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: mpiehler@email.unc.edu
Lab web page: http://www.unc.edu/~mpiehler/

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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
Lead Principal Investigator-Attenuation of non-point source nitrogen pollution in a coastal watershed, (1/03-present) In partnership with S Whalen , L Band and H Paerl (UNC CH). Funded by US Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Principal Investigator-- Multiple nitrogen utilization strategies and phytoplankton species diversity (3/05-present). In partnership with H Paerl and R Noble (UNC CH) and P Moisander (UC Santa Cruz). Funded by the National Science Foundation.

Co-Principal Investigator--Eutrophication and trophic transfer in the Neuse River Estuary: Dynamics of nutrients and phytoplankton at the chlorophyll a maximum (6/04-present). In partnership with H Paerl (UNC-CH). Funded by North Carolina Sea Grant.

Lead Principal Investigator - Effects of tidal flow on riparian zone hydraulics and nitrogen dynamics (begins 8/05). In partnership with M Doyle and S Ensign (UNC-CH). Funded by UNC Water Resources Research Institute.

Co-Principal Investigator - SLR2005: Modeling estuarine habitat response to rising water level (begins 6/05). In partnership with C Peterson, R Luettich and C Buzzelli (UNC CH). Funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Publications
Paerl, HW, MF Piehler LM Valdes, J Dyble, PH Moisander, JL Pinckney and TF Steppe. 2005. Determining anthropogenic and climatically-induced change in aquatic ecosystems using microbial indicators: An integrative approach. Proceedings of the International Limnological Society, in press.

Paerl, HW, LM Valdes, MF Piehler and CA Stow . 2005. Evaluating long-term estuarine water quality trends in the Neuse River Estuary, NC USA to differentiate nutrient management from climatic change. Environmental Management, in press.

Twomey, LJ, MF Piehler and HW Paerl. 2005. Phytoplankton uptake of ammonium, nitrate and urea in the Neuse River Estuary, NC, . Hydrobiologia 533: 123-134.

Piehler, MF, LJ Twomey, NS Hall and HW Paerl. 2004. Impacts of inorganic nutrient enrichment on the phytoplankton community structure and function in Pamlico Sound, NC . Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 61(2) 197-209.

Paerl, H.W., J. Dyble, J.L. Pinckney, L.M. Valdes, D.F. Millie, P.H. Moisander, J.T. Morris, B. Bendis, and M.F. Piehler. 2004. Using microalgal indicators to assess human and climatically induced ecological change in estuaries. Estuarine Indicators, Bartone (Ed). CRC Press, Boca Raton.

Paerl, H.W., L. M. Valdes, A.R. Joyner, M. F. Piehler and M.E. Lebo. 2004. Solving problems resulting from solutions: The evolution of a dual nutrient management strategy for the eutrophying Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, . Environmental Science and Technology 38: 3068-3073.

Piehler, MF, V. Winkelmann, LJ Twomey, NS Hall, CA Currin and HW Paerl. 2003. Impacts of diesel fuel exposure on the microphytobenthos of an intertidal sandflat. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 297(2): 217-235.

Poe, AC, MF Piehler, SP Thompson and HW Paerl. 2003. Denitrification in a constructed wetland receiving agricultural runoff. Wetlands 23(4) 817-826.

Paerl, HW, J Dyble, PH Moisander, RT Noble, MF Piehler, JL Pinckney, TF Steppe, LJ Twomey and LM Valdes. 2003. Microbial Indicators of Aquatic Ecosystem Change: Current Applications to Eutrophication Studies. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 1561: 1-14.

Paerl, HW, LM Valdes, JL Pinckney, MF Piehler, PH Moisander and J Dyble. 2003. Microalgae as indicators of estuarine and coastal ecological change. Bioscience 53(10):953-964.