Revealing the invisible: A new baseline for Salish Sea diatoms answers a global call

As primary producers at the base of marine food webs, diatoms are key indicators of environmental change, providing critical insight into the health and resilience of the Salish Sea bioregion. A team of Canadian scientists has recently compiled a new, consolidated checklist of diatoms—a major group of photosynthetic microalgae—for the Salish Sea, northeast Pacific. Integrating historical records with new reports, this first comprehensive baseline establishes a foundation for assessing diatom diversity in the region. The checklist appears in the Biodiversity Data Journal.