Dr. Tracy N. Wiegner

Awards

Excellence in Scholarly Creative Activities Award, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, 2019

Research Interests

I am an aquatic biogeochemist whose interest lies in assessing the impact of human activities on freshwater and coastal water quality. I am specifically interested in the relative importance of inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) to environmental problems such as eutrophication, as well as their biological and chemical roles in the natural environment. More recently, my research has focused on documenting temporal and spatial patterns of sewage pollution using fecal indicator bacteria, stable isotopes, nutrients, and dye tracer studies. I've also been examining concentration distributions of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium that causes serious skin infections, in coastal waters to see if they are related to sewage pollution, other water quality parameters, or environmental conditions.

Website updated: October 2020