Diatoms Fundamentals and Applications

About this book

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.

Contents

Foreword xvii
Preface xxiii

1 A Memorial to Frithjof Sterrenburg: The Importance of the Amateur Diatomist 1
2 Alex Altenbach – In Memoriam of a Friend 29
3 The Beauty of Diatoms 33
4 Current Diatom Research in China 43
5 Cellular Mechanisms of Diatom Valve Morphogenesis 99
6 Application of Focused Ion Beam Technique in Taxonomy-Oriented Research on Ultrastructure of Diatoms 115
7 On Light and Diatoms: A Photonics and Photobiology Review 129
8 Photosynthesis in Diatoms 191
9 Iron in Diatoms 213
10 Diatom Symbioses with Other Photoauthotroph 225
11 Diatom Sexual Reproduction and Life Cycles 245
12 Ecophysiology, Cell Biology and Ultrastructure of a Benthic Diatom Isolated in the Arctic 273
13 Ecology of Freshwater Diatoms – Current Trends and Applications 289
14 Diatoms from Hot Springs of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) 311
15 Biodiversity of High Mountain Lakes in Europe with Special Regards to Rila Mountains (Bulgaria) and Tatra Mountains (Poland) 335
16 Diatoms of the Southern Part of the Russian Far East 355
17 Toxic and Harmful Marine Diatoms 389
18 Diatoms in Forensics: A Molecular Approach to Diatom Testing in Forensic Science 435
19 Diatomite in Use: Nature, Modifications, Commercial Applications and Prospective Trends 471
20 Diatom Silica for Biomedical Applications 511
21 Diafuel™(Diatom Biofuel) vs Electric Vehicles, a Basic Comparison: A High Potential Renewable Energy Source to Make India Energy Independent 537
22 Bubble Farming: Scalable Microcosms for Diatom Biofuel and the Next Green Revolution 583

Acknowledgements 626
References 626
Index 655

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Biography

Professor J. Seckbach is a retired senior academician at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He earned his MSc. & PhD from the University of Chicago. He was appointed to the Hebrew University, Jerusalem (as a senior Lecturer) and spent sabbaticals at UCLA and Harvard University. He served at Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge, LA, USA, as the first selected Chair for the Louisiana Sea Grant and Technology transfer. He has edited over 35 scientific books and ~140 scientific articles on plant ferritin-phytoferritin, cellular evolution, acidothermophilic algae, and life in extreme environments and on astrobiology.

Richard Gordon's involvement with diatoms goes back to 1970 with his capillarity model for their gliding motility, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. He later worked on a diffusion limited aggregation model for diatom morphogenesis, which led to the first paper ever published on diatom nanotechnology in 1988. He organized the first workshop on diatom nanotech in 2003. His other research is on computed tomography algorithms, HIV/AIDS prevention, and embryogenesis.