A harmonized dataset of sediment diatoms from hundreds of lakes in the northeastern United States.

ABSTRACT: Sediment diatoms are widely used to track environmental histories of lakes and their watersheds, but merging datasets generated by different researchers for further large-scale studies is challenging because of taxonomic discrepancies caused by rapidly evolving diatom nomenclature and taxonomic concepts. We collated five datasets of lake sediment diatoms from the Northeastern USA using a harmonization process which included updating synonyms, tracking the identity of inconsistently identified taxa, and grouping those that could not be resolved taxonomically. Each harmonization step led to an increase in variation explained by environmental variables and a parallel reduction of variation attributable to taxonomic inconsistency. To maximize future use of the data and underlying specimens we

SUBMITTER: Potapova MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9440916 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature