Water Quality and Aquatic Organic Matter Fluorescence

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2019) | Viewed by 9843

Special Issue Editors

Health and Environment in the Centre for Research in Biosciences and the Institute for Bio-Sensing Technology at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Interests: fluorescence techniques for the characterisation of waste and surface waters; development, characterisation and application of novel antimicrobials for bio-control and biological decontamination; environment; water; agri-food
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Centre for Research in Biosciences, University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, UK
Interests: aquatic fluorescent organic matter; water quality; surface waters; groundwaters; in situ sensing for quality monitoring; water treatment; aquatic carbon transportation

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Declining water quality is an ever-escalating global issue. Understanding anthropogenic impacts is increasingly important, particularly with growing population pressures, urbanisation, industrialisation, agricultural demands and climatic changes. There has been an increasing interest in characterising aquatic fluorescent organic matter (AFOM) in the past few decades. This has been part of the response to the increasing need to understand and monitor water quality across the globe. Much of this research has focussed on the properties of the organic matter and decomposing spectra. However, technological developments and advances in knowledge, via academic research, means this area is now moving towards novel sensing technologies for applied sensing in the field. Recent work has also highlighted the importance of microbial interactions on AFOM production and consumption.

This Special Issue invites research which follows on from recent developments in the area of water quality and aquatic organic matter fluorescence. In particular, we aim to highlight work being undertaken to advance the field via laboratory experiments and/or field work. Particular interest will be taken in research which employs novel technologies for aquatic monitoring, as well as studies into the relationship, and interactions, between microbial communities, and the aquatic ecosystem, and AFOM.

Prof. Dr. Darren Reynolds
Dr. Bethany Fox
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Water quality
  • Fluorescence spectroscopy
  • Aquatic organic matter
  • Water quality monitoring
  • Novel technologies
  • In situ sensing
  • Aquatic ecosystem health
  • Microbial processing

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1777 KiB  
Article
Microbial Processing and Production of Aquatic Fluorescent Organic Matter in a Model Freshwater System
by Bethany G. Fox, Robin M.S. Thorn, Alexandre M. Anesio, Timothy Cox, John W. Attridge and Darren M. Reynolds
Water 2019, 11(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11010010 - 21 Dec 2018
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4381
Abstract
Organic matter (OM) has an essential biogeochemical influence along the hydrological continuum and within aquatic ecosystems. Organic matter derived via microbial processes was investigated within a range of model freshwater samples over a 10-day period. For this, excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy in [...] Read more.
Organic matter (OM) has an essential biogeochemical influence along the hydrological continuum and within aquatic ecosystems. Organic matter derived via microbial processes was investigated within a range of model freshwater samples over a 10-day period. For this, excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy in combination with parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis was employed. This research shows the origin and processing of both protein-like and humic-like fluorescence within environmental and synthetic samples over the sampling period. The microbial origin of Peak T fluorescence is demonstrated within both synthetic samples and in environmental samples. Using a range of incubation temperatures provides evidence for the microbial metabolic origin of Peak T fluorescence. From temporally resolved experiments, evidence is provided that Peak T fluorescence is an indication of metabolic activity at the microbial community level and not a proxy for bacterial enumeration. This data also reveals that humic-like fluorescence can be microbially derived in situ and is not solely of terrestrial origin, likely to result from the upregulation of cellular processes prior to cell multiplication. This work provides evidence that freshwater microbes can engineer fluorescent OM, demonstrating that microbial communities not only process, but also transform, fluorescent organic matter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality and Aquatic Organic Matter Fluorescence)
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20 pages, 3640 KiB  
Article
Multi-Parameter Compensation Method for Accurate In Situ Fluorescent Dissolved Organic Matter Monitoring and Properties Characterization
by Guilherme F. De Oliveira, Edoardo Bertone, Rodney A. Stewart, John Awad, Aleicia Holland, Kelvin O’Halloran and Steve Bird
Water 2018, 10(9), 1146; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10091146 - 27 Aug 2018
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4918
Abstract
The recent deployment of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) probes in dam catchments and drinking water treatment plants (DWTP) for water quality monitoring purposes has resulted in the production of a large amount of data that requires scientific evaluation. This study introduces a [...] Read more.
The recent deployment of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) probes in dam catchments and drinking water treatment plants (DWTP) for water quality monitoring purposes has resulted in the production of a large amount of data that requires scientific evaluation. This study introduces a comprehensive, transferable methodological framework for scientists and water professionals to model fluorescence site-specific quenching on fDOM probe readings caused by temperature, suspended particles, and the inner filter effect (IFE) and applies it to an Australian subtropical reservoir. The findings revealed that quenching due to turbidity and IFE effects were best predicted by threshold autoregressive models. Raw fDOM probe measurements were validated as being more reliable if they were systematically compensated using the proposed procedure. The developed fDOM compensation procedure must consider the instrument features (i.e., wavelength broadband and responsiveness) and site-specific conditions (i.e., DOM characteristics and suspended particles). A finding of particular interest was that the compensated normalized fDOM readings had a high correlation with the low (<500 Da) molecular weight fraction of the DOM, which is more recalcitrant to removal by coagulation. As a consequence, there is potential to use compensated fDOM probe readings to provide real-time, in situ information on DOM properties in freshwater systems, which will enable water treatment plant operators to optimize the coagulation process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality and Aquatic Organic Matter Fluorescence)
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