Diatoms of North AmericaFor the 2018 summer course, the eight students became known as Diatom 8 for their dedication and professionalism to the field of diatom ecology and systematics, from the start.
Diatom 8 contributed to the iNaturalist project. Students contributed taxonomic identifications from a range of sources - lake sediments in Alaska and Vermont, streams in the southern Appalachians and Florida Everglades, and wetlands of Iowa. The iNaturalist project now has over 500 observations of 200 diatom species from students.
Diatom 8 applied recent phylogeny of the Surirellales. In 2016, analysis of the surirelliod diatoms (Ruck et al. 2016) clarified the evolutionary relationships of diatoms with a canal raphe. This work showed that the synapomorphy, or shared derived characteristic, of a portula created by fibulae represents an important evolutionary novelty. The taxonomic observations of Diatom 8 applied the revised classification of the Surirellales.
Diatom 8 took over scanning electron microscopy. With the generous help of Dr. Beth Caissie and Ph.D. student Thomas Harbour, Diatom 8 examined ultrastructure of diatoms at the SEM lab at Iowa State University. The class images are included in the species pages created for this website.
Diatom 8 investigated diatom species in their microhabitats. As a class project, students compared epiphytic assemblages on two common duckweed species, Lemna minor and Lemna trisulca with plankton assemblages. Each microhabitat contained distinct diatom assemblages, although the diatom Lemnicola hungarica was found on both Lemna species at similar relative abundance.
Now, Diatom 8, go forth and do great things!
