Diatoms of North AmericaONLINE Workshop
Our goals were to
1) focus on a single taxon and describe its features, ecology, and distribution,
2) learn about original descriptions,
3) understand more about how to see diatoms and their structure.
We guided participants in learning how to better use the Diatoms of North America website (diatoms.org) and gather the information needed to
produce a "species" page. However, most of all we had a great opportunity to meet new people and have
fun.
Six groups broke off into individual "rooms" to study their taxon. Each instructor guided the discussion of elements of their taxon page. We considered the taxon dimensions (length, width and striae)? We examine the features of each taxon. Groups had the opportunity to write, or improve upon, the observations of specimens. We considered how the features compared to the features of other species in the genus. Some groups were most interested in learning how to gather hard-to-find literature and original descriptions.
As a result of the workshop, taxon pages have been reviewed and opened on diatoms.org.
