Diatoms belong to a large group called the heterokonts, which include both autotrophs such as golden algae and kelp; and heterotrophs such as water moulds. The classification of heterokonts is still unsettled: they may be designated a division, phylum, kingdom, or something intermediate to those. Consequently, diatoms are ranked anywhere from a class, usually called Diatomophyceae or Bacillariophyceae, to a division (=phylum), usually called Bacillariophyta, with corresponding changes in the ranks of their subgroups.

Light microscopy of several species of living freshwater diatoms

Genera and species

edit

An estimated 20,000 extant diatom species are believed to exist, of which around 12,000 have been named to date according to Guiry, 2012[1] (other sources give a wider range of estimates[2][3][4][5]). Around 1,000-1,300 diatom genera have been described, both extant and fossil,[6][7] of which some 250-300 exist only as fossils.[8]

Classes and orders

edit

Overview

edit

For many years the diatoms—treated either as a class (Bacillariophyceae) or a phylum (Bacillariophyta)—were divided into just 2 orders, corresponding to the centric and the pennate diatoms (Centrales and Pennales; alternative names Biddulphiales and Bacillariales, as used e.g. in Lee, 1989).[9] This classification was extensively overhauled by Round, Crawford and Mann in 1990 who treated the diatoms at a higher rank (division, corresponding to phylum in zoological classification), and promoted the major classification units to classes, maintaining the centric diatoms as a single class Coscinodiscophyceae, but splitting the former pennate diatoms into 2 separate classes, Fragilariophyceae and Bacillariophyceae (the latter older name retained but with an emended definition), between them encompassing 45 orders, the majority of them new.

Today (writing at mid 2020) it is recognised that the 1990 system of Round et al. is in need of revision with the advent of newer molecular work, however the best system to replace it is unclear, and current systems in widespread use such as AlgaeBase, the World Register of Marine Species and its contributing database DiatomBase, and the system for "all life" represented in Ruggiero et al., 2015, all retain the Round et al. treatment as their basis, albeit with diatoms as a whole treated as a class rather than division/phylum, and Round et al.'s classes reduced to subclasses, for better agreement with the treatment of phylogenetically adjacent groups and their containing taxa. (For references refer the individual sections below).

One proposal, by Linda Medlin and co-workers commencing in 2004, is for some of the centric diatom orders considered more closely related to the pennates to be split off as a new class, Mediophyceae, itself more closely aligned with the pennate diatoms than the remaining centrics. This hypothesis—later designated the Coscinodiscophyceae-Mediophyceae-Bacillariophyceae, or Coscinodiscophyceae+(Mediophyceae+Bacillariophyceae) (CMB) hypothesis—has been accepted by D.G. Mann among others, who uses it as the basis for the classification of diatoms as presented in Adl. et al.'s series of syntheses (2005, 2012, 2019), and also in the Bacillariophyta chapter of the 2017 Handbook of the Protists edited by Archibald et al., with some modifications reflecting the apparent non-monophyly of Medlin et al. original "Coscinodiscophyceae". Meanwhile, a group led by E.C. Theriot favours a different hypothesis of phylogeny, which has been termed the structural gradation hypothesis (SGH) and does not recognise the Mediophyceae as a monophyletic group, while another analysis, that of Parks et al., 2018, finds that the radial centric diatoms (Medlin et al.'s Coscinodiscophyceae) are not monophyletic, but supports the monophyly of Mediophyceae minus Attheya, which is an anomalous genus. Discussion of the relative merits of these conflicting schemes continues by the various parties involved.[10][11][12][13]

Round et al., 1990

edit

Based on the fact that pennate diatoms either do or do not have a longitudinal groove in the valve, called a raphe,[14] a 1990 classification by Round, Crawford & Mann[3] divides the diatoms (as Bacillarophyta) into three classes, centric (22 orders); pennate without a raphe (12 orders); and pennate with a raphe (11 orders), as follows:[15]

 
Coscinodiscophyceae
Isthmia nervosaIsthmia nervosa
 
Coscinodiscophyceae
Odontella aurita
 
Thalassiosirales
Stephanodiscus hantzschii
 
Fragilaria through the microscope
  • Phylum Bacillarophyta (diatoms)
  • Subclass Biddulphiophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Chaetocerotophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Corethrophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Coscinodiscophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Cymatosirophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Lithodesmiophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Rhizosoleniophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Thalassiosirophycidae Round & R.M.Crawford
  • Subclass Fragilariophycidae Round
  • Class Bacillariophyceae Haeckel, 1878, emend. D.G.Mann (pennate diatoms with a raphe (raphids))
  • Subclass Bacillariophycidae D.G.Mann
  • Subclass Eunotiophycidae D.G.Mann

Medlin & Kaczmarska, 2004

edit

An alternate classification for the diatoms based on molecular phylogeny was proposed by Medlin & Kaczmarska in 2004, as follows.[16] Medlin and co-workers erected a new class, Mediophyceae (which could be re-ranked a subclass if diatoms as a whole are ranked as a class rather than a phylum) for the "polar centric" diatoms, which they consider to be more closely related to the pennate rather than to other centric diatoms, a concept which has been followed or further adapted by some (e.g. Adl et al., 2019, see below), but not all subsequent workers at this time.

