This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) totaling $204,499 supports the synthesis and analysis of an extensive database of fossil specimens of freshwater protists. The PI at Connecticut College will document new species, morphological traits, and estimates of environmental conditions for each protist group represented in the fossil collection spanning 82 million years. The synthesis will evaluate the protists' potential to migrate under different climate scenarios, their use as bioindicators, the extent of evolutionary change, and provide age constraints for molecular phylogenetic studies. All field and laboratory results will be digitized, organized into catalogs, and made available to the scientific community. The original notes, data, rock samples, and prepared microscope slides will be archived at established museums and the Lear Archive Collection at Connecticut College. This award aims to improve the ability to model future impacts of environmental changes on ecosystems and enhance the understanding of evolutionary patterns of these microscopic organisms.