I am curator of the Montana Diatom Collection, a 14,000-slide collection representing over 5,000 localities in the Northwest United States. The Northwest is the least populated and most unspoiled quarter of the Lower Forty-Eight. Here I am blessed to live among mountains in the shadow of the Continental Divide and close to large tracts of wild land. All of the West’s native carnivores, including lynx, wolverine, wolves, and grizzly bears, live in my home county (Lewis & Clark). Since 1966 I have been exploring the trails and back roads of the Northern Rockies, collecting diatoms along the way. Even so, the Northwest is not well represented in major herbaria and thirty percent of diatom species in this region remain to be named and described. My diatom work is currently funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

For SEM images contributed by Loren Bahls, electron microscopy services and resources were provided by the Electron Microscopy Facility, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT. The EM Facility is supported, in part, by grant #RR-16455-04 from the National Center for Research Resources, Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, National Institute of Health.

Species contributed

Adlafia detenta | Aneumastus minor | Aneumastus rostratus | Aneumastus tusculus | Anomoeoneis capitata | Anomoeoneis costata | Anomoeoneis monoensis | Anomoeoneis sculpta | Anomoeoneis sphaerophora | Anomoeoneis sphaerophora f. rostrata | Aulacoseira canadensis | Boreozonacola hustedtii | Boreozonacola olympica | Brachysira arctoborealis | Brachysira ocalanensis | Brachysira styriaca | Brachysira vitrea | Brachysira zellensis | Cavinula davisiae | Cavinula pusio | Cavinula scutiformis | Cocconeis grovei | Craticula acidoclinata | Craticula buderi | Craticula halophila | Craticula johnstoniae | Craticula pampeana | Craticula sardiniana | Cymbella affiniformis | Cymbella alpestris | Cymbella amplificata | Cymbella aspera | Cymbella blinnii | Cymbella compacta | Cymbella cosleyi | Cymbella cymbiformis | Cymbella designata | Cymbella fontinalis | Cymbella hantzschiana | Cymbella hustedtii | Cymbella laevis | Cymbella lanceolata | Cymbella maggiana | Cymbella mexicana var. kamtschatica | Cymbella neocistula var. islandica | Cymbella neoleptoceros | Cymbella parva | Cymbella perfossilis | Cymbella rumrichae | Cymbella stigmaphora | Cymbella subleptoceros | Cymbella vulgata | Cymbopleura amphicephala | Cymbopleura anglica | Cymbopleura angustata | Cymbopleura apiculata | Cymbopleura austriaca | Cymbopleura crassipunctata | Cymbopleura edlundii | Cymbopleura elliptica | Cymbopleura florentina | Cymbopleura fluminea | Cymbopleura frequens | Cymbopleura heinii | Cymbopleura hybrida | Cymbopleura inaequalis | Cymbopleura incerta | Cymbopleura incertiformis | Cymbopleura incertiformis var. laterostrata | Cymbopleura incertiformis var. linearis | Cymbopleura lapponica | Cymbopleura laszlorum | Cymbopleura lata | Cymbopleura maggieae | Cymbopleura metzeltinii | Cymbopleura naviculiformis | Cymbopleura oblongata | Cymbopleura perprocera | Cymbopleura rainierensis | Cymbopleura rupicola | Cymbopleura subaequalis | Cymbopleura subcuspidata | Cymbopleura sublanceolata | Cymbopleura subrostrata | Cymbopleura tynnii | Delicataophycus canadensis | Delicatophycus alpestris | Delicatophycus delicatula | Delicatophycus montana | Delicatophycus tundraphilus | Diploneis finnica | Diploneis krammeri | Diploneis ovalis | Distrionella incognita | Ellerbeckia arenaria | Encyonema kamtschaticum var. parvum | Encyonema lange-bertalotii | Encyonema lunatum | Encyonema montana | Encyonema neogracile | Encyonema obscurum | Encyonema paucistriatum | Encyonema procerum | Encyonema sibericum | Encyonema silesiacum | Encyonema triangulum | Encyonopsis aequaliformis | Encyonopsis albertana | Encyonopsis alpina | Encyonopsis anacondae | Encyonopsis bobmarshallensis | Encyonopsis cesatiformis | Encyonopsis cesatii | Encyonopsis czarneckii | Encyonopsis dakotae | Encyonopsis descripta | Encyonopsis descriptiformis | Encyonopsis falaisensis | Encyonopsis hustedtii | Encyonopsis krammeri | Encyonopsis kutenaiorum | Encyonopsis lacusalpini | Encyonopsis lacuscaerulei | Encyonopsis medicinalis | Encyonopsis minuta | Encyonopsis montana | Encyonopsis neerlandica | Encyonopsis perborealis | Encyonopsis robusta | Encyonopsis