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By Keely Mills* I am a fan of hot temperatures and sunny climates. This may sound strange coming from someone who lives in a wet and grey part of the UK ( Nottingham ). However, hot weather is one of the main reasons I love researching tropical lakes, and a trait I share with the January 2017 ‘Diatom of the Month’. I would like to introduce you to my favourite diatom: Amphora coffeaeformis (Fig. 1) [now renamed Halamphora coffeaeformis ] – a salt-tolerant species, indicating a shallow, slightly saline environment (Gasse, 1986). Fig. 1 . A specimen of Amphora coffeaeformis found in the sediments of Lake Nyamogusingiri, Uganda (photo: K. Mills). So, how did I come to ‘discover’ this diatom, and how did it come to be my favourite? My story starts as a new Ph.D. student at Loughborough University in 2005. I was working with Dr David Ryves on a project focussed on the Ugandan Crater Lakes, where I would use a palaeolimnological approach to infer past climate and environmental changes th...

            by Kristen Dominguez*                      As an undergraduate student in Evelyn Gaiser’s Lab at Florida International University (FIU), I was           provided the opportunity to visit and study the algae of the pristine and gorgeous Lake Annie .           Located at the Archbold Biological Station (halfway from Miami to Orlando), this sinkhole lake fed           by rainfall and groundwater is home to a wide variety of organisms, including many planktonic           algae. In 2006, this tiny lake became part of the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network that           examines global trends in lake ecosystems. Fig. 1.  Kristen taking Secchi depth measurements of water transparency at Lake Annie . Fig. 2. Kristen Dominguez (lef...

by Tom Frankovich* I would like to introduce you all to Medlinella amphoroidea , a new taxon that was observed on loggerhead sea turtles , as the November diatom-of-the month. But, before I get to discussing the morphology and ecology of this new genus and species, I will tell you all a personal story of serendipity and professional relationships. It was early 2013, and I had received an email from Dr. Brian Stacy, a marine veterinarian at the National Marine Fisheries Service , and a friend from when we worked together investigating parasites in marine gastropods. Brian told me that his wife, Dr. Nicole Stacy, also a marine veterinarian, was interested in identifying organisms that she suspected were diatoms that were on skin smear slides and contaminants in blood, urine and teat fluid samples from Florida sea turtles and manatees . Fig. 1 . Dr. Brian Stacy performing a necropsy on a loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta   (Photo c ourtesy Brian Stacy, unknown photographer). I su...

“I know more about ISIS than the generals do” Donald Trump advocates “draining the swamp” in Washington.  This statement is personal to me.  After spending the past 6 years studying swamps, I can say in no uncertain terms that draining swamps is bad. Swamps and other wetlands provide habitat to over half of the species deemed threatened or endangered in the US, filter our water, store more carbon than any other ecosystem, protect us from flooding and much more, making wetlands our most valuable ecosystems, thus their protection under the Clean Water Act. FCE researchers wading through the swamp  Suggesting that draining swamps is a way to fix America’s problems is to reject science.  We have destroyed over half of our wetlands in this country to devastating effect.  The Everglades provides a great example.  The largest ecological restoration effort in the history of the world revolves around undraining the swamp.  We reduced the Everglades to half of i...

by Charlotte Briddon*  Brachysira brebissonii (formerly known as Anomoeoneis brachysira ) is a freshwater, benthic diatom. It is widespread in lakes and rivers from the Arctic to tropical and temperate regions. In 1981 the Anomoeoneis and Brachysira genera were separated, as two sets of longitudinal ribs were observed in Brachysira specimens, one surrounding the valve (marginally at the junction of valve face and mantle), and another composed of two straight ribs, discontinuous in the central area that border the raphe , which the genus Anomoeoneis lacks.               Brachysira brebissonii   (photo   taken by Paul Hamilton at Egg Harbour Lakes, New Jersey, United States; see  Hamilton, 2010 ) . Case study of Tasik Chini I have chosen this diatom because it has played a meaningful role in aiding our understanding of past and current environmental conditions/water quality at Tasik Chini, (a flood pulse wetland in Malaysia)....