly diverse and many of its species are popular ornamental plants. However, the relationships between Hoya and related genera (the Hoya group) are not fully resolved. In this study, we report 20 newly sequenced plastomes of species in the Hoya group. The complete plastomes vary in length from 175,405 to 178,525 bp while the LSC...
As part of a project to sample tissue from all native vascular plants in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, we collected material from four species that have not been previously recorded in Singapore. Of these, Nervilia singaporensis Niissalo has already been described as a new species, native to Singapore. Two species, Lepidogyne longifolia (Blume) Blume...
Background and Aims: The abundance of apomixis in tropical plant genera is poorly understood, and this affects the understanding of speciation and evolution. Hanguanaceae is a tropical monogeneric, dioecious plant family. All but two species are solitary herbs with no capability to spread vegetatively. Viable seeds are often produced when males hav...
Background and Aims
The abundance of apomixis in tropical plant genera is poorly understood, and this affects the understanding of speciation and evolution. Hanguanaceae is a tropical monogeneric, dioecious plant family. All but two species are solitary herbs with no capability to spread vegetatively. Viable seeds are often produced when males have...
Gordonia penangensis Ridl. is a rainforest tree native to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Here we provide the complete plastome from a collection made in Singapore. The plastome sequence is 156,915 bp long with a large single copy, a small single copy and two inverted repeat regions of length 86,669, 18,200 and 26,023 bp, respectively. A total o...
The only species of Nervilia Comm. ex Gaudich. included in national checklists and redlists of the Singapore flora is Nervilia punctata (Blume) Makino. This species is treated as presumed nationally extinct. There are three historic collections from Singapore, all collected by H.N. Ridley during the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. However, th...
Dracaena breviflora Ridl. (Asparagaceae) is newly recorded here for Singapore. A description and colour plates of this unusual species are included. Provisional conservation assessments of Endangered globally and Critically Endangered in Singapore are proposed.
Recent molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Hoya is paraphyletic without Absolmsia, Clemensiella, Madangia, and Micholitzia. These genera have been placed in synonymy with Hoya, but the monophyly of Hoya sensu lato relative to other genera of the broader Hoya group (Dischidia, Anatropanthus and Oreosparte, the latter two never included in...
Molecular tools are crucial in the conservation management of small populations, but they have rarely been used for conservation of threatened plants, especially in the Tropics. Next-generation sequencing allows realistic access to detailed measurements of genetic diversity even in the rarest species. We used 12 170 genomic markers to investigate d...
The city-state of Singapore continues to provide many new records and rediscoveries of plant species in its nature reserves, offshore islands and secondary forests. Eleven new records for Singapore and eight rediscoveries of species previously presumed nationally extinct are reported here along with national conservation assessments. The new record...
Molecular tools are crucial in the conservation management of small populations, but they have rarely been used for conservation of threatened plants, especially in the Tropics. Next-generation sequencing allows realistic access to detailed measurements of genetic diversity even in the rarest species. We used 12 170 genomic markers to investigate d...
Hanguana podzolicola (Hanguanaceae) is newly recorded for Singapore. Detailed colour plates are given alongside the main characters for distinguishing this species from the two most similar species in Singapore, Hanguana rubinea and H. triangulata. The seeds of Hanguana podzolicola are described for the first time. A local conservation assessment i...
The correct understanding of early historical names in Hanguana is essential to facilitate taxonomic progress in this rich and widespread but taxonomically challenging group. The history of two often confused early names, Hanguana malayana and H. anthelminthica, is presented, and their identities are clarified. Hanguana malayana, a name previously...
An illustrated revision of Marantaceae in Singapore with an identification key and proposed national IUCN Red List as- sessments is presented here. In total three genera and four species are considered native to Singapore (Donax canniformis, Phrynium hirtum, Stachyphrynium parvum, and Stachyphrynium latifolium) representing 33 % of diversity curren...
Premise of the study:
Tropical plant communities in fragmented forests are likely to experience an extinction debt, i.e., the habitat cannot support as many species as are present due to reduced habitat size and connectivity. There are few estimates of the number of species that represent extinction debt, and the number of extinctions over time ha...
a new species of Hanguana (hanguanaceae), H. thailandica, is described and illustrated from Trang province, Peninsular Thailand. This is the second Hanguana species recorded in Thailand, along with the widespread helophytic H. malayana. The species is morphologically similar to Hanguana exultans and H. nitens found in swamp forests habitats in sout...
As deforestation and urbanization continue at rapid rates in tropical regions, urban forest patches are essential repositories of biodiversity. However, almost nothing is known about gene flow of forest-dependent tree species in urban landscapes. In this study, we investigated gene flow in the insect-pollinated, wind-dispersed tropical tree Koompas...
We discovered a population of Plocoglottis lowii Rchb.f., last collected in 1909 and previously listed as Presumed Nationally Extinct, growing in a wet primary forest in Singapore. The historic distribution of the species is reported here, and the national conservation status of the species is assessed. We also provide notes on the genus in Singapo...
We describe and illustrate a new species, Hanguana neglecta (Commelinales, hanguanaceae), from the Bukit Timah Nature reserve in Singapore, one of the most heavily collected and frequently visited forests in the world. the species, growing prominently near the path at the nature reserve, was not described despite being identified as new fifteen yea...
Challender & MacMillan (2014) discuss the escalating challenges facing enforcement-based approaches to ille-gal wildlife trade, and propose "a change in approach" that more widely adopts incentive-based conservation, wildlife farming, and behavior modification. However, the authors confidently advocate for mainstreaming strategies that we are not s...
Last seen in 1958, the Ascension Island endemic fern, Anogramma ascensionis, was listed as extinct on the 2003 IUCN Red List. However, a 2009 survey rediscovered four plants on Green Mountain. Spores were collected and cultured in vitro at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where a living collection of thousands of gametophytes and hundreds of sporoph...
Projects
Projects (3)
Commelinales is a small and well-supported monocot order, currently placed in the commelinid monocots, together with Zingiberales (its sister-group), Poales, Arecales, and Dasypogonales. The order is composed of Commelinaceae, Haemodoraceae, Hanguanaceae, Philydraceae, and Pontederiaceae, and comprises 60 genera and ca. 1,080 species. Despite its relatively small number of genera and species, Commelinales is geographically, ecologically and morphologically very diverse. The order presents a Pantropical distribution, but also reaching temperate regions in some parts of the globe. The relationship between its five families is currently well-understood and statistically well-supported. Nonetheless, Commelinales is the least studied monocot order from evolutionary and taxonomic points of view. In its current circumscription, it is solely circumscribed by molecular data, lacking any kind of morphological support. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive study of the
morphology and phylogeny of the order and its families.
Reporting botanical discoveries and taxonomic work related to the flora of Singapore
