The “Diatom of the Month” project is a monthly series of blog posts on diatoms, precious primary producers, and invaluable indicators of environmental change at different spatial and temporal scales.
The project will:
- create a channel of simplified and rapid communication among taxonomists, biologists, and ecologists about new discoveries.
- raise awareness about the importance of diatoms among a broad audience, including students of different disciplines, policy makers, and the general public.
The series began in November 2015 by Dr. Luca Marazzi, Postdoctoral Associate in Evelyn Gaiser’s lab at Florida International University, as part of the outreach initiative of the Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (FCE LTER) program. It was initially hosted on the FCE LTER “Wading through research” graduate student blog.
Ideally, articles and features will appeal to a broad audience, including people who do not know what a diatom might be. Each post should be in the range of ~500-800 words, contain a pictures or figures, and contain references to sources and for further additional information.
Send contributions and ideas that fulfill the aims above to a member of the DOM Editorial Committee:
PhD Researcher I am a Ph.D. student in Dr. Jeffrey Stone's lab at Indiana State University, where my research focuses on diatom taxonomy, ecology, and paleolimnology, with projects spanning the discovery of new and extinct diatom species from African lakes (including Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika) to the reconstruction of long-term ecological change in mining-impacted Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Additionally, I focus on circular bioeconomy applications, sustainable aquaculture, pollution biomonitoring, wastewater remediation, and algae-based bioproducts, integrating fundamental diatom ecology with innovative solutions for environmental sustainability and biotechnology. University of Lodz, Department of Algology and Mycology I'm an assistant professor in the Department of Algology and Mycology at the University of Lodz. My research focuses on the taxonomy and ecology of benthic diatoms in post-mining reservoirs. I'm studying how the unique environmental conditions prevailing in these types of ecosystems affect diatom communities. Recently I've been working with the diatom culturing and phylogeny of some Bacillariaceae species. IRTA-Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology, I am a biologist and environmental scientist interested in the taxonomy and ecology of diatoms and how the climate change affects their biodiversity. Furthermore, I am also interested in the use of these organisms as bioindicators. Currently, I am doing a PhD at IRTA’s Marine and Continental Waters Programme. I will be studying and analysing diatom samples from different environments in the Canary Islands in order to know which diatom diversity is found in islands. Before the PhD, during my master’s thesis, I was working also with diatoms trying to understand how drought affect them and which diversity is found in Mediterranean rivers. Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) I am an environmental scientist and a freshwater ecologist. My interest in diatoms started during my Ph.D. at the University College London Environmental Change Research Centre and deepened during my postdoctoral work in Dr. Evelyn Gaiser's laboratory at the Florida International University Institute of Environment. Here I started the Diatom of the Month blog series in late 2015. I worked for over ten years on patterns and drivers of algal species diversity and distribution in the Okavango Delta and the Everglades as well as on wetland conservation and restoration. In the last six years I have been working on citizen science and plastic pollution in rivers at environmental charities Earthwatch Europe and Thames21; since mid-2022 I have also been working on noise pollution and air quality at the UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Hirak Parikh
DoM leader - Doctoral Candidate
ISU Paleolimnology Lab
Rafał M. Olszyński
Editor
Banacha 12/16 St.
90-237 Lodz, Poland
Paula Mendoza
Diatom of the Month collaborator and Young ISDR Team
Marine and Continental Waters Programme,
Ctra de Poble Nou Km 5.5,
E43540 Sant Carles de la Ràpita,
Tarragona,
Spain
Xavier Benito
Postdoctoral fellow
Luca Marazzi