South African diatom collection - a future for historic data [Presented at the Phycological society for Southern Africa Conference]

Abstract

Diatoms are an important group of micro algae occurring in marine, estuarine and freshwater habitats as phytoplankton and phytobenthos. The species composition at any given time and place is indicative of the prevailing environmental conditions in that habitat. This, in combination with the relative simplicity of sample collection, processing, analysis and curating, has led to a wealth of taxonomic and autecological information the world over