Dr Malaka M. Wijayasinghe

Previous Employments

• 2014-2018- Early stage researcher, European Union NASSTEC ITN project (https://nasstec.eu.).

• 2015-2016- Visiting scholar at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place, UK.

• 2011-2014- Research assistant at Department of Botany, University of Peradeniya.

• 2010-2011- Temporary Demonstrator at Department of Zoology, University of Peradeniya.)

Current Researches and Projects

• Ecology of mangroves in Sri Lanka

• Biological seed coating Technology

Awards

• Merit award for scientific publications – 2015 (National Research Council, Sri Lanka)

• 2014 – 2017. Research fellowship award (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, university of Pavia, Italy and Marie Curie Actions of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme).

• Baskin’s award for best poster presentation at International Seed Ecology Conference V, Brazil.

• Travel grant award (By NSF Sri Lanka to participate Seed Ecology IV conference, Shenyang, China).

• 2012 – 2014. Research studentship award (University of Peradeniya for the M.Phil. degree funded by NSF Sri Lanka).

Publications

Papers in international journals with peer-review

• Wijayasinghe, M., Jayasuriya, KMGG., Gunatilleke, CVS., Gunatilleke IUAN and Walck, J. 2018. Effect of salinity on seed germination of five mangrove species from Sri Lanka: Use of hydrotime modelling for mangrove germination. Seed Science Research.

• Jayasuriya, KMGG., Athugala, YS., Wijayasinghe, MM., Baskin, JM., Baskin, CC. and Mahadevan, N. 2015. The crypsis hypothesis: a stenopic view of the selective factors in the evolution of physical dormancy in seeds. Seed Science Research 25, 127-137.

• Tudela-Isanta, M, Fernandez-Pascual E, Wijayasinghe M, Orseningo S, Pritchard HW, Rossi G, Mondoni A. 2018. Habitat-related seed germination traits in alpine habitats.Ecology and Evolution.

• Paparella S., Araújo SS, Rossi G, Wijayasinghe M, Carbonera D, Balestrazzi A. 2015. Seed priming: state of the art and new perspectives. Plant cell reports, 34, 1281-1293.

• Tudela-Isanta, M, Ladouceur ER, Wijayasinghe M, Pritchard HW, Mondoni A. 2018. Seed germination niche contributes to limit some plant species distributions to calcareous or siliceous alpine bedrocks. Alpine Botany, 128, 83-95.

Abstracts in international conferences

• Wijayasinghe M, Tudela-Isanta M, Mondoni A, Balestrazzi A, Colville L and Pritchard HW. 2017. Importance of seedling conversion on estimates of seed longevity in alpine plants. International Conference (NASSTEC)- Seed Quality of Native Species- Ecology, Production & Policy, London, UK.

• Wijayasinghe M, Tudela-Isanta M, Mondoni A, Balestrazzi A, Colville L and Pritchard HW. 2017. Importance of assessing accurate seed longevity and seed priming: implication for ex-situ conservation in seed bank and industry. 12th Triennial International Society for Seed Science (ISSS), Monterey, Califonia, USA.

• Wijayasinghe M, Tudela-Isanta M, Mondoni A, Balestrazzi A, Rossi G. 2016. Improving seed viability in storage of species from different alpine grasslands. Seed Ecology Congress V, Minas Gerai, Brazil.

• Wijayasinghe M, Mondoni A, Balestrazzi A, Colville L and Pritchard HW. 2015. Improving seed longevity in storage of alpine species. Seed longevity workshop, Wernigerode, Germany.

• Wijayasinghe M, Mondoni A and Balestrazzi A. 2015. Does priming improve the seed longevity of alpine species? II International Plant Science Conference (IPSC), Pavia, Italy.

• Wijayasinghe M, Ladouceur E, Frischie S, Dello Jacovo E, Hernandez-Gonzalez, Tudela-Isanta M, Teixeira A, Marin M, Blandino C, Lopez- Egido L, Abbandonato H, 2015. Native Seeds for Plant Conservation and Grassland Restoration in Europe: A mission for science and policy. XXVII International Congress for Conservation Biology, Montpellier, France.

• Wijayasinghe, M., Jayasuriya, KMGG., Gunatilleke, CVS., Gunatilleke IUAN and Walck, J. 2013. Seed dormancy in plants of Sri Lankan Mangroves. Seed ecology congress IV. Shenyang, China.