Key research themes
1. How can statistical and morphometric methods differentiate diatom species complexes in the presence of overlapping morphological traits?
This research theme focuses on distinguishing taxonomically challenging diatom taxa that form species complexes with overlapping morphological and ecological characteristics. It is critical for achieving accurate identification necessary for ecological monitoring, paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and biodiversity assessments. Researchers investigate the efficacy of morphometry-based classification alone and the integration of morphometric parameters with statistical and computational tools to improve species discrimination.
2. What ecological and biogeographical processes shape diatom community assembly and species richness patterns on islands versus continents?
Understanding the assembly mechanisms driving diatom diversity on islands and continents is key to elucidating patterns of microbial biogeography and niche differentiation. This theme investigates how deterministic (environmental filtering, selection) and stochastic (dispersal limitation, drift) processes, along with area, isolation, climate, and local water chemistry, influence community composition and species richness. Island biogeography theory is tested on diatoms at global scales, with comparisons including functional guilds and taxon uniqueness.
3. How can advanced geometric morphometric and mathematical frameworks improve analysis of biological symmetry and shape variation for diatoms and other organisms?
This theme addresses methodological innovations in quantifying biological symmetry beyond bilateral forms common in traditional morphometrics, extending to rotational, biradial, and complex symmetries frequently observed in diatom frustule morphology and colonial organisms. The development of group theory–based frameworks and geometric morphometric methods enables decomposition of shape variation into symmetric and asymmetric components, which is important for evolutionary biology, developmental instability analyses, and functional morphology studies.