Yu Ito

Yu Ito is an aquatic botanist who has been working in several universities and/or institutes, such as the University of Tokyo (PhD: 2006-2010), University of West Hungary (PostDoc: 2010-2011), University of Saskatchewan (PostDoc: 2011-2012), Aarhus University (PostDoc: 2012), University of Canterbury (PostDoc: 2013-2014), and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (2015-). His area of expertise is taxonomy and systematics.

Dr. Ito is an expert on the family Ruppiaceae, and in 2010 published a worldwide molecular phylogeny of the family, proposing a new taxonomic classification of three species and one species complex. The Ruppia maritima complex defined there was updated to include in total eight entities. The systematics of the genus was further changed by the discovery of a new and the most basal species from Western Cape, South Africa (Ruppia bicarpa Yu Ito et Muasya, sp. nov.). Lectotypification of R. cirrhosa and R. spiralis are made and as a result the former one is synonymized under R. maritima: Buccaferra cirrhosa Petagna in Institutiones Botanicae 5: 1826. 1787 ≡ Ruppia cirrhosa (Petagna) Grande in Bull. Orto Bot. Regia Univ. Napoli 5: 58. 1918. – Lectotype (designated here): [illustration in] P. Micheli, Nova Plantarum Genera: pl. 72, tab. 35. 1729. Ruppia spiralis L. ex Dumort. in Fl. Berg. (Dumotier) 164. 1827 – Lectotype (designated here): origin unknown (LINN 176.2 [digital image!]). The phylogeny of Zannichelliaceae is among his research interests, in which based on molecular and morphological evidence Australasian Lepilaena is merged into Afro-Eurasian Althenia with the following taxonomic treatment: Althenia F.Petit, Ann. Sci. Observ. 1: 451 (1829) = Lepilaena J. Drumm. ex Harv., Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 7: 57. (1855), syn. nov.; Althenia marina (E.L. Robertson) Yu Ito, comb. nov., � Lepilaena marina E.L. Robertson, H.B.S. Womersley, Mar. Benth. Fl. South Australia 1: 80 (1984) = Lepilaena patentifolia E.L. Robertson, Fl. S. Australia 4: 1736. (1986), syn. nov.

Among the other contributions of him to science include botanical surveys of aquatic plants in tropical Asia, such as Myanmar and Thailand.

Colleagues

  • Norio Tanaka (Tsukuba Botanical Garden, National Science Museum, Tokyo, Japan)
  • Tetsuo Ohi-Toma (the University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Jin Murata (the University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Nobuyuki Tanaka (Makino Botanical Garden, Japan)
  • Anna Skriptsova (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
  • J. Hugo Cota-Sanchez (University of Saskatchewan, Canada)
  • Anders S. Barfod (Aarhus University, Denmark)
  • Changkyun Kim (Gachon University, South Korea)
  • Robert B. Kaul (University of Nebraska, USA)
  • Dirk C. Albach (Carl von Ossietzky-University Oldenburg, Germany)
  • Okihito Yano (Okayama University of Science, Japan)
  • Jan-Adriaan Viljoen (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
  • A. Muthama Muasya (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
  • Pablo Garcia-Murillo (Universidad de Sevilla, Spain)
  • Bengt Oxelman (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Professional Services

