Forest Entomology Group @ LSU

Todd D. Johnson, Ph.D.

Research Statement: I am a behavioral and chemical ecologist who uses laboratory bioassays and field experiments to ask fundamental and applied questions about trees, their herbivores, and the natural enemies of herbivorous insects in forest ecosystems. The central focus of my research program is to understand how environmental variation alters ecological interactions between insects and plants within a tri-trophic framework, informing management of insects that are beneficial or damaging to forest ecosystems.

While much of my published work has tended to focus on longhorned beetle chemical ecology and the biological control of the emerald ash borer, I am rather broadly interested in a number of topics in ecology and evolution. Currently, I am especially interested in developing and collaborating on projects within our group that incorporate foraging ecology and classical biological control, predator-prey interactions in forest ecosystems (especially those that focus on ants and harvestman), and how the phytochemical landscape structures plant-insect interactions.

Below is a list (in no particular order) of other research questions or areas of research I am open to advising students or collaborating on, with a focus on plants and insects that occur in forest ecosystems.

Research Areas of Interest: Direct and indirect plant defense (especially in broadleaved trees), biological control, global change, insect semiochemicals, diffuse selective pressures, the phytochemical landscape, the geographic mosaic of co-evolution, foraging ecology, multi-modal cues, parasitoids, woodboring insects, mimicry, reproductive ecology, oviposition and insect eggs, community ecology, machine learning, computer vision, predator-prey interactions, top-down and bottom-up effects.

My Curriculum Vitae - Last Updated 16 January 2025

CV TDJ 16Jan25.docx

Background and Research Approaches

I am a firm believer that our personal and professional experiences are highly influential to the research questions we ask, and our approach to asking them. Thus, below are some slides that give some more background about me and some of the approaches I employ in my research.

My academic journey 14Oct24.pptx