Stephen Johnson
Stephen Johnson
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan
About me
As a kid, from gardening and hiking to wondering how budding too early in spring might hurt trees, I’ve always been fascinated with nature. I recently defended my dissertation as part of the Franks lab at Fordham University, and am not a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan with Dr. Regina Baucom.
Dissertation research
1) How does field mustard respond to experimental drought?
2) How parallel are evolutionary responses to drought in field mustard?
3) Can rapid-cycling field mustard adapt to drought, and how?
1) How does field mustard respond to experimental drought?
I am currently studying adaptation to experimental drought using field mustard, an annual of the mustard family. I use the resurrection approach to grow ancestor and drought populations concurrently and directly examine evolutionary shifts.
I have also sequenced DNA from descendant and ancestral field mustard populations and am investigating the genetics behind responses to drought. Photo credit Medha Pandey.
2) How parallel are evolutionary responses to drought in field mustard?
Parallel evolution is the evolution of similar characteristics in response to selection. I’m exploring weather populations respond to drought in parallel using field mustard. If evolutionary responses occur in parallel, then responses to climate may be predictable under certain circumstances.
3) Can rapid-cycling field mustard adapt to drought, and how?
Rapid-cycling field mustard has been established by artificial selection for early flowering. Because rapid-cycling field mustard already flowers extremely early, it is not clear whether it can adapt to drought. I am examining this through experimental evolution.
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