Publications

  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, D.C. Albach, A.S. Barfod, B. Oxelman, A.M. Muasya (2017) Molecular phylogeny of the cosmopolitan aquatic plant genus Limosella (Scrophulariaceae) with a particular focus on the origin of the Australasian L. curdieana. Journal of Plant Research doi: 10.1007/s10265-016-0872-6
  • Ito, Y. (2016) Taxonomic notes on the genus Najas (Hydrocharitaceae) in Thailand: addition of N. marina and exclusion of N. minor. Thai Forest Bulletin 44: 104-107. doi: 10.20531/TFB.2016.44.2.03
  • Ito, Y., G.L. Robledo, L. Iharlegui, Nr. Tanaka (2016) Phylogeny of Potamogeton (Potamogetonaceae) revisited: implications for hybridization and introgression in Argentina. Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science Series B 42: 131-141.
  • Yano, O., Nr. Tanaka, Y. Ito (2016) Molecular evidence for a natural hybrid between Isolepis crassiuscula and I. lenticularis (Cyperaceae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 54: 433-445. doi: 10.1080/0028825X.2016.1205106
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, P. García-Murillo, A.M. Muasya (2016) A new delimitation of the Afro-Eurasian plant genus Althenia to include its Australasian relative, Lepilaena (Potamogetonaceae) – evidence from DNA and morphological data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 98: 261-270. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2016.02.008
  • Ito, Y., O. Yano, Nr. Tanaka, J. Viljen, A.M. Muasya (2016) Phylogeny of Isolepis (Cyperaceae) revisited: Non-monophyletic nature of I. fluitans sensu lato and resurrection of I. lenticularis. Plant Systematics and Evolution 302: 231-238. doi: 10.1007/s00606-015-1253-7
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, C. Kim, R.B. Kaul, D.C. Albach (2016) Phylogeny of Sparganium (Typhaceae) revisited: Non-monophyletic nature of S. emersum sensu lato and resurrection of S. acaule. Plant Systematics and Evolution 302: 129-135. doi: 10.1007/s00606-015-1245-7
  • Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, Nr. Tanaka, J. Murata, A.M. Muasya (2015) Phylogeny of Ruppia (Ruppiaceae) revisited: Molecular and morphological evidence for a new species from Western Cape, South Africa. Systematic Botany 40: 942-949. doi: 10.1600/036364415X689988
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka (2015) Potamogetonaceae. In Wild Flowers of Japan 1: 130-134. (In Japanese).
  • Ito, Y. (2015) Ruppiaceae. In Wild Flowers of Japan 1: 135-136. (In Japanese).
  • Ito, Y., Nb. Tanaka (2014) Chromosome studies in the aquatic monocots of Myanmar: A brief review with additional records. Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e1069. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e1069
  • Ito, Y. T. Ohi-Toma, A. V. Skriptsova, M. Sasagawa, N. Tanaka, J. Murata (2014) Ruppia megacarpa (Ruppiaceae): a new species to the floras of Japan, Korea, and Russia. Botanica Pacifica 3: 49-52.
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, R. Pooma, Nb. Tanaka (2014) DNA barcoding reveals a new record of Potamogeton distinctus (Potamogetonaceae) and its natural hybrids, P. distinctus × P. nodosus and P. distinctus × P. wrightii (P. ×malainoides) from Myanmar. Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e1073. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e1073
  • Ito, Y., J. H. Cota-Sanchez (2014) Distribution and conservation status of Sparganium (Typhaceae) in the Canadian Prairie Provinces. Great Plains Research 24: 119-125. doi: 10.1353/gpr.2014.0019
  • Ito, Y. (2014) Ruppiaceae. In: Santisuk & Larsen (eds.) Flora of Thailand 11(4): 608-609.
  • Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, Nb. Tanaka, Nr. Tanaka, J. Murata (2014) New or noteworthy plant collections from Myanmar (8) Blyxa aubertii var. echinosperma, Lemna trisulca, and Najas tenuis. APG: Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 65: 53-61.
  • Ito, Y., A. S. Barfod (2014) An updated checklist of aquatic plants of Myanmar and Thailand. Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e1019. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e1019
  • Ito, Y. (2013) New records of aquatic plants for the flora of Thailand: Nechamandra alternifolia and Potamogeton octandrus. Thai Forest Bulletin 41: 140-144. link
  • Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, J. Murata, Nr. Tanaka (2013) Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of the Ruppia maritima complex focusing on taxa from the Mediterranean. Journal of Plant Research 126: 753-762. doi: 10.1007/s10265-013-0570-6
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka (2013) Additional Potamogeton hybrids from China: Evidence from a comparison of plastid trnT–trnF and nuclear ITS phylogenies. APG: Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 64: 1–14. link
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka (2011) Hybridisation in a tropical seagrass genus, Halodule (Cymodoceaceae), inferred from plastid and nuclear DNA phylogenies. Telopea 13: 219-231. link
  • Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, J. Murata, Nr. Tanaka (2010) Hybridization and polyploidy of an aquatic plant, Ruppia (Ruppiaceae), inferred from plastid and nuclear DNA phylogenies American Journal of Botany 97: 1156-1167. doi: 10.3732/ajb.0900168
  • Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, Nb. Tanaka, J. Murata (2009) New or noteworthy plant collections from Myanmar (3) Caldesia parnassifolia, Nechamandra alternifolia, Potamogeton maackianus and P. octandrus. Journal of Japanese Botany 84: 321-329.
  • Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, K. Uehara (2007) Inferring the origin of Potamogeton ×inbaensis (Potamogetonaceae) using nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences. Journal of Japanese Botany 82: 20-28.

See Also

Yu Ito (botanist)

Yu Ito is an aquatic botanist worked at the University of Tokyo (PhD: 2006-2010), University of...