Kathryn Smith

I am an ecologist with expertise in geologic and geospatial analyses of coastal environments. My research focuses on the temporal and spatial ecology of coastal marsh with emphasis on sedimentary processes, storms, and coastal erosion hazards. During my Ph.D. at the University of Florida, I was introduced to diatoms as a proxy for examining past sea level and environmental change. Upon suggestion of one of my mentors, Thomas Whitmore, I took the diatom taxonomy summer course at Iowa Lakeside Lab and have been hooked ever since! Now, I'm always looking for excuses to bring diatom analyses into my research at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). I am actively working on sampling as many locations as I can in the marshes of the northern Gulf of Mexico, with plans to build a database of coastal wetland diatom species distribution and densities. The "Diatoms of the United States" flora is an invaluable resource, and I look forward to contributing new species pages to help build a living reference for future diatomists and microscope enthusiasts!