stafsholtii | Entomoneis alata | Entomoneis ornata | Entomoneis paludosa | Entomoneis punctulata | Epithemia smithii | Eunotia diadema | Eunotia faba | Eunotia gibbosa | Eunotia hexaglyphis | Eunotia serra | Eunotia sudetica | Eunotia tetraodon | Eunotia triodon | Fragilaria cyclopum | Fragilariforma horstii | Frustulia amosseana | Frustulia esandalliae | Geissleria cascadensis | Gogorevia rostellata | Gomphonema americobtusatum | Gomphonema consector | Gomphonema distans | Gomphonema duplipunctatum | Gomphonema eileencoxiae | Gomphonema johnsonii | Gomphonema louisiananum | Gomphonema nathorstii | Gomphonema semiapertum | Grunowia sinuata | Kobayasiella jaagii | Kobayasiella madumensis | Kobayasiella micropunctata | Kobayasiella okadae | Kobayasiella parasubtilissima | Kobayasiella subtilissima | Kurtkrammeria aequalis | Kurtkrammeria lacusglacialis | Kurtkrammeria neoamphioxys | Kurtkrammeria stodderi | Kurtkrammeria subspicula | Kurtkrammeria treinishii | Kurtkrammeria weilandii | Lindavia antiqua | Lindavia praetermissa | Lindavia radiosa | Mastogloia elliptica | Mastogloia pumila | Melosira undulata | Meridion lineare | Muelleria agnellus | Muelleria gibbula | Muelleria spauldingiae | Muelleria tetonensis | Navicula aitchelbee | Navicula aurora | Navicula cari | Navicula caroliniae | Navicula cincta | Navicula cryptocephaloides | Navicula cryptofallax | Navicula duerrenbergiana | Navicula flatheadensis | Navicula galloae | Navicula goersii | Navicula harmoniae | Navicula leptostriata | Navicula ludloviana | Navicula lundii | Navicula margalithii | Navicula oblonga | Navicula oppugnata | Navicula peregrina | Navicula piercei | Navicula pseudolanceolata | Navicula reinhardtii | Navicula rhynchotella | Navicula schweigeri | Navicula seibigiana | Navicula slesvicensis | Navicula sovereignii | Navicula staffordiae | Navicula streckerae | Navicula subconcentrica | Navicula subwalkeri | Navicula supleeorum | Navicula trilatera | Navicula vaneei | Navicula volcanica | Navicula walkeri | Navicula weberi | Navicula whitefishensis | Navicula wildii | Navicula winona | Neidiopsis hamiltonii | Neidiopsis levanderi | Neidiopsis weilandii | Neidiopsis wulffii | Neidium bobmarshallensis | Neidium distinctepunctatum | Neidium fogedii | Neidium undulatum | Nitzschia acidoclinata | Nitzschia alpina | Nitzschia incognita | Nitzschia regula var. robusta | Nupela potapovae | Nupela tenuicephala | Peronia fibula | Pinnularia acrosphaeria | Pinnularia borealis | Pinnularia borealis var. lanceolata | Pinnularia brebissonii | Pinnularia divergentissima | Pinnularia gigas | Pinnularia lata | Pinnularia microstauron | Pinnularia nodosa | Pinnularia nodosa var. percapitata | Pinnularia polyonca var. stidolphii | Pinnularia rabenhorstii | Pinnularia rhombarea | Pinnularia suchlandtii | Placoneis abiskoensis | Plagiotropis arizonica | Plagiotropis lepidoptera var. proboscidea | Playaensis circumfimbria | Scoliopleura peisonis | Sellaphora alastos | Sellaphora americana | Sellaphora bacilloides | Stauroneis absaroka | Stauroneis acidoclinata | Stauroneis acidoclinatopsis | Stauroneis acuta | Stauroneis agrestis | Stauroneis akamina | Stauroneis americana | Stauroneis amphicephala | Stauroneis anceps | Stauroneis ancepsfallax | Stauroneis angustilancea | Stauroneis baconiana | Stauroneis beeskovea | Stauroneis boyntoniae | Stauroneis bryocola | Stauroneis circumborealis | Stauroneis conspicua | Stauroneis finlandia | Stauroneis fluminopsis | Stauroneis gracilis | Stauroneis heinii | Stauroneis kishinena | Stauroneis kootenai | Stauroneis kriegeri | Stauroneis lauenburgiana | Stauroneis livingstonii | Stauroneis neohyalina | Stauroneis pax | Stauroneis phoenicenteron | Stauroneis pikuni | Stauroneis pseudagrestis | Stauroneis reichardtii | Stauroneis rex | Stauroneis sacajaweae | Stauroneis schroederi | Stauroneis separanda | Stauroneis siberica | Stauroneis smithii | Stauroneis sonyae | Stauroneis subborealis | Stauroneis submarginalis | Stauroneis supergracilis | Stauroneis superkuelbsii | Stauroneis thompsonii | Stauroneis vandevijveri | Staurophora amphioxys | Staurophora brantii | Staurophora columbiana | Staurophora soodensis | Staurophora tackei | Staurophora wislouchii | Stephanocyclus gamma | Stephanodiscus alpinus | Stephanodiscus oregonicus | Surirella crumena | Surirella internationalis | Synedra famelica