In 2001, the first international research program focusing exclusively on harmful marine algae, GEOHAB (Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms), was established by the HAB research community, under the sponsorship of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research. Its mission was to foster international cooperation to advance understanding of HAB dynamics and to improve our ability to predict them. The main efforts were focused on (1) the physiological, behavioral, and genetic characteristics of harmful microalgal species, and (2) the interactions between physical and other environmental conditions that promote the success of one group of species over another. GEOHAB was designed to study HABs with a view to integrating global data from comparable ecosystems. With an international, multidisciplinary, and comparative approach, GEOHAB advanced our understanding of the mechanisms underlying population dynamics of HABs within an ecological and oceanographic context and from an ecosystem perspective at the regional scale. GEOHAB encouraged combined experimental, observational, and modeling tools, using both existing and innovative technologies in a multidisciplinary approach, consistent with the multiple scales and oceanographic complexity of HAB phenomena. GEOHAB established the basis for continued international efforts now and into the future in order to better understand and predict the global complex phenomena of harmful algal blooms.

Kudela, R.M., E. Berdalet, H. Enevoldsen, G. Pitcher, R. Raine, and E. Urban. 2017. GEOHAB–The Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms Program: Motivation, goals, and legacy. Oceanography 30(1):12–21, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2017.106.

Anderson, D.M., G.C. Pitcher, and M. Estrada. 2005. The comparative “systems” approach to HAB research. Oceanography 18(2):148–157, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2005.50.

Anderson, D.M., B.A. Keafer, J.L. Kleindinst, D.J. McGillicuddy, J.L. Martin, K. Norton, C.H. Pilskaln, J.L. Smith, C.R. Sherwood, and B. Butman. 2014. Alexandrium fundyense cysts in the Gulf of Maine: Long-term time series of abundance and distribution, and linkages to past and future blooms. Deep Sea Research Part II 103:6–26, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.dsr2.2013.10.002.

Babin, M., C.S. Roesler, and J.J. Cullen, eds. 2008. Real-Time Coastal Observing Systems for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Harmful Algal Blooms: Theory, Instrumentation and Modelling. Oceanographic Methodology series, UNESCO, Paris, 830 pp.

Berdalet, E., M.A. McManus, O.N. Ross, H. Burchard, F.P. Chavez, J.S. Jaffe, I.R. Jenkinson, R. Kudela, I. Lips, U. Lips, and A. Lucas. 2014. Understanding harmful algae in stratified systems: Review of progress and future directions. Deep Sea Research Part II 101:4–20, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.dsr2.2013.09.042.

Bernard, S., R. Kudela, and L. Velo-Suarez. 2014. Developing global capabilities for the observation and prediction of harmful algal blooms. Pp. 46–52 in Oceans and Society: Blue Planet. S. Djavidnia, V. Cheung, M. Ott, and S. Seeyave, eds, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 

Bravo, I., R.I. Figueroa, and S. Fraga. 2014. Cellular and nuclear morphological variability within a single species of the toxigenic dinoflagellate genus Gambierdiscus: Relationship to life-cycle processes. Harmful Algae 40:1–8, https://doi.org/​10.1016/j.hal.2014.09.009. 

Estrada, M., J. Solé, S., Anglès, and E. Garcés. 2010. The role of resting cysts in Alexandrium minutum population dynamics. Deep-Sea Research Part II 57:308–321, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.dsr2.2009.09.007.

European Commission. 2013. The EU-US Scientific Initiative on Harmful Algal Blooms: A Report from a Workshop Jointly Funded by the European Commission – Environment and Sustainable Development Programme and the US National Science Foundation. EUR 20578, https://cordis.europa.eu/pub/sustdev/docs/environment/ki-na-20578-en-c_eu-us_algal_blooms.pdf. 

Furuya, K., P.M. Glibert, M. Zhou, and R. Raine. 2010. GEOHAB Asia. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms in Asia: A Regional Comparative Programme. IOC and SCOR, Baltimore and Paris, 68 pp.

GEOHAB. 2001. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms: Science Plan. P. Glibert and G. Pitcher, eds, SCOR and IOC, Baltimore and Paris, 86 pp. 

GEOHAB. 2003. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms: Implementation Plan. P. Gentien, G. Pitcher, A. Cembella, and P. Glibert, eds, SCOR and IOC, Baltimore and Paris, 36 pp. 

GEOHAB. 2005. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, GEOHAB Core Research Project: HABs in Upwelling Systems. G. Pitcher, T. Moita, V. Trainer, R. Kudela, F. Figuieras, and T. Probyn, eds, IOC and SCOR, Paris and Baltimore, 88 pp.

GEOHAB. 2006. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms: Eutrophication and HABs. SCOR and IOC, Paris and Baltimore, 74 pp. 

GEOHAB. 2008. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, GEOHAB Core Research Project: HABs in Stratified Systems. SCOR and IOC, Paris, France, and Newark, Delaware, USA, 59 pp. 

