This edited book provides a comprehensive and a reliable source of information on all major areas of diatom research. It addresses research advances in the key areas of diatom biology, morphology, systematics, phylogeny and ecology along with their interdisciplinary applications. Diatoms are the world’s most diverse group of algae populating the freshwater and marine ecosystems of the world. They are unicellular, photosynthetic, eukaryotes having ornate silicified cell walls. Diatoms contribute around 25% of annual global carbon fixation, which is more than all of the terrestrial rainforests combined. Diatoms underpin major aquatic food webs and drive global biogeochemical cycles and have several ecological and interdisciplinary applications. This book targets a wide range of audience including researchers, academicians, teachers and students of varied disciplines such as biology, environmental sciences, ecology, evolution, nanotechnology and other related disciplines. It is useful read for beginners as well as advanced researchers.

The aim of this new book series (Diatoms: Biology and Applications) is to provide a comprehensive and reliable source of information on diatom biology and applications. The first book of the series, Diatoms Fundamentals & Applications, is wide ranging, starting with the contributions of amateurs and the beauty of diatoms, to details of how their shells are made, how they bend light to their advantage and ours, and major aspects of their biochemistry (photosynthesis and iron metabolism). The book then delves into the ecology of diatoms living in a wide range of habitats, and look at those few that can kill or harm us. The book concludes with a wide range of applications of diatoms, in forensics, manufacturing, medicine, biofuel and agriculture. The contributors are leading international experts on diatoms. This book is for a wide audience researchers, academics, students, and teachers of biology and related disciplines, written to both act as an introduction to diatoms and to present some of the most advanced research on them.