Studies on Biodiversity and Ecological Importance of Marine Diatoms

Diatom is a dominant member of marine phytoplankton and is important primary producer in marine ecosystem which plays a very significant role in the chemical cycle and energy flow in marine ecosystem.However,our knowledge on diversity and ecological role of marine diatoms is insufficient compared to the great numbers of unknown diatom species.In this paper,a review is made on the progress in research of biodiversity,ecology and taxonomy of marine diatoms.As a contribution to the 90th anniversary of Xiamen University,the mostly research progress on marine diatoms by Diatom Laboratory,Xiamen University is also presented in the paper.Our recent studies include diatom taxonomy,systematics,diversity and ecology,marine diatom database and automatic identification,nano-diatom species and cryptical species,genetic difference and phylogeny of red-tide diatoms,response of diatoms to climate change,and diatom silica mineralization and vale formation mechanism.