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Water
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Water Quality, Ecological Health and Ecosystem Restoration
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Water Quality, Ecological Health and Ecosystem Restoration

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2024) | Viewed by 7363

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luís Oliva-Teles

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: biomonitoring; water quality; ecotoxicology; artificial neural networks; aquatic pollution; aquatic ecology; biological early warning systems; environmental health diagnosis
Dr. António Paulo Carvalho

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: fish nutrition and feeding; fish physiology; larval fish rearing; aquaculture; aquatic ecotoxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Worldwide, various governments and environmental protection agencies have set the priority of eliminating water pollution and restoring aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. Organic pollution (e.g., pharmaceuticals, pesticides, excess nutrients) and microplastics, in particular, continue to degrade marine and freshwater systems, threatening human, animal and environmental health. Several recovery and restoration actions are already taking place in such ecosystems. While good water quality is vital for the conservation, recovery or restoration of aquatic systems, its diagnosis and monitoring are very often still viewed as a physical recuperation of the water parameters and the aquatic system (e.g., physicochemical parameters, flow variation, sediment size and movement, river morphology). Little focus is put on diagnosing the ecological status and biodiversity. Moreover, many of the ongoing ecosystem recuperation actions lack objective monitoring and assessment to evaluate the level of recovery or restoration and the rates at which they occur. Their success remains mostly unclear, delaying and limiting the improvement of future interventions of the measures taken. Important questions are in urgent need to be addressed, such as which strategies of water quality treatments and ecosystem recovery approaches are proving more successful; the extent of recovery reached; the rate at which the ecosystem recovers; the benefits of restoration versus passive recovery; species reintroduction or translocation; suitable early warning indicators of successful recovery/restoration. This Special Issue is open to innovative contributions related to integrated biomonitoring of water quality, multi-pressure and multi-compartment approaches to the diagnosis of ecological health and ecosystem recovery/restoration. We invite the submission of review or research articles on such topics related to the assessment and sustainability of freshwater and marine ecosystems, especially about multidisciplinary approaches within the One Health triad.

Dr. Luís Oliva-Teles
Dr. António Paulo Carvalho
Guest Editors

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. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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

  • water pollution
  • environmental health diagnosis
  • aquatic systems recovery and restoration
  • biomonitoring of water quality
  • biomarkers
  • biological early-warning systems
  • aquatic biodiversity
  • freshwater and marine ecosystems
  • One Health

