Some Like It Hot: Cyanobacteria Adaptations and Expansion Across Different Habitats and Conditions

Cyanobacteria play an essential role in aquatic ecosystems as primary producers and nitrogen fixers, yet their capacity to form harmful blooms represents a major ecological and public health concern. Traditionally considered characteristic of warm and nutrient-rich environments, cyanobacteria are now being detected in an increasingly broad range of aquatic systems, including cold, oligotrophic, and high-latitude waters. This expansion challenges long-standing assumptions about their ecological niches and highlights the complex interplay between climate change, anthropogenic pressures, and biological interactions that modulate cyanobacterial dynamics across freshwater and marine realms. Recent findings indicate that both well-known drivers and emerging factors, including novel contaminants and microbial interactions, together influence bloom development, persistence, and geographic spread. However, the underlying mechanisms, their ecological thresholds, and their cumulative impacts remain insufficiently understood, particularly in the context of rapid global environmental change.

This Research Topic aims to unravel the diversity of environmental and ecological drivers promoting cyanobacterial proliferation under changing climatic and anthropogenic conditions. By integrating field observations, experimental approaches, and advanced analytical tools, we seek to elucidate the physiological, genetic, and metabolic adaptations that enable cyanobacteria to exploit new habitats and persist under stress. The Research Topic further encourages contributions that leverage cutting-edge monitoring and predictive approaches, including remote sensing, omics-based surveys, and artificial intelligence, to improve the detection, forecasting, and management of potentially harmful blooms. Collectively, this initiative aims to foster knowledge exchange across disciplines and spatial scales, ultimately contributing to more effective mitigation strategies and freshwater management policies.

The scope of this Research Topic encompasses studies that connect environmental dynamics, microbial ecology, and technological innovation to advance understanding of cyanobacterial success in diverse ecosystems. To gather further insights into the drivers, mechanisms, and impacts of cyanobacterial proliferation, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- Ecological and physiological adaptations enabling cyanobacterial persistence under extreme or changing conditions

- Influence of nutrient enrichment, temperature, light, and hydrological variability on bloom formation

- Effects of emerging contaminants and pollutant mixtures on cyanobacterial community structure and toxicity

- Interactions with other aquatic microorganisms (phytoplankton, bacteria, fungi, protists) and their role in bloom ecology

- Genetic and metabolic mechanisms underpinning cold-water or oligotrophic cyanobacterial occurrences

- Development and application of remote sensing, molecular, and high-throughput tools for bloom detection and monitoring

- Utilization of artificial intelligence and machine learning for predicting bloom dynamics and risk assessment

- Integration of environmental monitoring, modelling, and ecological theory to inform bloom management and mitigation

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Cyanobacteria, Harmful algal blooms, Climate change, Environmental drivers, Cold and oligotrophic ecosystems, Microbial interactions, Remote sensing, Machine learning

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.