Synopses & Reviews
Illustrated descriptions of over 250 genera of diatoms are presented for the first time in this wide-ranging volume. The introduction describes the diatom cell in detail, the structure of the wall (often extremely beautiful designs), the cell contents and aspects of life cycle and cell division. The generic atlas section is the first account of diatom systematics since 1928, and each generic description is accompanied by scanning electron micrographs to show the characteristic structure.
Review
"...impressive in heft, magnificent in its production, encyclopedic in its coverage and elegant in its illustrations." Nature
Review
"...fills an enormous gap in our knowledge of the taxonomy of an environmentally significant group of autotrophic protists...The book is filled with picture perfect photomicrographics made through light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, as well as finely executed illustrations." American Scientist
Review
"...an excellent reference on an important group of aquatic organisms." Journal of the North American Benthological Society
Review
"An impressive encyclopedic treatise by three British experts on the biology and morphology of the diatoms....This outstanding volume, the first to summarize the genera of diatoms in more than 60 years, will be worth its weight in gold to professionals and graduate students...." Choice
Review
"The book is magnificent and is needed." L. M. Van Valen, Evolutionary Theory & Review
Review
"...the most important book on the subject to come off of the presses in a long time....a must for every serious diatom worker." Robert B. McLaughlin, Microscope
Synopsis
This book presents a wide-ranging introduction to the diatoms together with an illustrated description of over 250 genera.
Table of Contents
Preface; Part I. Biology of Diatoms: 1. Preamble; 2. The diatom cell; 3. Collecting and studying diatoms; 4. Culturing; 5. Silicon: occurrence, uptake and deposition; 6. Cell symmetry; 7. Life form; 8. Valve structure; 9. Complementarity and heterovalvy; 10. Portules; 11. Ocelli, pseudocelli and pseudonoduli; 12. Raphe; 13. Girdle bands (copulae); 14. Internal valves; 15. Resting stages and resting spores; 16. The organic casing; 17. The protoplast: plastids, mitchondria, dictyosomes, nucleus, vacuole; 18. The cell cycle; 19. Vegetative multiplication and cell size reduction; 20. Sexual reproduction; 21. Oogamy; 22. Physiological anisogamy and isogamy; 23. Automixis and parthenogenesis; 24. Auxospore development; 25. Motility; 26. Ecology; 27. Palaeoecology; 28. Concepts in diatom systematics; 29. Evolution and phylogeny; 30. Fossils; 31. Accounts of genera - preliminary notes; 32. Summary of classification; Part II. Generic Atlas: 33. Centric genera; 34. Araphid genera; 35. Raphid genera; Appendix I: new taxa; Appendix II: list of recently described genera; Appendix III: index nominum genericorum; References; Taxonomic index; Subject index.