Diatoms of North AmericaThis year the “Ecology and Systematics of Diatoms” course celebrates 60 years since the informal workshop by Dr. E.F. Stoermer in 1963.
Students in the 2023 class traveled from near and far to study diatoms. Many of the students wish to obtain training for their graduate research projects, using diatoms as indicators of environment. Some research projects relate to modern ecology, others to paleoecology.
Some of the class activities include contributing to a long-term study of the life cycle of Diatoma, learning the difference between different sediment coring devices and how to deploy them, examining Miocene diatoms in the Nebraska Ashfall site, and developing a species treatment as a page for this website.
As for many of the classes over the 60 years, diatomists "stopped by" to talk diatoms with the students. Sarah Spaulding, Matt Julius, and David Burge joined the instructors, Mark Edlund and Sylvia Lee.
