Robert A. Johnson

Assistant Professor

he/him/his

robert.a.johnson@wisc.edu

608-265-9772

Birge Hall

Lab Page

Research

Aquatic Biology, Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Plant Behavior

Google Scholar

Research in my lab explores aquatic ecosystem ecology across both marine and freshwater environments, focusing on seagrasses and aquatic macrophytes. Combining observational field studies and manipulative experiments, we investigate how environmental stressors and disturbances shape the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems, with a focus on plant-sediment and plant-herbivore interactions. We are particularly interested in macrophyte responses to multiple, co-occurring stressors and how changes to macrophyte communities influence ecosystem processes, such as carbon and sulfur cycling and greenhouse gas production.

A photo of several rows of potted plants submerged underwater. — Seagrass plants being grown in a nursery as part of an experiment testing seagrass responses to co-occurring environmental stressors. (Photo: R. Johnson)

A close-up photo of a plastic tube and tray connected by bright orange rope nestled amongst underwater grasses in the sand. — A sediment trap used to measure rates of sediment deposition within a shallow seagrass meadow. (Photo: R. Johnson)

Education

PhD, Zoology, University of Florida, 2019
BS, Zoology & Conservation Biology, UW-Madison, 2010