Hans Paerl

Distinguished Professor

Paerl Lab

Education

Ph.D., University of California-Davis, 1973
B.S. Biological Sciences, Univ. of Calif., Davis 1969
A.A. Biological Sciences, College of San Mateo, CA 1967

Research Interests

Hans Paerl’s collaborative research addresses microbially-mediated nutrient cycling and primary production dynamics, environmental controls and management of harmful algal (specifically cyanobacterial) blooms and their toxins, and assessing effects of human and climatic alterations of water quality and sustainability of inland, estuarine and coastal marine waters in the US and globally (see: https://paerllab.web.unc.edu/research/).

Research and Activities

Research addresses microbially-mediated nutrient cycling and primary production dynamics, environmental controls and management of harmful algal (specifically cyanobacterial) blooms and their toxins, and assessing effects of human and climatic alterations of water quality and sustainability of inland, estuarine and coastal marine waters in the US and globally has published over 300 peer reviewed articles and book chapters on these subjects. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, EPA, NIH, NOAA/NC Sea Grant, USDA, The NC Water Resources Research Institute, various State environmental agencies and private foundations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Science and Technology and the Netherlands Academy of Sciences. He also manages several estuarine water quality monitoring and assessment programs, including the Neuse River Estuary (NC) Modeling and Monitoring Program, ModMon  and the Ferry-based Water Quality Monitoring Program for the Pamlico Sound System, FerryMon.

Selected Publications

Paerl, H.W., N.S. Hall, A.G. Hounshell, K. L. Rossignol, M.A. Barnard, R.A. Luettich Jr., J.C. Rudolph, C.L. Osburn, J. Bales and L.W. Harding Jr. 2020. Recent increases of rainfall and flooding from tropical cyclones (TCs) in North Carolina (USA): Implications for organic matter and nutrient cycling in coastal watersheds. Biogeochemistry 150:197–216. doi.org/10.1007/s10533-020-00693-4. Gong, W., N.S. Hall, H.W. Paerl and A. Marchetti. 2020. Phytoplankton composition in a eutrophic estuary: Comparison of multiple taxonomic approaches and influence of environmental factors. Environmental Microbiology; doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15221. Chang, M., S. Teurlincx, J.H. Janse, H.W. Paerl, W.M. Mooij, and A.B.G. Janssen. 2020. Exploring how cyanobacterial traits affect critical nutrient loading in shallow lakes: a modelling approach. Water 12, 2467; doi:10.3390/w12092467. Plaas, H.E. and H.W. Paerl. 2020. Toxic Cyanobacteria: A Growing Threat to Water and Air Quality. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c06653 Paerl, H.W. 2020. Impacts of Climate Change on Cyanobacteria in Aquatic Environments. Pp. 1-36, In: Climate Change and Microbial Ecology: Current Research and Future Trends Vol. 2, J. Marxsen, ed. Caister Academic Press, Norfolk, UK. doi.org/10.21775/9781913652579.01. Paerl, R.W., E. Venezia, J.J. Sanchez, and H.W. Paerl. 2020. Picophytoplankton dynamics in a large temperate estuary: Impacts of extreme storm events. Nature Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79157-6 Barnard, M.A.; Chaffin, J.D.; Plaas, H.E.; Boyer, G.L.; Wei, B.; Wilhelm, S.W.; Rossignol, K.L.; Braddy, J.S.; Bullerjahn, G.S.; Bridgeman, T.B.; et al. 2021. Roles of Nutrient Limitation on Western Lake Erie CyanoHAB Toxin Production. Toxins 13, 47. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13010047 Asmala, E., C.L. Osburn, R.W. Paerl and H.W. Paerl. 2021. Elevated organic carbon pulses persist in estuarine environment after major storm events. Limnology and Oceanography Letters 6: 43–50 doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10169 Xu, H., M.J. McCarthy, H.W. Paerl, J.D. Brookes, G. Zhu, N.S. Hall, B.Qin, Y. Zhang M. Zhu, J.J. Hampel, S. E. Newell, and W.S. Gardner. 2021. Contributions of external nutrient loading and internal cycling to cyanobacterial bloom dynamics in Lake Taihu, China: Implications for nutrient management. Limnology and Oceanography doi: 10.1002/lno.11700. Christensen, N.L., P.A. Cunningham, K. Matthews, I.C. Anderson, M.J. Brush, S. Cohen, C.A. Currin, S. Ensign, N.S. Hall, P.N. Halpin, M.L. Kirwan, J.R. McNinch, H.W. Paerl, M.F. Piehler, A.B. Rodriguez, C.R. Tobias, and J.R. Walters. 2021. Ecosystem-Based Management for Military Training, Biodiversity, Carbon Storage and Climate Resiliency on a Complex Coastal Land/Water-scape. Journal of Environmental Management 280:111755 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111755. Duan, Z., X. Tan, H.W. Paerl, D.B Van de Waal. 2021. Ecological stoichiometry of functional traits in a colonial harmful cyanobacterium. Limnology and Oceanography, doi: 10.1002/lno.11744.archarch Katin, A., D. Del Giudice, N.S. Hall, H.W. Paerl, and D.R. Obenour. 2021. Simulating algal dynamics within a Bayesian framework to evaluate controls on estuary productivity. Ecological Modeling, 447:109497 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2021.109497 Paerl, H.W. and J.R. Crosswell. 2021. Expanding CERF’s Horizon: Synthesizing Human and Climatic Drivers of Change along the Freshwater to Marine Continuum. CERF’s Up! 47 No. 2 • June 2021.