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With climate change becoming an acute reality, how plants adapt to a changing environment is an increasingly essential survival trait. Conventionally, researchers conduct long-term studies of plants’ responses at the anatomical level using labour-intensive methods that require millions of repeated samples. The University of Zurich created PlantServation, an AI software to scan samples to detect differences in leaf colour under simulated field conditions while learning to filter out unrelated data from variable plant shapes, background noise and even plant death while detecting leaf colour in each plant automatically. This research looks to improve the efficiency of long-term studies of plants in a complex and fluctuating natural environment.

Two species previously thought to be nationally extinct in Singapore were rediscovered and have been re-classified as nationally Critically Endangered. Orophea hastata was known from Singapore from two historical collections from the late 19th century and was rediscovered in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in December 2022. This small tree grows up to 13 m tall and only two mature individuals are known in Singapore. Uvaria clementis was known from historical records from the late 19th and early 20th century before re-discovery in the Singapore Botanic Gardens Rainforest in September 2018. It was later also found in 2020 from the Central Catchment Rainforest. In Singapore, only a few mature individuals of this large woody climber are found in primary and old secondary lowland rainforests.

Singapore's experience of growing plants in an urban environment was important in the creation of a liveable, sustainable, and climate resilient city. Horticulture programmes in Singapore like community gardens, allotment gardens in parklands, the Gardening with Edibles programme, and therapeutic horticulture programme contributed to the social imperative of cultivating community ownership of green estates, community ties, and interest in horticulture and gardening by offering distinct platforms for people to gather and engage with nature. These programmes also had the added advantage of promoting food security in the island nation.

NParks is leading the way to understand how landscape and climate changes will affect Singapore’s forests through long-term ecological monitoring. A network of permanent forest plots that includes nature reserves, nature parks, Mandai Forest, Nee Soon Swamp and historical research plots was identified for regular surveys of trees, birds and animals. Trees in these plots will be individually tagged and measured on a regular basis to monitor how tree growth rate and biodiversity changes over time. This baseline data will be used for early detection of potential threats to endangered forest species and evaluate whether strategies to improve forest resilience are effective.

Singapore saw the discovery of a new orchid species, the Claderia leontocampus! Researchers from the National Parks Board first encountered this species in 2020 during a routine survey and have since named it after the Merlion (“leontocampus” is Greek for Merlion). Previously, the only known species in Singapore from the same genus is C. viridiflora, which has bright green flowers that open one after the other on an inflorescence. However, C. leontocampus has unique pendulous, cream-yellow flowers with a narrow lip, its flowers open simultaneously on the inflorescence.