During a beer reception at one of the last French Diatomist Meetings, we jokingly con-
ceived the plan to compile a Festschrift for Luc Ector’s 65 th birthday. We never could
imagine that 3 years later, we would have to invite a lot of his friends and colleagues to
publish a paper in his Memorial volume. We are very happy and satisfied that so many
positively responded our invitation. We would like to thank therefore all contributors and
reviewers for their meticulous work that shaped this Memorial volume.
This volume honours Luc Ector as a diatom scientist with 17 contributions, discussing
one of Luc’s favorite passions, diatom research. Luc was an inspiring mentor motivating
many young (and not so young) colleagues worldwide. This is reflected in the subject of
many contributions in this volume. A new genus, Lucectorea gen. nov. (Tudesque et al.),
and numerous new species such as Pinnularia ectorii sp. nov. (Potapova et al.) and Rimo-
neis ectorii sp. nov. (Marquardt et al.), are named named after him.
This Memorial volume includes important revisions and additions to our current knowl-
edge of several freshwater diatom genera (e.g. Abarca et al.). Luc was a keen diatom
taxonomist and ecologist who fully understood the value and importance of historic dia-
tom material as a tool for our modern understanding of diatom species. Several contribu-
tions in this Memorial volume such as those on Stauroneis acuta (Wadmare et al.), Brach-
ysira vitrea (Van de Vijver et al.) of Frustulia saxonica (Jüttner et al.), start with the
analysis of historic type material to disentangle difficult and confusing complexes.
Luc’s enthusiasm, kindness and immense diatom knowledge will never be forgotten, and
this Memorial volume will contribute to his legacy and as such will represent a valuable
piece of work for future generations of diatomists.