Diatom identification, databases and resources
The CAS Diatom Collection Web Site is an ongoing project to present taxonomic information, images, records of collections, and references pertaining to diatoms and is especially valuable for keeping up with current taxonomy. Highly recommended.
contains light micrograph images of diatom taxa from rivers throughout the USA. Many taxa are represented. There are multiple images of several to help represent within-taxon variability.
A terrific and very extensive resource from an excellent author
The Database contains:-
- Over 15,000 species images & over 2,350 species descriptions
- 300 typical genus forms
Images and information related to inland diatoms from the Antarctic continent and Subantarctic Island.
The Academy's Diatom Herbarium, one of the two largest in the world, is a primary source of taxonomic and ecological information. It includes approximately 220,000 slides (curated and non-curated), of which about 5,000 are types. Materials include both fossil and recent diatoms collected from fresh, brackish, and marine habitats. The herbarium has a long history, with many specimens dating from the 19th Century or even earlier.
In addition to its world coverage and its inclusion of fossil diatoms, the herbarium has an extensive record of materials collected as part of freshwater environmental surveys from throughout the United States. These surveys were the work of the former Department of Limnology, and its successor, the Phycology Section Patrick Center for Environmental Research. Often extending over decades, these surveys offer a unique resource for the study of long-term changes in diatom populations and ecology.