Profile: Steve Johnson, Ph.D

Steve has a broad background in ecology and wildlife biology. He received his doctorate from UMass Amherst in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, studying vocal learning and syntax in the American Robin, site fidelity in Sedge Wrens, and soil characteristics of nesting sites of Bank Swallows along the Connecticut River.

Steve’s research interests have taken him from the prairie potholes of the Midwest where he studied Sedge Wrens, to the Galapagos where he assisted in a long-term project on Darwin’s Finches, and back to New England where he has conducted numerous surveys and studies on rare and state-listed birds, turtles, snakes, salamanders, freshwater mussels, dragonflies, and plants. He has also taught college courses in ornithology, animal behavior, marine ecology, wetland plant identification, plant morphology and taxonomy, and statistics.

Here are some examples of projects that Steve has led:

• Grasshopper Sparrows and other rare grassland birds
• Bog turtle monitoring
• Eastern box turtle surveys
• Wood turtle surveys
• Vernal pool surveys
• New England Bluet surveys
• Rare plant surveys on Mount Greylock, Massachusetts
• Plant inventories and research to provide baseline data to study the effects of recreation on plant communities, and the effects of water drawdown on wetland plant communities.
• Numerous ornithological surveys in Connecticut and Massachusetts