  • Phylum Bacillariophyta (diatoms)
  • Subphylum Coscinodiscophytina
  • Subphylum Bacillariophytina

Ruggiero et al., 2015

edit

In the treatment for "all life" (down to order, extant taxa only) by Ruggiero et al., 2015,[17] the diatoms are treated as follows. This treatment largely reflects that used by Algaebase as at 2015, and is also reflected in the current (mid 2020) treatment used in DiatomBase, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) of which DiatomBase is a part, and the Catalogue of Life. This treatment is identical to that of Round et al., 1990, except that all diatoms are treated as a single class, Round et al.'s classes are reduced to subclasses, and the latter's original subclasses are omitted.

  • Superphylum Heterokonta (heterokonts: Ochrophyta plus other phyla))
  • Class Bacillariophyceae (diatoms)
  • Subclass Bacillariophycidae
  • Subclass Coscinodiscophycidae
  • Subclass Fragilariophycidae

Adl et al., 2019

edit

Following earlier versions in the treatments of Adl et al. 2005 and 2012,[18][19] D.G. Mann, in Adl et al. 2019,[20] presented his most recent classification of diatoms as follows, while noting: "This revision reflects numerous advances in the phylogeny of the diatoms over the last decade. Due to our poor taxon sampling outside of the Mediophyceae and pennate diatoms, and the known and anticipated diversity of all diatoms, many clades appear at a high classification level (and the higher level classification is rather flat)." This classification treats diatoms as a phylum (Diatomeae/Bacillariophyta), accepts the class Mediophyceae of Medlin and co-workers, introduces new subphyla and classes for a number of otherwise isolated genera, and re-ranks a number of previously established taxa as subclasses, but does not list orders or families. Inferred ranks have been added for clarity (Adl. et al. do not use ranks, but the intended ones in this portion of the classification are apparent from the choice of endings used, within the system of botanical nomenclature employed).

  • Clade Diatomista Derelle et al. 2016, emend. Cavalier-Smith 2017 (diatoms plus a subset of other ochrophyte groups)
  • Subphylum Leptocylindrophytina D.G. Mann in Adl et al. 2019
  • Class Mediophyceae Jouse & Proshkina-Lavrenko in Medlin & Kaczmarska 2004
  • Subclass Chaetocerotophycidae Round & R.M. Crawford in Round et al. 1990, emend.
  • Subclass Lithodesmiophycidae Round & R.M. Crawford in Round et al. 1990, emend.
  • Subclass Thalassiosirophycidae Round & R.M. Crawford in Round et al. 1990
  • Subclass Cymatosirophycidae Round & R.M. Crawford in Round et al. 1990
  • Subclass Odontellophycidae D.G. Mann in Adl et al. 2019
  • Subclass Chrysanthemodiscophycidae D.G. Mann in Adl et al. 2019
  • Subclass Biddulphiophycidae Round and R.M. Crawford in Round et al. 1990, emend.
  • Biddulphiophyceae incertae sedis (Attheya)
  • Bacillariophyceae incertae sedis (Striatellaceae)
  • Subclass Urneidophycidae Medlin 2016
  • Subclass Fragilariophycidae Round in Round, Crawford & Mann 1990, emend.
  • Subclass Bacillariophycidae D.G. Mann in Round, Crawford & Mann 1990, emend.

Others

edit

Another systematic approach to classification was proposed in 1995, the Hoek, Mann and Jahns system.[21] Previous versions of the Adl et al., 2019 classification appeared in Adl et al. 2005 and Adl et al. 2012,[18][19] also in the chapter "Bacillariophyta" by Mann, Crawford & Round in the 2017 Handbook of the Protists edited by Archibald et al.,[22] in which some groups later named as formal taxa are listed under informal names (leptocylindrids, corethrids, melosirids, etc.).

