Breadcrumb
Matthew Johnson
Professor
Areas of Interest
Habitat Ecology...a unifying theme
I am fascinated by all aspects of wildlife Habitat Ecology - from the theoretical to the practical. Habitat ecology is the study of how animals interact with their habitats, which my lab investigates by identifying animals' critical resources and the factors that constrain their use. Such studies advance our ecological understanding and refine our conservation and management efforts. I purposefully work with a variety of taxa to better understand emergent relationships between animals and their habitats. Therefore, students in my lab work on a diversity of study systems, yet share a unified focus on habitat.
Research Focus
- Ph.D. Ecology, Tulane University, 1999
- B.S. Wildlife Biology, UC Davis, 1992
SCI 100 - Becoming a STEM professional in the 21st century
WLDF 309 - Case Studies in Environmental Ethics
WLDF 311 - Wildlife Techniques & Scientific Method
WLDF 365 - Ornithology
WLDF 431 - Upland Habitat Ecology
WLDF 531 - Advanced Habitat Ecology
WLDF 585 - Graduate Seminar
- 2007 Johnson, M.D. Measuring habitat quality: a review. Condor 109:489-504 PDF
- 2011 Wenny, D., T.L. DeVault, M.D. Johnson, D. Kelly, C.H. Sekercioglu, D.F. Tomback, and C.J. Whelan. The need to quantify ecosystem services provided by birds. Auk 128: 1-14. PDF
- 2001 Johnson, M.D. and T.W. Sherry. Effects of food availability on the distribution of migratory warblers among habitats in Jamaica, West Indies. Journal of Animal Ecology 70:546-560 PDF
- 2008 Kellermann, J.L., M.D. Johnson, A.M. Stercho, and S. Hackett. Ecological and economic services provided by birds on Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee farms. Conservation Biology 22:1177-1185 PDF
- 2006 Johnson, M.D., T.W. Sherry, R.T. Holmes, and P.P Marra. Assessing habitat quality for a migratory songbird wintering in natural and agricultural habitats. Conservation Biology 20:1433-1444. PDF
Current Students
| Name | Thesis | Graduation Year |
|---|---|---|
| Christian Cortez | Physiological conditions of barn owl (Tyto furcata) nestlings as indicators of habitat quality within the wine-growing region of Napa Valley | |
| Dabid Garcia | Testing Vegetation Composition as a Predictor of Soil Organic Carbon on Working lands in California Using a Voluntary Monitoring Network | |
| Ximena Gil | Do rangeland management practices incentivized by California's Healthy Soils Program confer co-benefits for both birds and ranchers? | |
| Lauren Jackson | How does personality influence the hunting behavior and potential for ecosystem services provided by barn owls in an agroecosystem? | |
| Fatime Jomaa | The use of social information for prospecting and nest site selection by Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) | |
| Eleanor MacDonald | Examining the effects of songbird nest boxes on ecosystem services and avian community composition in Napa Valley vineyards | |
| Elizabeth Meisman | Testing Adaptive Flexibility in Breeding Swainson’s Hawk Territory Habitat Selection | |
| Jadzia Rodriguez | Effects of vegetation on the behavior of hunting barn owls (Tyto furcata) and their prey | |
| Tiana Williams-Claussen | A Case Study in Integrating Federal, Tribal, and State Legislation to Support Northern California Condor Restoration | |
| D. Mac Wilson | Bird, bee, and bat community composition on licensed cannabis farms in Humboldt County, California and responses to hedgerow habitat enhancements |