From June 3^th to July 2^nd of 2015, Professor Andrzej Witkowski from University of Szczecin in Poland was invited to visit Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research.

During the visit, professor Andrzej gave a report entitled "Use of multigene approach in documenting the biodiversity of diatom assemblages (Bacillariophyceae) from the littoral zone of the Bohai and Yellow Sea in Shandong Province, NE China." In this report, professor Andrzej introduced the survey method and preliminary results during one month study. He mentioned sedimentary diatoms research needs to combine morphological identification and molecular methods. Traditional morphological identification is supported by optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while molecular approach can supplement the shortage of the traditional morphological identification and help to discover more new diatom species. Especially in the coastal region of Bohai and Yellow Sea, a lot of diatom species and new genera have been found using molecular methods. Now two sides of cooperation hope to do further study and have more new discovery. After the report, YIC researchers discussed with professor Andrzej on application issues of diatoms.

Professor Andrzej Witkowski is communication academician of Polish Academy Of Sciences, and also the world's famous diatom research experts. In the fields of diatom taxonomic system, biogeography and diatom resource utilization, he has high academic attainments. He used to be the chairman of international society of the diatom research, and now he is an editor of Diatom Monographs. His main research contents include: the coastal zone environment ecology, diatom resource utilization, regional climate and paleoceanography.