Sarah Johnson

Plant Community Ecology, Vegetation Monitoring, Lowland Forests, Rare Plant Ecology

Department of Botany
University of Wisconsin, Madison
(608) 265-2191
sejohnson7 at wisc.edu

Education
Research Interests
Publications and Reports
Manuscripts in Prep.
Teaching
Presentations

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Education

University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI), Ph.D. student in Botany, current

East Carolina University (Greenville, NC), M.S. Biology, 2004

Northland College (Ashland, WI), B.S. Biology, 2002

Research Interests

We are fortunate to have available to us the legacy data set of John Curtis and his students, which consists of data on vegetation composition at >1000 sites sampled throughout Wisconsin and the surrounding region in the 1940s and ‘50s (see research page). For my dissertation research, I am resurveying the under- and over-story vegetation of floodplain and bottomland hardwood forests in Wisconsin to assess 50-year changes in species composition and structure. I also have begun to compile a broad set of functional traits (i.e., life history, morphology, digestibility, etc.) for the most common bottomland forest species observed in the 1950s and in 2007 (see list of species and traits). By taking a hierarchical approach to exploring the linkages among plant functional traits, environmental site characteristics, and surrounding landscape features, we may better infer factors driving species colonization, persistence, and extinctions across the region.

Academic-agency collaborations have been an important aspect to my research and education. I recently collaborated with the Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network to design a protocol for long-term monitoring of terrestrial vegetation that they have begun to implement in nine National Parks in the region. For more information, visit our Ecological Monitoring Research page.

I also maintain an interest in rare plant ecology, which stems from childhood orchid hunts in Mississippi, rare plant monitoring as part of a summer job at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin, and combing beaches on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a rare dune plant. Specifically, I have an interest in the interacting biotic and abiotic factors associated with the distribution of plants living in disturbed and stressful environments. For my Master’s research, I studied the effects of competition on the federally threatened Amaranthus pumilus (seabeach amaranth), a dune annual that is endemic to the Atlantic Coast.

Publications and Reports

Mudrak, E. L., S. E. Johnson and D. M. Waller. Forty-seven year changes in vegetation at the Apostle Island: Effects of deer on forest understory. Natural Areas Journal. In press.

Johnson, S.E., E.L. Mudrak, E.A. Beever, S. Sanders, and D.M. Waller. Comparing power among three sampling methods for monitoring forest vegetation. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 38: 143-156.

Sanders, S., S.E. Johnson, and D.M. Waller. 2006. General vegetation monitoring protocol for the Great Lakes Network, Version 1.0. National Park Service, Great Lakes Network, Ashland, Wisconsin.

Johnson, S.E., D.M. Waller, S. Sanders, and E. A. Beever. 2006. Standard operating procedure #14 Data Summary and Analysis. In General vegetation monitoring protocol for the Great Lakes Network, Version 1.0. National Park Service, Great Lakes Network, Ashland, Wisconsin.

Johnson, S.E., E.L. Mudrak, and D.M. Waller. 2006. A comparison of sampling methodologies for long-term forest vegetation monitoring in the Great Lakes Network National Parks. National Park Service, Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network, Ashland, WI. Technical Report: GLKN/2006/03. 140 pp.

Jolls, C.L., J.D. Sellars, Johnson, S.E., and C.A. Wigent. 2004. Restore seabeach amaranth: A federally threatened species habitat assessment and restoration of Amaranthus pumilus (Amaranthaceae) Using Remote Sensing Data. National Park Service Final Report.
NRPP CAHA-N-018.000. Outer Banks Group, Manteo, North Carolina. 112 pp.

Teaching

Teaching Assistantship, ZOO-151, Biology Lab and Discussion, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fall 2005.
Visiting Instructor, BIOL-2251, Ecology Lab, Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Spring Semester 2005.
Teaching Assistantship, BIOL-2251, Ecology Lab, East Carolina University, 2002-2004.

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Presentations

Johnson, S.E., E.L. Mudrak, and D.M. Waller. 2006. Monitoring vegetation change in Great Lakes region National Parks. Natural Areas Association Conference, Flagstaff, AZ.
Johnson, S.E., E.L. Mudrak, D.M. Waller, and D.A. Rogers. 2006. Monitoring vegetation change in the Great Lakes region. Western Great Lakes Research Conference, Ashland, WI.
Johnson, S.E., and C.L. Jolls. 2006. An assessment of the role of competition on the beach as a factor in the distribution of Amaranthus pumilus Raf. (Amaranthaceae). Southeastern Biology 52: 169 (Association of Southeastern Biologists meeting).
- Honorable Mention, ASB Student Research Award
Johnson, S.E., and C.L. Jolls. 2005. The effects of competition on the threatened dune annual, Amaranthus pumilus Raf. (Amaranthaceae). Southeastern Biology 52: 169 (Association of Southeastern Biologists meeting).
- Eugene P. Odum Award issued by SE Chapter of Ecological Society of America for best botany presentation
- SE chapter of Botanical Society of America award for best botany presentation
- North Carolina Botanical Garden Award for best presentation concerning conservation of a southeastern plant
Johnson, S.E., C.L. Jolls, and C.A. Wigent. 2004. Success of the federally threatened seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus Raf.) at two elevations. Southeastern Biology 51: 148 (Association of Southeastern Biologists meeting).
- North Carolina Botanical Garden Award for best presentation concerning conservation of a southeastern plant
- Association of Southeastern Biologists Student Travel Support Award


2007 Field Crew!	View of MS River from a Goat Prairie	Avon Bottoms	2005 Field Crew! Sand Island, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Sarah Johnsin, a big deer, Jonathan Bauer, & Tom Kleist			Top: Darian Kath, Sarah Johnson; Bottom: Dan Olson, Joshua Sulman