GEOHAB. 2010. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, GEOHAB Core Research Project: HABs in Fjords and Coastal Embayments. A. Cembella, L. Guzmán, S. Roy, J. Diogène, eds, IOC and SCOR, Paris, France, and Newark, Delaware, 57 pp. 

GEOHAB. 2011. GEOHAB Modelling: A Workshop Report. D.J. McGillicuddy Jr., P.M. Glibert, E. Berdalet, C. Edwards, P. Franks, and O. Ross, eds, IOC and SCOR, Paris and Newark, Delaware, 85 pp. 

GEOHAB. 2012. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, Core Research Project: Harmful Algal Blooms in Benthic Systems. E. Berdalet, P. Tester, and A. Zingone, eds, IOC and SCOR, Paris and Newark, 64 pp.

GEOHAB. 2013. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, GEOHAB Core Research Project: HABs in Stratified Systems. Workshop on “Advances and Challenges for Understanding Physical-Biological Interactions in HABs in Stratified Environments.” M.A. McManus, E. Berdalet, J. Ryan, H. Yamazaki, J.S. Jaffe, O.N. Ross, H. Burchard, and F.P. Chavez, eds, IOC and SCOR, Paris and Newark, Delaware, USA, 88 pp.

Glibert, P.M., R. Azanza, M. Burford, K. Furuya, E. Abal, A. Al-Azri, F. Al-Yamani, P. Andersen, D.M. Anderson, J. Beardall, and others. 2008. Ocean urea fertilization for carbon credits poses high ecological risks. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56(6):1,049–1,056, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.marpolbul.2008.03.010.

Glibert, P.M., J.M. Burkholder, E. Granéli, and D.M. Anderson. 2008. Advances and insights in the complex relationships between eutrophication and HABs: Preface to the special issue. Harmful Algae 8:1–2, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.hal.2008.08.020.

Glibert, P.M., M. Zhou, M. Zhu, and M.A. Burford. 2011. Preface to the special issue on eutrophication and HABs: The GEOHAB approach. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology 29(4):719–723, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-011-0501-0.

Granéli, E., B. Sundström, L. Edler, and D. Anderson, eds. 1990. Toxic Marine Phytoplankton: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Toxic Marine Phytoplankton, Held June 26–30, 1989, in Lund, Sweden. Elsevier, New York, 576 pp.

HARRNESS. 2005. Harmful Algal Research and Response: A National Environmental Science Strategy 2005–2015. J.S. Ramsdell, D.M. Anderson, and P.M. Glibert, eds, Ecological Society of America, Washington DC, 96 pp. 

ICES. 2013. Report of the ICES/PICES/IOC-GEOHAB Workshop on Harmful Algae Blooms in a Changing World (WKHABCW), March 18–22, 2013, Friday Harbor Laboratories, USA. ICES CM 2013/SSGHIE:01, 13 pp. 

Karl, D.M., J.E. Dore, R. Lukas, A.F. Michaels, N.R. Bates, and A. Knap. 2001. Building the long-term picture: The US JGOFS time-series programs. Oceanography 14(4):6–17, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2001.02.

Kudela, R.M., E. Berdalet, S. Bernard, M. Burford, L. Fernand, S. Lu, S. Roy, P. Tester, G. Usup, R. Magnien, and others. 2015. Harmful Algal Blooms: A Scientific Summary for Policy Makers. IOC/UNESCO, Paris (IOC/INF-1320), 19 pp. 

Mayr, E. 1982. The Growth of Biological Thought. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 974 pp. 

McGillicuddy, D.J. Jr. 2011. Models of harmful algal blooms: Conceptual, empirical, and numerical approaches. Journal of Marine Systems 83:105–107, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.jmarsys.2010.06.008.

Onda, D.F.L., A O. Lluisma, and R.V. Azanza. 2014. Development, morphological characteristics and viability of temporary cysts of Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum (Dinophyceae) in vitro. European Journal of Phycology 49:265–275, https://doi.org/10.1080/09670262.2014.915062.

Pitcher, G.C., and S. Pillar, eds. 2010. Special Issue on Harmful Algal Blooms in Upwelling Systems. Progress in Oceanography 85(1–2):1–136.

Raine, R., E. Berdalet, M.A. McManus, and H. Yamazaki, eds. 2014. Harmful algae in stratified systems. Deep Sea Research Part II 101:1–254.

Turner, E., D.B. Haidvogel, E.E. Hofmann, H.P. Batchelder, M.J. Fogarty, and T. Powell. 2013. US GLOBEC: Program goals, approaches, and advances. Oceanography 26(4):12–21, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.72.

Wells, M.L., V.L. Trainer, T.J. Smayda, B.S. Karlson, C.G. Trick, R.M. Kudela, A. Ishikawa, S. Bernard, A. Wulff, D.M. Anderson, and W.P. Cochlan. 2015. Harmful algal blooms and climate change: Learning from the past and present to forecast the future. Harmful Algae 49:68–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/​j.hal.2015.07.009.

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.