Recent Advances in Harmful Algal Blooms in Freshwater and Marine Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are natural events that have become one of the main hazards to worldwide coastal resources and activities in recent decades. Amongst the HAB-associated socio-environmental and public health impacts are mass mortalities of native fauna and farmed organisms, extensive sanitary closures of aquaculture industries, and human poisoning outbreaks, including fatalities. These problems have increased the pressure on the international scientific community to make advances in understanding the factors that modulate HABs and their impacts. Therefore, the patterns of variability in HABs and their links with climatic and anthropogenic stressors need to be analysed at a spatiotemporal scale.​

In this Topic, we welcome the submission of papers based on field and laboratory studies that involve new advances in understanding HAB occurrences in freshwater, coastal, and oceanic systems worldwide. We encourage research that reports on the following: (i) new HAB detection methods, (ii) improved sampling strategies, (iii) new reports of toxic or harmful algal species, (iv) emerging toxins and new affected areas, (v) the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the occurrence of HABs and their impacts, (vi) physiology experiments and toxicological impacts, and (vii) modelling studies of HAB dynamics.

Dr. Patricio A. Díaz
Dr. Gonzalo Álvarez
Topic Editors