Nathan Hall is a Research Assistant Professor at UNC Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences. His research seeks to understand the top down and bottom up drivers of phytoplankton biomass and community composition in lakes, rivers, and estuaries. He is particularly interested in how natural ecosystem characteristics such as residence time, grazer communities, and vertical mixing regimes interact with anthropogenic nutrient enrichment to determine bloomdynamics, and water quality conditions. He addresses these topics using a combination of experimental, observational and modeling approaches, and often the results have direct implications for managing water quality and aquatic habitat conditions. Recent studies have underscored the critical role of interactions between hydrological forcing and nutrient loading in determining phytoplankton biomass and community structure, including toxic harmful algal bloom species. Outside of work, Dr. Hall enjoys fishing, hunting, hiking, and boating; activities that make water quality and the health of North Carolina’s coastal habitats a very personal matter.  

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