Rate My Professor Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Plant Ecophysiology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas, joining the faculty in the fall of 2024. She earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University in 2014 and her B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College in 2005. Prior to her appointment at KU, Johnson served as a researcher in the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, where she collaborated closely with mentors Joseph A. Berry and Christopher B. Field. Her academic trajectory has been dedicated to bridging physiological processes with broader ecological and Earth system dynamics.

Johnson's research specializes in photosynthesis, respiration, ecophysiology, biosphere-atmosphere interactions, and Earth system modeling. Her work investigates the scaling of these physiological processes from molecular mechanisms to global patterns, utilizing chlorophyll fluorescence signals measurable via satellites to monitor photosynthetic productivity and health across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. She addresses key questions about how environmental resources and stressors influence spatiotemporal variability in photosynthesis and respiration, with direct applications to carbon cycling, food security, and ecosystem services. Representative publications include "The role of Cytochrome b6f in the control of steady-state photosynthesis: a conceptual and quantitative model" (Photosynthesis Research, 2021, with J. A. Berry), "The limiting factors and regulatory processes that control the environmental responses of C3, C3-C4 intermediate, and C4 photosynthesis" (2021), and "The influence of leaf-atmosphere NH3(g) exchange on nitrogen deposition to Europe" (Plant, Cell & Environment, 2013). At KU, Johnson launched a new version of BIOL 606: Ecological Plant Physiology, emphasizing scaling from fine physiological levels to planetary ecology. Her integrative ecophysiology approach connects diverse biological disciplines, enhancing predictions of the Earth's biosphere "breathing."