Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network (GLKN)

The Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network (GLKN) National Park units have utilized diatoms for lake monitoring and paleoecological reconstruction since 2005. GLKN monitoring uses surface sediment diatom assemblages as biotic indicators of change in concert with regular water quality visits in a program that began in 2006 as an early warning system for detecting change in lakes. Sediment core analysis has provided context on historical and recent environmental changes impacting some of our most protected lakes. This project is documenting the taxonomy and ecology of the over 500 diatom species that have been found at >1 percent abundance in lakes from Indiana Dunes, Isle Royale, and Voyageurs national parks, Apostle Islands, Pictured Rocks, and Sleeping Bear Dunes national lakeshores, Grand Portage National Monument, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, and St Croix National Scenic Riverway.