Preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. Applications and uses of diatoms: prologue; 2. The diatoms: a primer; 3. Numerical methods for the analysis of diatom assemblage data; Part II. Diatoms as Indicators of Environmental Change in Flowing Waters and Lakes: 4. Assessing environmental conditions in rivers and streams with diatoms; 5. Diatoms as indicators of long-term environmental change in rivers, fluvial lakes and impoundments; 6. Diatoms as indicators of surface-water acidity; 7. Diatoms as indicators of lake eutrophication; 8. Diatoms as indicators of environmental change in shallow lakes; 9. Diatoms as indicators of water-level change in freshwater lakes; 10. Diatoms as indicators of hydrologic and climatic change in saline lakes; 11. Diatoms in ancient lakes; Part III. Diatoms as Indicators in Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Lacustrine Environments: 12. Diatoms as indicators of environmental change in subarctic and alpine regions; 13. Freshwater diatoms as indicators of environmental change in the High Arctic; 14. Diatoms as indicators of environmental change in Antarctic and subantarctic freshwaters; Part IV. Diatoms as Indicators in Marine and Estuarine Environments: 15. Diatoms and environmental change in large brackish-water ecosystems; 16. Applied diatom studies in estuaries and shallow coastal environments; 17. Estuarine paleoenvironmental reconstructions using diatoms; 18. Diatoms on coral reefs and in tropical marine lakes; 19. Diatoms as indicators of former sea levels, earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes; 20. Marine diatoms as indicators of modern changes in oceanographic conditions; 21. Holocene marine diatom records of environmental change; 22. Diatoms as indicators of paleoceanographic events; 23. Reconsidering the meaning of biogenic silica accumulation rates in the glacial Southern Ocean; Part V. Other Applications: 24. Diatoms of aerial habitats; 25. Diatoms as indicators of environmental change in wetlands and peatlands; 26. Tracking fish, seabirds, and wildlife population dynamics with diatoms and other limnological indicators; 27. Diatoms and archaeology; 28. Diatoms in oil and gas exploration; 29. Forensic science and diatoms; 30. Toxic marine diatoms; 31. Diatoms as markers of atmospheric transport; 32. Diatoms as nonnative species; 33. Diatomite; 34. Stable isotopes from diatom silica; 35. Diatoms and nanotechnology: early history and imagined future as seen through patents; Part VI. Conclusions: 36. Epilogue: a view to the future; Glossary, acronyms, and abbreviations; Index.