Tadashi Kajita is a Professor at the Iriomote Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, the University of the Ryukyus, Japan. He is also a Professor at the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kagoshima University. He earned his PhD degree in Biology from Tohoku University, Japan. His research interests include Plant Taxonomy, Molecular Systematics, Ecology and Population Genetics. Prof. Kajita has led many successful international research projects on mangroves and pantropical sea-dispersed plants. His accolades included those from the Japan Society for Plant Systematics (2015) and the Botanical Society (2013). Prof. Kajita currently leads a Core-to-Core international collaborative project on eDNA metabarcoding in mangroves supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.