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 4109 KiB  
Article
Dissolved Oxygen Forecasting for Lake Erie’s Central Basin Using Hybrid Long Short-Term Memory and Gated Recurrent Unit Networks
by Daiwei Pan, Yue Zhang, Ying Deng, Jesse Van Griensven Thé, Simon X. Yang and Bahram Gharabaghi
Water 2024, 16(5), 707; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16050707 - 28 Feb 2024
Viewed by 710
Abstract
Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration is a pivotal determinant of water quality in freshwater lake ecosystems. However, rapid population growth and discharge of polluted wastewater, urban stormwater runoff, and agricultural non-point source pollution runoff have triggered a significant decline in DO levels in Lake [...] Read more.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration is a pivotal determinant of water quality in freshwater lake ecosystems. However, rapid population growth and discharge of polluted wastewater, urban stormwater runoff, and agricultural non-point source pollution runoff have triggered a significant decline in DO levels in Lake Erie and other freshwater lakes located in populated temperate regions of the globe. Over eleven million people rely on Lake Erie, which has been adversely impacted by anthropogenic stressors resulting in deficient DO concentrations near the bottom of Lake Erie’s Central Basin for extended periods. In the past, hybrid long short-term memory (LSTM) models have been successfully used for the time-series forecasting of water quality in rivers and ponds. However, the prediction errors tend to grow significantly with the forecasting period. Therefore, this research aimed to improve the accuracy of DO forecasting models by taking advantage of Lake Erie’s real-time water quality (water temperature and DO concentration) monitoring network to establish temporal and spatial links between adjacent monitoring stations. We developed hybrid LSTM models that combine LSTM, convolutional neuron network LSTM (CNN-LSTM), hybrid CNN with gated recurrent unit (CNN-GRU) models, and convolutional LSTM (ConvLSTM) to forecast near-bottom DO concentrations in Lake Erie’s Central Basin. These hybrid LSTM models improve their capacity to handle complicated datasets with spatial and temporal variability. These models can serve as accurate and reliable tools for forecasting DO concentrations in freshwater lakes to help environmental protection agencies better access and manage the health of these vital ecosystems. Following analysis of a 21-site Lake Erie dataset for 2020 and 2021, the ConvLSTM model emerged as the most accurate and reliable, boasting an MSE of 0.51 mg/L, MAE of 0.42 mg/L, and an R-squared of 0.95 over the 12 h prediction range. The model foresees future hypoxia in Lake Erie. Notably, the temperature near site 713 holds significance for Central Basin DO forecasting in Lake Erie, as indicated by outcomes derived from the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality, Ecological Health and Ecosystem Restoration)
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12 pages, 3860 KiB  
Article
Impact of Hydrodynamic Conditions on the Production and Distribution of Extracellular Polymeric Substance in River Biofilms
by Mei Pan, Haizong Li, Xiangyun Han, Siyi Jiang, Yusen Diao, Weixing Ma, Xuan Li, Jiaojiao Qin, Jianchun Yao and Zhitong Wang
Water 2023, 15(21), 3821; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15213821 - 01 Nov 2023
Viewed by 941
Abstract
The extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) plays a key factor in biofilm formation. However, the research on the importance of each EPS fraction is mainly concentrated in the activated sludge field. In this study, biofilms were cultivated under different hydrodynamic conditions in indoor flumes, [...] Read more.
The extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) plays a key factor in biofilm formation. However, the research on the importance of each EPS fraction is mainly concentrated in the activated sludge field. In this study, biofilms were cultivated under different hydrodynamic conditions in indoor flumes, and the important regulatory effects of dissolved EPS (SB-EPS), loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS), and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) on biofilm formation were investigated. The results indicated that the ratios of soluble EPS (S-EPS), loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS), and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) were 27:74:108 in the turbulent flow, 38:48:71 in the transitional flow, and 89:51:51 in the laminar flow. Regarding proportion, TB-EPS and LB-EPS were secreted more in the turbulent flow, while S-EPS was secreted slightly more in the laminar flow. S-EPS lacks the structural strength provided by bound EPS. Under the special bonding effects of LB-EPS and TB-EPS, many microcolonies join to form biofilms. The polysaccharide content in the EPS of biofilms remained dominant under all conditions. Polysaccharides are the core of biofilm formation, which enhance bacterial aggregation and make biofilm dense. Through the mutual verification of the results in the microscopic and macroscopic fields, the mechanism of biofilm formation was further elucidated, especially, in Stage IV, due to the special bonding effects of LB-EPS and TB-EPS, many colonies adhere to the mature biofilm. Further studies are required to investigate the extracellular polysaccharides and proteins in EPS along with their properties in biofilms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality, Ecological Health and Ecosystem Restoration)
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23 pages, 26046 KiB  
Article
Water Quality Indicator for Adaptability to Global Climate Change in Andean Highland Ecosystems
by Carmen O. Márquez, Victor J. García and Anita C. Ríos
Water 2023, 15(5), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15050857 - 22 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1486
Abstract
In the face of ongoing anthropogenic climate change, river water quality assessment has become increasingly important for maintaining ecological balance and supporting local and downstream livelihoods. This research aims to create a new water quality index (WQI) to assess water quality in the [...] Read more.
In the face of ongoing anthropogenic climate change, river water quality assessment has become increasingly important for maintaining ecological balance and supporting local and downstream livelihoods. This research aims to create a new water quality index (WQI) to assess water quality in the Andean highlands (>2000 m.a.s.l.) for climate change adaptation and mitigation. We examined water physicochemical and bacteriological parameters and the benthic macroinvertebrate (BM) community in three micro-watersheds in Achupallas, Ecuador, to achieve our goal. We analyzed water quality at 41 sampling points, and samples (replicates) were taken for nine consecutive months. In addition, we evaluated the accuracy of the WQI developed by the U.S. National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) in 1970 (WQINSF). The BM community in the Andes highlands was used to develop and calibrate a new WQI, the Andean Biotic Index* (ABI*). We calibrated the ABI* taxon score in the area where the WQINSF made the most accurate water quality measurements. Our results show that the sigma value framework quantifies WQINSF accuracy. Therefore, a higher sigma value means we measured water quality more accurately. There was no correlation between the WQINSF and the Andean Biotic Index (ABI). The ABI* considers the presence of BMs and their sensitivity to pollution to measure water quality. The results also show a strong statistical link between the ABI* and the WQINSF. The ABI* can aid mountain communities in adjusting to climate change. Mountain dwellers can monitor a stream’s water quality by observing the BM communities. However, the ABI* is not a substitute for the WQINSF or biological studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality, Ecological Health and Ecosystem Restoration)
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Review

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20 pages, 2225 KiB  
Review
A Review of Analytical Methods and Technologies for Monitoring Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Water
by Kamrun Nahar, Noor Azwa Zulkarnain and Robert K. Niven
Water 2023, 15(20), 3577; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15203577 - 12 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3588
Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) consist of a range of manufactured fluorinated chemicals that are used in a variety of household and waterproofing products, industrial processes, and firefighting foams. In the past few years, there has been increasing concern about PFAS in the [...] Read more.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) consist of a range of manufactured fluorinated chemicals that are used in a variety of household and waterproofing products, industrial processes, and firefighting foams. In the past few years, there has been increasing concern about PFAS in the environment, since they are difficult to break down through natural processes, are highly persistent in humans, animals, soils and waters, and can travel long distances in surface and groundwater. This has created an increased need for PFAS analysis. Most PFAS monitoring currently takes place using field sampling and chromatographic analytical methods, which are laboratory-based and are very costly when used to monitor PFAS in the environment. Using a semi-systematic literature review approach, a comparative study is conducted in this article on the available analytical methods and sensor technologies that can be used to monitor and detect PFAS in the environment, including chromatographic, instrumentation analysis, and sensor-based methods. This study considered four critical factors for effective and efficient monitoring methods, which include the type of PFAS detected, removing background levels, determining detection limits, and identifying samples. In general, other analytical instruments are used in conjunction with chromatographic techniques for detecting both target and non-target analytes at a lower level of detection (LOD). It is shown that even though some sensor types have a low LOD, they are only useful for detecting targeted PFAS in water samples. However, sensors are an emerging technology that could be developed to enable low-cost, portable methods for the remote detection of PFAS species on-site. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality, Ecological Health and Ecosystem Restoration)
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