2025 Luc Ector Award – Rubén Agustín Lameiro
Benthic-Epizoic diatom flora from San Jorge Gulf (Patagonia, Argentina): revision of J. Frenguelli´s original recordings (1939) to the current days
My name is Rubén Agustín Lameiro and I graduated as a Bachelor on Biological Sciences from Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (FCNyM) of Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Argentina. Currently, I am completing the third year of my PhD in Natural Sciences at FCNyM under the direction of Dr. Adrián Cefarelli, Dr. Amelia Vouilloud and Dr. Martha Ferrario. I also have a Doctoral Scholarship awarded by CONICET at IIDEPyS-UNPSJB-IDC facilities.
My PhD studies are focused on the study of marine epizoic diatom on macroinvertebrates from San JorgeGulf (Patagonia Argentina) on the basis of both current and past materials from the area. The study of diatom diversity associated to marine invertebrates of this Gulf constitutes an important effort on characterizing the local diatom diversity, not only epizoic but benthonic as well.
The implementation of this research will constitute an important step in exploring and getting to know the diatom diversity related to a worldwide little studied life mode and, particularly in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Through the analysis under light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of current epizoic samples collected from both intertidal and subtidal macroinvertebrates and by accessing to Rada Tilly´s collection material (1939, 
San Jorge Gulf) deposited at Joaquín FrenguelliDiatom Collection (FDC, LPC – FCNyM-UNLP), this study aims to: (1) characterize the benthic diatom flora from Rada Tilly by re-analyzing Frenguelli original materials under LM and SEM, studying Rada Tilly collection material under SEM for the first time ever, 2) to ratify or rectify Frenguelli original description and augment the Rada Tilly diatom flora, (3) describe the 
current epizoic diatom flora on benthic macroinvertebrates from San Jorge Gulf and (4) to compare and analyze the benthic-epizoic diatom flora in past and current times and describe the diatom diversity in thearea.Additionally, the revision of collection material will allow us to obtain a more detailed characterization of original material (Frenguelli, 1939) while analyzing possible temporal variation patterns of diatom diversity in the study area.
It is an honor to have received the ISDR´s Luc Ector grant that will undoubtedly allow me to continue and finish my PhD studies and, moreover, to contribute to the knowledge of diatom diversity worldwide.
Common diatoms from epizoic samplings under SEM.