PhD student Ashleigh Kirker has been hunting for diatoms in stormwater runoff. She is finding them! We hope to look for variations with the help of colleagues at the Academy of Natural Sciences who have expertise in diatom identification.
This one has a little green tinge, indicating it is alive. Ashleigh has to examine samples within 48 hours to look for portions of living versus dead, which was a challenge for the recent storm we sampled.