Elaeis guineensis standing unplanted in Indonesia, tropical hardwood forests are being cleared for palm oil plantations. Furthermore, as the remaining unprotected lowland forest dwindles, developers are looking to plant peat swamp land, using drainage that begins an oxidation process of the peat which can release 5,000 to 10,000 years worth of stored carbon. Drained peat is also at very high risk of forest fire. There is a clear record of fire being used to clear vegetation for oil palm development in Indonesia, where in recent years drought and man-made clearances have led to massive uncontrolled forest fires, covering parts of Southeast Asia
Phytomonas more economically significant crops, namely coconut ("Cocos nucifera") and oil palm ("Elaeis guineensis"). Finally, in 1982, Dollet successfully cultivated trypanosomatids "in vitro", which allowed for the isolation of "Phytomonas" in 24 different plant families from across the globe. While there has been recent genetic work done on "Phytomonas" species, genome level analysis is limited compared to the genome data available for disease causing trypanosomatids in animals and humans, especially "Trypanosoma cruzi", "Trypanosoma brucei", and "Leishmania major". In 2015, "Phytomonas nordicus" was found to be a part of the generally heteroxenous "Phytomonas" genus, despite it being a monoxenous parasite of the