Dan L. Johnson
BSc (High Hon), U.Sask.; MSc, PhD, UBC
Professor of Environmental Science,
Canada Research Chair in
Sustainable Grassland Ecosystems

dan.johnson@uleth.ca

Environmental Science Program, Department of Geography
University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive West,
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 3M4.
Office WESB1020: (403) 329-2040; Lab WESB1020 317-5056
Fax: (403) 332-4039; Dept Administrative Assistant:
Margaret Cook, 329-2225. WESB, Dana Andrei, 332-4040

The Department of Geography includes researchers and instructors in earth science, social geography, remote sensing, ecology, biogeography and agriculture, united by interests in landscape themes and spatial analysis.

Research program description
Environmental safety for wildlife, soil, water and food; Ecological agriculture; Biopesticides as alternatives in crop and grassland management; Ecology and biometeorology modelling and experimentation; Sustainability under changing climate and development; Sustainable agriculture programs and tools for North America, Africa, Asia; Plant and animal ecology, movement and dynamics; Alternative energy and waste management; Population modeling; Forecasting the impacts of weather and climate on the distribution and abundance of life.

Location: Alberta Water and Environmental Science Building (completed Nov, 2008)

The University of Lethbridge is in the Oldman River valley.

Current graduate student research:
Rob Sonnenberg, The development of an aquatic community in a reclaimed alpine mine pit lake.
Funded by Alberta Conservation Association.

Paul Irvine, Development of improved mathematical models of weather-related spring events, including insect emergence and development. Funded by AAFC Pesticide Risk Reduction Program, Pest Management Centre, Ottawa, and Pulse Canada.

Chien Yang, Factors affecting rate and quantity of natural gas generated from urban waste, in collaboration with the City of Lethbridge Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Wonnita Andrus, Ecology and Conservation of Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis viridis) in Relation to Movement in a Fragmented Urban Environment.

Previous MSc students:

Susan Entz

Meg McCluskie

Luke Powell (University of Guelph)

New Graduate Student Positions Open in 2009:

1. Insect pathology and biological control, for reductions in pesticide use
2. Grassland ecology and sustainability

Link: School of Graduate Studies

Technical support:
Patrick Chan (2009, pesticide risk reduction research). In memoriam. Patrick (Chi Ho) Chan

Principal research topics in this lab:
- replacements for pesticides, to protect soil and water
- development of healthy ecosystems in coalmine pit lakes
- aquatic insects and factors that affect them
- ecologically sustainable agriculture
- wastewater and environmentally sustainable applications
- sustainable grasslands (dry mixed grass, fescue, and montane environments)
- climate and future conditions in Alberta ecosystems
- threatened and invasive species
- statistical methods

News on developments in the biopesticide program:

journal article on-line: discovery of a naturally occurring microbe (a strain of Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae) in Canadian soil that is capable of non-chemical control of insect pests, even under warm conditions. Summary of recent progress.

Funding:
Alberta Conservation Association
AAFC Pesticide Risk Reduction Program, Pest Management Centre
Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Canada Research Chairs
Department of National Defence, Canada (environmentally sustainable grassland insect control)
NSERC
Pulse Canada
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers

 

TEACHING

Fall, 2009 (Sept - Dec)
GEOG 2700. Geographical Data Analysis, Outline:

Spring 2009 (Jan-Apr)
STAT3850, Design and Analysis of Experiments (undergraduate), Outline:
STAT5850, Design and Analysis of Experiments (graduate students), Outline:
STAT 3850 Lab and Tutorial
ENVS4000, Sustainable Development and the Environment, Outline:

Spring, 2008
STAT3850, Design and Analysis of Experiments (undergraduate), Outline:
STAT5850, Design and Analysis of Experiments (graduate students), Outline:
STAT 3850 Lab and Tutorial
ENVS4000, Environmental Impacts, Outline:

Fall, 2008
I will not be teaching Biogeography this fall (taking a break after a decade of teaching this class)

Spring, 2007
ENVS4000, Impacts of Climate Change, Outline:

Fall, 2007
GEOG 3850, Biogeography (and Methods in Biogeography Lab/Tutorial), Outline:

Spring 2006
ENVS4000, Ecosystem Monitoring, Outline:

Fall, 2006
ENVS500, Environmental Science for the First Nations Transition Program
GEOG3850, Biogeography (and Methods in Biogeography Lab/Tutorial)

Spring 2005
ENVS4000, Agroecosystems, Outline:

Fall, 2005
ENVS500, Environmental Science for the Native Transition Program
GEOG3850, Biogeography (and Methods in Biogeography Lab/Tutorial)

	News item: recommended book
	Climate Cover-Up. The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by James Hoggan, with Richard Littlemore http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-cover-up

Information on hiking to see the famous invertebrate fossils at the Burgess Shale.

