Forecasting the cyanotoxins presence in fresh waters: A new model based on genetic algorithms combined with the MARS technique

► A hybrid GA-MARS model is built as a predictive model of cyanotoxins presence. ► Cyanobacterial HABs are dangerous for environment and people in fresh waters. ► Biological and physical-chemical variables in this process are studied in depth. ► The obtained regression accuracy of our method is 98%. ► The results show that GA-MARS model can assist in the diagnosis of cyanotoxins.