Dear Colleagues,

Coastal areas, including coastal lagoons and estuaries, represent key systems that are often subjected to anthropogenic pressure. They embody delicate environments that need intervention and the adoption of treatment measures in order to protect them from contamination and restore their typical key role in the environment.

Microorganisms are involved in biogeochemical cycles, and evidence a high plasticity in adapting to different contaminants, in many cases developing mechanisms to cope with contaminants. Innovative treatment processes as bioremediation by using autochthonous microorganisms could give insights for a non-invasive, environment-respecting, reasonable-costs technology to treat several coastal contaminants.

Authors are invited to submit original research and review articles focused on these aspects.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Organic and inorganic contaminants of anthropogenic origin in coastal areas, including crude oil, n-alkanes, PAHs, PCBs, microplastics, pharmaceuticals as antibiotics, heavy metals, and metalloids; the use of bacteria as bioindicators of contaminants dispersion; and treatment processes for contaminants removal, including biological methods as bioremediation.
• The treatment of coastal plains contaminants derived from agricultural activities, including nitrate dispersions, organic carbon, phosphate, and inorganic nitrogen.
• Seaweeds, algae, and organic matter as coastal contaminants: possible removal and possible valorization of these substrata.
• Recent trends and developments in methods for the analysis of microbial contaminants (i.e., bacteria, fungi, viruses) in coastal areas, including metagenomic approaches.
• Approaches including aspects of circular economy for the treatment of coastal area contaminants.

Dr. Milva Pepi
Prof. Dr. Monia Renzi
Prof. Dr. Luigi Musco
Guest Editor

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• coastal contamination
• eutrophication
• microbial contamination
• plastic litter
• hydrocarbons
• trace elements
• bioremediation
• microorganisms
• contaminants treatment
• circular economy