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Applied Sciences
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Research on Eutrophication and Algal Blooms for Environmental Engineering
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Research on Eutrophication and Algal Blooms for Environmental Engineering

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2025 | Viewed by 463

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Milena Bruno

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
Interests: HABs (harmful algal blooms); cyanotoxins; eutrophication; lake restoration; cyanobacteria
Dr. Valentina Messineo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Core Facilities, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
Interests: HABs (harmful algal blooms); cyanotoxins; eutrophication; lake restoration; cyanobacteria

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are one of the best-known consequences of the eutrophication of natural waters, for example, lakes and rivers, and represent a serious threat to water quality, human health, economic development, ecological balance, landscape aesthetics and social stability. Due to rapid population growth and economic development, various human activities in industry, agriculture and the transport sector have deteriorated and globally intensified freshwater eutrophication. In addition to the external load of pollutants from anthropogenic discharges and global warming, the internal load of pollutants from sediments is expected to further increase the presence of HABs and exert continued pressure on river and lake ecosystems in the coming decades. Therefore, it is urgent to draw the attention of researchers around the world to efficient methods for HAB detection (e.g., remote sensing detection) and restoration of lakes and rivers in order to eliminate the threat of eutrophication. With this in mind, this issues presents new research and studies on implemented technologies to meet the ever-growing need to restore and protect water bodies from further degradation with the aim to also provide an early warning and monitoring instrument to help territorial managers and professionals to identify the restoration priority areas, the existing and emerging threats for restoration, to define the restoration targets and, finally, to track progress.

Dr. Milena Bruno
Dr. Valentina Messineo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • HABs (harmful algal blooms)
  • cyanotoxins
  • eutrophication
  • restoration technologies
  • remote sensing detection

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2183 KiB  
Article
Using an Ultraviolet-Enabled Boat to Reduce Microcystin and Suppress Cyanobacterial Growth in Harmful Algal Bloom-Impacted Surface Waters
by Taylor Rycroft, Brianna Fernando and Michael L. Mayo
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(12), 6765; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15126765 - 16 Jun 2025
Viewed by 119
Abstract
Numerous remediation strategies exist for cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs); however, most are limited by challenges of scalability and adverse off-target effects on the surrounding ecosystem. Germicidal ultraviolet light (UV-C) has emerged as a promising method for suppressing cyanoHABs in a sustainable, chemical-free [...] Read more.
Numerous remediation strategies exist for cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs); however, most are limited by challenges of scalability and adverse off-target effects on the surrounding ecosystem. Germicidal ultraviolet light (UV-C) has emerged as a promising method for suppressing cyanoHABs in a sustainable, chemical-free manner that is both scalable and results in limited off-target ecological effects in the surrounding area. In this study, the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC)’s CyanoSTUNTM (Cyanobacterial Suppression Through Ultraviolet-Light-C Neutralization) vessel was deployed to a cyanoHAB as part of a field trial to determine whether UV-C could effectively suppress cellular growth, degrade associated cyanotoxins, and inhibit harmful phytoplankton species more readily than beneficial species without the addition of chemicals. The cyanoHAB exhibited an average cyanobacteria abundance of 3.75 × 105 cells/mL (n = 5, SD = 6.76 × 104 cells/mL) and average total microcystin concentration of 3.5 µg/L (n = 5; SD = 0.24 µg/L). Pre- and post-treatment samples were collected and re-grown for 9 days in the laboratory to observe differences in microcystin, chlorophyll a, and phycocyanin concentrations, optical density, cell density, and community composition. The results of the field trial showed that the CyanoSTUN UV-C treatment effectively suppressed the growth of the cyanobacteria community for approximately two days at the three tested UV-C doses. The CyanoSTUN UV-C treatment also demonstrated a sustained, dose-dependent effect on microcystin concentration; the average reduction in microcystin concentration for 15, 30, and 45 mJ/cm2 treatment doses was 31.6% (n = 10, SD = 20.1%; 1.3 µg/L reduced), 45.7% (n = 10, SD = 10.8%; 1.9 µg/L reduced), and 49.9% (n = 10, SD = 8.2%; 1.7 µg/L reduced), respectively, over the 9-day regrowth period. Non-cyanobacteria were too scarce in this CyanoHAB to conclude whether the CyanoSTUN UV-C inhibits harmful phytoplankton species more readily than beneficial species. Further field studies with the CyanoSTUNTM are required to validate performance under more severe cyanoHAB conditions, however the results reported herein from the first field trial with the CyanoSTUNTM suggest that this treatment method may offer water managers confronted with a CyanoHAB the ability to rapidly and safely pause a bloom for multiple days and reduce the risks posed by its associated cyanotoxins without adding chemicals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Eutrophication and Algal Blooms for Environmental Engineering)
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