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On The Origin of Species".

Click here for a view of a model of the HMS Beagle that took Darwin around the world:

 

 

Now Available, Canada in a Changing Climate:

Sauchyn, D., Kulshreshtha, S., Barrow, E., Blair, D., Byrne, J., Davidson, D., Diaz, P., Henderson, N., Johnson, D., Johnston, M., Kienzle, S., Klaver, J., Thorpe, J., and Wheaton, E. 2008. The Prairies; in From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, edited by D.S. Lemmen, F.J. Warren, J., Lacroix and E. Bush; Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON.

 

 

Recent endangered species survey:

Do you have Yucca plants in Canada that produced fruit this year or in previous years? Or, do you have Yucca that produced flowers and no fruit? Help our survey by sending the information to dan.johnson@uleth.ca. The Yucca plant (also called soapweed) is pollinated only by the Yucca moth. Alberta has a Recovery Plan for the Yucca moth. We would like to know whether they are distributed widely, and the best way is to map where Yucca produces fruit or not.

Some related good news: a pod showing evidence of pollination by the yucca moth was recently found at the Pinhorn Grazing Reserve:

General Research Program and Interests

Biocontrol and sustainable agriculture, including environmentally sustainable methods (biological, microbial, integrated) of crop protection

Grassland microbe-insect-plant-bird interactions (e.g., food webs)

Impacts of disturbance (toxins, weather, invasion, fire, pest control)

Forecasting abundance, movement, phenology, range changes, invasions of arthropods and plants

Watershed ecosystems; Species at risk; Landscape-level impacts; Sustainable waste management

Anticipating and preventing unintended effects of contaminants in the environment

Effects of climate variability and development on organisms and health in semi-arid ecosystems

Food relationships, biodiversity, ecotoxicology, system linkages, resilience, impacts

Aquatic and terrestrial communities; diversity, ecotoxicology, land-water linkages

Post-glacial grassland, foothills, montane and alpine landscapes, ecology and biodiversity

Grassland, foothills and montane ecology, history and classification

Pollination; Soil biology; Insect outbreaks

Ecological methods; applications to terrestrial, riparian, aquatic and edaphic systems

Support for sustainable environmental economics; ecological knowledge, management and policy

 

Example Photos from IRF Project #168, Assessment of Grassland Management and Restoration Practices on the Availability and Quality of Insects as Food for Grassland Species at Risk

Part 1: land, insects and methods
Part 2: examples of method used in the project
Part 3: general interest photos of insect prey being consumed

Species at risk summary: Burrowing Owl;
Recovery Team, and more about Burrowing Owls

 

15th Annual H. R. MacCarthy Pest Management Lecture:
"The need for longitudinal study of the dual roles of insects as pests and food resources in agroecosystems"

USDA: ecotoxicology and environmental side effects of insecticides

Book available: Microbial control of grasshoppers and locusts.
Published by the Entomological Society of Canada. $35.00
[list of section titles, and order form]

At right, I'm holding an African grasshopper, Kraussaria angulifera (5th-instar female), killed by naturally occurring Sorosporella, a fungus.

This disease agent was common in northern Mali in 1989. I was there to conduct field tests with a protozoan biocontrol agent, Nosema locustae, but this fungus occurred naturally.

1) Are you looking for the page on " Recognizing grasshoppers" ,

2) or the Kids' grasshopper page: ?   click me

3) Spring Grasshopper Identification Guide

Canadian Geographic "CG Kids Animal of the Month"

 

In memory of team member Patrick Chan

 

In memory of team member Shane M. Clark (1973-2005)

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