Michael Piehler, MSPH, Ph.D.
Estuarine Ecology and Human Health Program Head

Office:
3431 Arendell St.
Morehead City, NC  28557

Phone: 252-726-6841
Fax: 252-726-2426
Email: piehler@unc.edu
Lab web page: http://www.unc.edu/~mpiehler/

Education
Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 1997. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

M.S.P.H. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 1994. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

B.S. in Biology, 1990. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research Interests
Piehler's research examines microorganisms and microbially mediated processes in coastal land-water interfaces (particularly wetlands) and near-shore waters. He has conducted work on a broad range of microbial systems including microphytobenthic communities, epiphytic microalgae, benthic bacterial communities, bacterioplankton, and phytoplankton. The land-water interface is an area of intensive biogeochemical cycling and trophic interactions involving microorganisms. It is also an area of extensive human activity, making the interactions of pollutants and native microbial communities in the land-water interface a significant issue in developed coastal environments.

Piehler took the lead on CSI's Estuarine Ecology and Human Health Program in 2004. In this role, he works to bring together scientists from a broad array of disciplines to find solutions to the complex issues facing coastal North Carolina. Together, these teams provide unbiased information to individuals, policy makers, government agencies and businesses.

He also has a joint appointment as an Assistant Professor at UNC Chapel Hill's Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, where he contributes to teaching a course on Human Impacts on Estuarine Processes and guest lectures at other UNC-IMS courses, Duke University Marine Laboratory and North Carolina State University's College of Marine Science and Technology.

Current Projects
Reassessing prey availability for river herring in the Chowan River Basin. Funded by NC Sea Grant Fisheries Resource Grant, Lead Principal Investigator.

Cycling of nitrogen in Lake George, FL sediments. Funded by St. Johns River Water Management District, Lead Principal Investigator.

Collaborative Research: Linking hydrogeomorphology and denitrification in the tidal freshwater region of coastal streams. Funded by National Science Foundation, Principal Investigator.

Sustainable Estuarine Shoreline Stabilization: Research, Education and Public Policy in NC. Funded by Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, Co-Principal Investigator.

Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program. Funded by Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, Co-Principal Investigator.

Monitoring, prioritization, and assessment of ocean outfalls of stormwater in Dare Co., NC. Funded by NC DENR, Co-Principal Investigator.

SLR2005: Modeling estuarine habitat response to rising water level. Funded by NOAA Ecological effects of Sea Level Rise Program, Co-Principal Investigator.

Integrating values and science to make decisions about restoring oysters in North Carolina, USA. Funded by UNC Water Resources Research institute, Co-Principal Investigator.

Publications
McMillan, S.K., M.F. Piehler, S.P. Thompson and H.W. Paerl. 2009. Denitrification of nitrogen released from senescing algal biomass in coastal agricultural headwater streams. In press, Journal of Environmental Quality.

Piehler, M.F., J. Dyble, P.H. Moisander, A.D. Chapman, J. Hendrickson and H.W. Paerl. 2009. Interactions between nitrogen dynamics and the phytoplankton community in Lake George, Florida, USA. Lake and Reservoir Management, 25:1-14.

O’Connor, M.I., M.F. Piehler, D.M. Leech, A. Anton, and J.F. Bruno. 2009. Warming and resource availability shift food web structure and metabolism. PLoS Biology 7(8): e1000178. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000178.

Waters, M.N., M. F. Piehler, A.B. Rodriguez, J.M. Smoak and T.S. Bianchi. 2009. Shallow lake trophic status linked to late-Holocene climate and human impacts. Paleolimnology 42:51-64.

Piehler, M.F. 2008. Watershed management strategies to prevent and control cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 619:259-274.

Ensign, S.H., M.F. Piehler, and M.W. Doyle. 2008. Riparian zone denitrification affects nitrogen flux through a tidal freshwater river. Biogeochemistry 91:133–150.

Peterson, C.H., K.W. Able, C. Frieswyk DeJong, M.F. Piehler, C.A. Simenstad, and J.B.Zedler. 2008. Practical proxies for tidal marsh ecosystem services. Advances in Marine Biology 54:221-266.

Paerl, H.W. and M.F. Piehler. 2008. Nitrogen and Marine Eutrophication. In, D.G, Capone, M. Mulholland and E. Carpenter (Eds.). Nitrogen in the Marine Environment, Vol. 2. Academic Press, Orlando.

Peterson, C.H., R.T. Barber, K.L. Cottingham, H.K. Lotze, C.A. Simenstad, R.R. Christian, M.F. Piehler, and J. Wilson. 2008. National Estuaries, Chapter 7. In (S. Julius, and J. West, eds.) SAP4.4 Adaptive options for climate-sensitive ecosystems and resources, U.S. EPA Global Climate Change Research Office, Washington, DC. 108 pp.

Perovich, G, Q. Dortch, J. Goodrich, P.S. Berger, J. Brooks, T.J. Evens, C.J. Gobler, J. Graham, J. Hyde, D. Karner, D. O’Shea, V. Paul, H. Paerl, M. Piehler, B. Rosen, M. Santelmann, P. Tester and J. Westrick. 2008. Cyanobacterial blooms: Causes, prevention and mitigation.   Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 619:185-216.

Ensign, SH SK McMillan, SP Thompson and MF Piehler. 2006. Nitrogen and phosphorus attenuation within the stream network of a coastal, agricultural watershed. Journal of Environmental Quality 35:1237-1247.

Valdes-Weaver, LM, MF Piehler, JLPinckney, KE Howe, K Rossignol and HW Paerl. 2006.   Long-term temporal and spatial patterns of phytoplankton community structure in a hydrologically variable estuarine continuum: the Neuse River Estuary-Pamlico Sound, NC, USA. Limnology and Oceanography 51:1410-1420.