References

edit
  1. ^ Guiry, M.D. (2012). "How many species of algae are there?". Journal of Phycology. 48 (5): 1057–1063. doi:10.1111/j.1529-8817.2012.01222.x. PMID 27011267. S2CID 30911529.
  2. ^ Grethe R. Hasle; Erik E. Syvertsen; Karen A. Steidinger; Karl Tangen (25 January 1996). "Marine Diatoms". In Carmelo R. Tomas (ed.). Identifying Marine Diatoms and Dinoflagellates. Academic Press. pp. 5–385. ISBN 978-0-08-053441-1. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  3. ^ a b Frank Eric Round; R. M. Crawford; D. G. Mann (1990). The Diatoms: Biology & Morphology of the Genera. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36318-1. Retrieved 13 November 2013.[page needed]
  4. ^ Canter-Lund, H. and Lund, J.W.G. (1995). Freshwater Algae: Their microscopic world explained, Biopress Limited. ISBN 0-948737-25-5.[page needed]
  5. ^ Mann, David G. (2005). "The species concept in diatoms: Evidence for morphologically distinct, sympatric gamodemes in four epipelic species". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 164 (1/4): 215–37. doi:10.1007/BF00940439. JSTOR 23675282. S2CID 37684109.
  6. ^ Fourtanier, Elisabeth; Kociolek, J. Patrick (1999). "Catalogue of the Diatom Genera". Diatom Research. 14 (1): 1–190. doi:10.1080/0269249X.1999.9705462.
  7. ^ The World Register of Marine Species lists 1,356 diatom genus names from all habitats as at July 2020, of which 1,248 are "accepted".
  8. ^ Queries to the World Register of Marine Species, July 2020, return 299 "fossil only" genus names, of which 285 are "accepted".
  9. ^ Lee, Robert Edward (1989). Phycology, Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 645. ISBN 0521365023.
  10. ^ Theriot, Edward C.; Cannone, Jamie J.; Gutell, Robin R.; Alverson, Andrew J. (2009). "The limits of nuclear-encoded SSU rDNA for resolving the diatom phylogeny". European Journal of Phycology. 4 (3): 277–290. doi:10.5091/plecevo.2010.418. PMC 2835975. PMID 20224747.
  11. ^ Theriot, Edward C.; Ashworth, Matt; Ruck, Elizabeth; Nakov, Teofil; Jansen, Robert K. (2010). "A preliminary multigene phylogeny of the diatoms (Bacillariophyta): challenges for future research". Plant Ecology and Evolution. 143 (3): 277–290. doi:10.1080/09670260902749159. PMC 2835975. PMID 20224747.
  12. ^ Parks, Matthew B.; Wickett, Norman J.; Alverson, Andrew J. (2018). "Signal, uncertainty, and conflict in phylogenomic data for a diverse lineage of microbial eukaryotes (Diatoms, Bacillariophyta)". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 35 (1): 80–93. doi:10.1093/molbev/msx268. PMC 5850769. PMID 29040712.
  13. ^ Medlin, L.K.; Desdevises, Y. (2020). "Review of the phylogenetic reconstruction of the diatoms using molecular tools with an analysis of a seven gene data set using multiple outgroups and morphological data for a total evidence approach" (PDF). Phycologia. in press.
  14. ^ O.E.D. 2nd edition 2005
  15. ^ "Bacillariophyceae". algaebase. M. D. Guiry. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  16. ^ Medlin, Linda K.; Kaczmarska, Irena (2004). "Evolution of the diatoms: V. Morphological and cytological support for the major clades and a taxonomic revision" (PDF). Phycologia. 43 (3): 245–270. doi:10.2216/i0031-8884-43-3-245.1. S2CID 83631828.
  17. ^ Ruggiero; et al. (2015), "Higher Level Classification of All Living Organisms", PLOS ONE, 10 (4): e0119248, Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1019248R, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119248, PMC 4418965, PMID 25923521
  18. ^ a b Adl SM, Simpson AG, Farmer MA, Andersen RA, Anderson OR, Barta JR, Bowser SS, Brugerolle G, Fensome RA, Fredericq S, James TY, Karpov S, Kugrens P, Krug J, Lane CE, Lewis LA, Lodge J, Lynn DH, Mann DG, McCourt RM, Mendoza L, Moestrup O, Mozley-Standridge SE, Nerad TA, Shearer CA, Smirnov AV, Spiegel FW, Taylor MF (2005). "The new higher level classification of eukaryotes with emphasis on the taxonomy of protists". The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 52 (5): 399–451. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2005.00053.x. PMID 16248873.
  19. ^ a b Adl SM, Simpson AG, Lane CE, Lukeš J, Bass D, Bowser SS, Brown MW, Burki F, Dunthorn M, Hampl V, Heiss A, Hoppenrath M, Lara E, Le Gall L, Lynn DH, McManus H, Mitchell EA, Mozley-Stanridge SE, Parfrey LW, Pawlowski J, Rueckert S, Shadwick L, Shadwick L, Schoch CL, Smirnov A, Spiegel FW (September 2012). "The revised classification of eukaryotes". The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 59 (5): 429–493. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2012.00644.x. PMC 3483872. PMID 23020233.
  20. ^ Adl, Sina M.; Bass, David; Lane, Christopher E.; Lukeš, Julius; Schoch, Conrad L.; Smirnov, Alexey; Agatha, Sabine; Berney, Cedric; Brown, Matthew W. (2018-09-26). "Revisions to the Classification, Nomenclature, and Diversity of Eukaryotes". Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66 (1): 4–119. doi:10.1111/jeu.12691. PMC 6492006. PMID 30257078.
  21. ^ Christiaan Van Den Hoek; D. G. Mann; H. M. Jahns (1995). Algae: An Introduction to Phycology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31687-3. Retrieved 13 November 2013.[page needed]
  22. ^ Mann, David G.; Crawford, Richard M.; Round, Frank E. (2017). "Bacillariophyta" (PDF). In Archibald, John M.; Simpson, Alastair G. B.; Slamovits, Claudio H. (eds.). Handbook of the Protists. Springer International Publishing. pp. 1–62. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_29-1. ISBN 9783319281476.