Diatoms of North America
Meredith Tyree Polaskey
Taxon Contributor
Professional Research Associate Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. - Martin Luther King Jr.
I am broadly interested in improving diatoms as bioassessment tools to monitor and protect our water resources.
I graduated with my M.S. in Environmental Studies in 2017, where I examined how new counting protocols could produce better statistical models of water quality at less cost than traditional protocols. I previously worked as the lead analyst on an EPA project of northeast lakes to produce a diatom voucher flora for the region, with the aim of improving taxonomic consistency among analysts and producing more cohesive, analytically useful datasets.
I am now working on a USGS grant aimed at improving diatom taxonomic consistency within stream biological assessments throughout the United States.
Projects
Species contributed
Achnanthidium crassum | Achnanthidium rosenstockii | Adlafia suchlandtii | Aneumastus carolinianus | Cavinula jaernefeltii | Cavinula lapidosa | Cavinula variostriata | Chamaepinnularia hassiaca | Diploneis abscondita | Diploneis boldtiana | Diploneis calcilacustris | Diploneis puella | Diploneis puellafallax | Encyonopsis thumensis | Eolimna aboensis | Frustulia pseudomagaliesmontana | Genkalia digitulus | Gomphonema apuncto | Gomphonema christenseni | Gomphonema insularum | Gomphonema manubrium | Gomphonema pseudosphaerophorum | Gomphonema sphaerophorum | Gyrosigma obscurum | Humidophila perpusilla | Luticola minor | Luticola mobiliensis | Mayamaea cahabaensis | Navicula ingenua | Navicula kotschyi | Neidium densestriatum | Neidium hitchcockii | Neidium pseudodensestriatum | Pinnularia brauniana | Pinnularia cuneicephala | Pinnularia formica | Pinnularia scotica | Psammothidium rossii | Sellaphora disjuncta | Stauroneis staurolineata
Species reviewed
Cymbella fontinalis | Cymbella vulgata | Gomphonema duplipunctatum | Gomphonema eileencoxiae | Surirella undulata