A georeferenced dataset of living and sedimentary diatoms in Lake Maggiore

We publish a dataset on planktic and benthic diatom occurrence in Lake Maggiore, the second Italian lake for depth and surface. Despite their extensive use in water quality biomonitoring, and their relevance among phytoplankton groups, research on benthic diatoms in Lake Maggiore are scarce. Diatoms have been collected from surface sediments, littoral stones, macrophytes and water column, in different times and with different purposes during the last 40 years of the trophic history of the lake. Dataset includes 4124 occurrences relating to 293 taxa, 269 of which were identified at species level, 16 at subspecies level and 8 at the genus level. All occurrences are georeferenced.