How does diatoms.org differ from other important/valuable/commonly used online algal databases?

Diatoms of North America (diatoms.org) is a collaborative effort to discover and document the diversity of diatom species across the continent. This resource provides tools for consistent identification in North America. The names of diatoms presented are based on recommendations by our Editorial Review Board. Images and text are open-access and free for everyone to use. Contributors strive to complement nomenclatural information with knowledge of taxon ecology and biogeography. The site does not treat nomenclature for taxa that lack species pages. Furthermore, taxa elsewhere in the world are not included.

Diatom New Taxon File is a catalogue of diatom nomenclatural novelties such as new names, typification acts, and emended descriptions published after 1932. The essential parts of the protologues of newly established species, such as formal descriptions/diagnoses, type information, type localities, name etymologies, and original illustrations are often included. This is an underused, but highly informative resource.

AlgaeBase is a global database of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater algae, along with sea-grasses. This resource provides the most recent nomenclature for algae, without recommendation of diatom names that are "accepted" by most taxonomists. Many nomenclatural publications are available through this resource. Copyright and other intellectual property rights are claimed by AlgaeBase, so users may not reproduce content without permission.

DiatomBase is primarily a nomenclatural database. It represents an extension of the Catalogue of Diatom Names (Fourtanier and Kociolek 2011) and information about nomenclatural types and original descriptions. This resource notes accepted names, homotypic synonyms, and heterotypic synonyms. The editors and community work to incorporate new entries, resolve discrepancies, and add information to current entries.

Index Nominum Algarum or INA, contains nearly 200,000 names of algae and citation of original publication. The information typically has a high degree of accuracy.

AlgaTerra (algaterra.org) The objective of this project is to develop a database on microalgae that integrates taxon, type, name, collection information, ecological, and molecular information. The molecular information is particularly useful for linking to taxonomic data.