During at work on conference

In the beginning of July the international conference ‘3rd Polar Marine Diatom Workshop’ took place in Sydney, Australia. It was organized by Macquarie University. I was invited as a guest speaker and attendee, leading one of taxonomic sessions. The main goal of this meeting was introduction to the diversity of diatom species inhabiting Arctic and Antarctic regions, where high biodiversity is what these regions are famous for. As far as diatoms are concerned, this widespread unicellular algae group is mainly known for its’ distinctive feature which is siliceous skeleton. Also, they appear to present bioindicative features used in palaeontological research as well as modern ecology, for example: diatoms are sensitive to surface water temperature or salinity changes. Interestingly, they reveal many other features that might be applied to scientific researches, but this topic will be continued soon. General conference schedule was divided into two parts: theoretical, that is lectures on basic information with diatom photos, slide shows and practical, focused on microscopic work. There was another part called ‘free time’ which is always the most pleasant part of the scientific meetings.