Monitoring and Assessment of Environmental Quality in Coastal Ecosystems, 4th Edition
A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 May 2025 | Viewed by 199
Special Issue Editor
Interests: biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; environmental risk; aquaculture and fisheries; biotechnology and resources valorization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Coastal ecosystems are dynamic, complex, and often fragile transition environments between land and oceans. They are exclusive habitats for a broad range of living organisms, functioning as biodiversity havens and providing several important ecological services linking terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments.
Humans living in coastal zones have been strongly dependent on these ecosystems as sources of food, physical protection against storms and the advancing sea, and a range of human activities that generate economic income (e.g., tourism and water sports). The intensification of human activities in coastal areas in recent decades and the current global climatic changes and coastal erosion processes have had detrimental impacts on these environments: organic and inorganic pollution; marine anthropogenic litter; destruction, fragmentation, and modification of habitats for multiple purposes; overexploitation of natural resources; introduction of invasive species; and loss of biodiversity. Maintaining the structural and functional integrity of these environments as well as recovering an ecological balance or mitigating disturbances in systems under the influence of such stressors are complex tasks, only achievable through the implementation of monitoring programs and environmental quality assessments.
In this Special Issue, we invite colleagues to contribute original research papers and review articles on all aspects of coastal ecosystems’ environmental quality monitoring and assessment. The monitoring and assessment methods may focus solely on abiotic compartments, such as water and sediments, or include biotic compartments of relevance from all taxonomic origins. The tools used may range across various ecological levels of organization, from the individual to the ecosystem, including, for example, environmental quality and environmental indexes, ecotoxicology and biomarkers, bioindicators and biomonitors, population and community indexes and indicators, and ecosystem responses and services. Innovative and more traditional monitoring and assessment methods are both welcome.
The publications in the first and second volumes of this Special Issue, which we believe may be of interest to you, can be found at the following links: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environments/special_issues/Environmental_Quality; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environments/special_issues/Environmental_Ecosystems; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environments/special_issues/IR6CT88409.
Dr. Sílvia C. Gonçalves
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- coastal ecosystems
- environmental quality and environmental indexes
- monitoring and/or assessment programs
- environmental disturbances
- pressures and stressors
- anthropogenic impacts
- bioindicators
- biomonitors
- ecotoxicology and biomarkers
- populations
- communities and ecosystem responses
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Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
1. Title: Groundwater/surface-water temperature variations and hydrogeological implications in Doñana National Park
Abstract: A long-term data analysis (2001-2022) of toxic phytoplankton was carried out in selected sites in the Gulf of Trieste (Adriatic Sea, Italy), an area dedicated to mussel farming. Phytoplankton abundance was discussed together with sampling methods, relationship with physico-chemical parameters and climatic conditions. Significant gradients in spatial distribution and clear seasonal patterns characterised all physico-chemical parameters, while the distribution of toxic phytoplankton was quite homogeneous with peaks in late winter/spring and early autumn. Nutrient species have a common inland origin with nitrate prevailing over phosphate, placing the whole area in P limitation. Precipitation was found to influence nutrient levels and the proliferation of toxic phytoplankton. Time series show a significant increase in temperature, salinity and nitrogen species, while silicon and phosphorous decrease. Chlorophyll a and phytoplankton abundance are quite stable, except for a significant decrease in Lingulodinium (from 2015 to 2022). This first assessment of the dynamics of toxic phytoplankton in the Gulf of Trieste provides a valuable basis for further approaches (i.e., continuous in situ measurements, modelling, machine learning) to investigate the impact of the climate change, and supports improved management of mussel farming from both health and environmental perspectives.
