**5. Acknowledgments**

The Guadiana estuary study was funded by a series of projects 16/REGII/6/96 and 15/REGII/6/96 (INTERREGII program), EMERGE (ODIANA regional program), project nr. 45 ("Risk evaluation of toxic blooms in lower Guadiana") from LEADER+ program, project DYNCYANO (PTDC/AMB/64747/2006) funded by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT). We also thank past post-doctoral fellows Dr. Alexandre Matthiensen, Dr. Carlos Rocha, and Dr. Cristina Sobrino for contributing to different parts of this study at different times, and the following Master´s and PhD students Rute Miguel, Pedro Mendes, Vânia Sousa and Teresa Cecílio, as well as research assistants Cátia Luis, Tânia Anselmo, Erika Almeida and Cátia Guerra. Collaboration from Dr. Wayne Carmichael and Prof. Vitor Vasconcelos was greatly appreciated.

R. Domingues acknowledges PhD (SFRH/BD/27536/2006) and Post-Doctoral (SFRH/BPD/ 68688/2010) fellowships from FCT, and S. Mesquita acknowledges PhD grant (SFHR/BD/ 18921/2004) and the research grant financed in the scope of the Southwest European Research Net (RISE) through the I2TEP UE Program- subprogram CIANOTOOLS.

Algarve reservoirs were studied in the scope of 4 research projects, namely CIANOALERTA I, II and III (2003-2008) funded through INTERREG IIIA, contracts nº SP5/P35/01, SP5/P19/02 and SP5/P138/03 and CIANOTOOLS financed in the scope of the Southwest European Research Net (RISE) through the POCTEP UE Program in collaboration with Algarve Regional Hydrographycal Administration and University of Huelva.
