Chapter 5: Ecological optima and ranges of common diatom species occurring on soils are defined for pH and soil moisture and compared with previously established autecological values. For this chapter, several datasets are merged including the data gathered in Chapter 2, in order to obtain more robust results.Chapter 6: The potential for the Phillips sampler, a time-integrated mass-flux sampler, is explored to provide a representative sample of the diatom assemblage of a whole storm run-off event. Its representativeness is evaluated by comparing the diatom community composition of the sampler to the composite community collected by automatic samplers for three events. 11 CHAPTER 2 STUDY AREA AND METHODOLOGY 2.1 STUDY AREA Two distinct geomorphological regions dominate the landscape of Luxembourg (Figure 2.1). The southern half of the country, the Gutland region, is characterized by deep valleys cut into the Luxembourg sandstone, alternated with large valleys located in the Keuper marls, while in the northern Oesling (or Eislek) region, Devonian bedrock and deeply incised Vshaped valleys dominate. Altitudes in Luxembourg vary from 140 to 440 m.a.s.l. in the Gutland and from 225 to 559 m.a.s.l. in the Oesling (Cammeraat et al., 2018). Lying in the contact zone between these two contrasted regions, the Attert River basin (249 km²; 49°46′13.0″ N, 5°59′9.2″ E) is representative of the wider physiographic setting of Luxembourg. The Gutland covers 76% of the total Attert basin area and extends through the middle and southern part of it, whereas the Oesling, situated in the north, represents 24% of the basin (Cammeraat et al., 2018). The basin can be divided into three distinctive physiogeographic units. The first unit, the so-called Luxembourg plateau, is located in the southern part of the Attert River basin and mainly consists of Luxembourg sandstone locally covered by marls, and Luxembourg red sandstone ("Bundsandstein"). Land use in the area is dominated by forests and farmland supported by sandy to clayey soils such as podzols, luvisols, stagnosols, cambisols and regosols. The centre of the basin, called the marly depression, represents 68% of the total basin area. It comprises of very clayey soils (vertisols, planosols, cambisols and stagnosols) that support mainly forests and grassland (Cammeraat et al., 2018). The lithology of the third unit (i.e. the Oesling) mainly consists of schists and phyllades. The regosols and cambisols present in the northern part mainly have a silty soil texture and are mixed with gravels, while forests make up the dominant land use in that area. Farmland in the basin is primarily used for growing corn, wheat and rapeseed, while grasslands are predominantly used for cattle grazing. European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and spruce (Picea abies L.) dominate the forested areas. The climate regime of the basin is semi-oceanic.Due to its complex physiogeographic characteristics, the basin has been the focal point of many (eco)hydrological studies, including studies on hydrological processes, ...