Blooms of diatoms—microscopic, photosynthetic algae—were alive and well beneath (and within) the lake's ice cover. "Some of the main winter-spring diatom bloom formers, like Aulacoseira ...

We also suggested that a warming climate will simultaneously enhance the productivity of large phytoplankton, such as diatoms, in coastal regions, owing to increased wind-driven upwelling 1.

A group of diatom species belonging to the Nitzschia genus gave up on photosynthesis and now get their carbon straight from their environment, thanks to a bacterial gene picked up by an ancestor.