Nancy Collins Johnson

Johnson studied biology at the University of Minnesota. She moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison for her graduate studies, where she majored in botany. She became interested in mutualistic symbiosis, and was encouraged by Michael Adams to explore mycorrhiza. Whilst in Wisconsin, Johnson had the opportunity to research arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM).{{Cite thesis|title=The role of vesticular-arbuscular mycorrhizae in the reclamation of taconite mine tailings|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13298192|date=1985|language=en|first=Nancy Collins|last=Johnson|oclc=13298192 }} Whilst she initially struggled to characterise the fungi she had collected from the Jackson County Iron mine, she eventually worked with Mike Miller at the Argonne National Laboratory.{{Cite web|last=harisridhar|date=2020-09-27|title=Revisiting Johnson 1993|url=https://reflectionsonpaperspast.wordpress.com/2020/09/27/revisiting-johnson-1993/|access-date=2020-11-25|website=Reflections on Papers Past|language=en}} After graduating, Johnson returned to the University of Minnesota, where she started her doctoral studies with G. David Tilman. Her doctoral research considered the regulation of mycorrhizae and impact of fertilisers. She studied the mycorrhizae in the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. In 1993 Johnson showed that fertilisation of soil created AM fungal communities that are 'inferior mutualists'.{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Nancy Collins|date=1993|title=Can Fertilization of Soil Select Less Mutualistic Mycorrhizae?|url=https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1942106|journal=Ecological Applications|language=en|volume=3|issue=4|pages=749–757|doi=10.2307/1942106|jstor=1942106 |pmid=27759303 |bibcode=1993EcoAp...3..749J |issn=1939-5582|url-access=subscription}} Johnson continued to collaborate with her early advisor Mike Miller throughout her career, investigating the function of mycorrhizae.{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Nancy Collins|date=2010|title=Resource stoichiometry elucidates the structure and function of arbuscular mycorrhizas across scales|journal=New Phytologist|language=en|volume=185|issue=3|pages=631–647|doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03110.x|pmid=19968797 |issn=1469-8137|doi-access=free}} She was awarded an National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in 1994.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Johnson started her independent scientific career at the Northern Arizona University, where she was made Regents' Professor in 2016. She spent 2003 as a Fulbright Program Research Fellow in Lund University and 2011 a Fulbright Program Fellow at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. She has applied her comprehensive understanding of AM fungi to sorghum crops.{{Cite web|last=Mann|first=Allyson|date=2020-11-13|title=Digging into the plant and microbe relationship|url=https://news.uga.edu/digging-into-plant-microbe-relationship/|access-date=2020-11-25|website=UGA Today|language=en-US}}

In 2020 Johnson took a sabbatical, and was awarded a Bullard Fellowship in the Harvard Forest. Her research proposal involved a comparative study of microbiomes of AM symbioses.

• 2008 co-chair of the International Society of Mycorrhizas{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://in.nau.edu/icom8/about/|access-date=2020-11-25|website=International Conference on Mycorrhiza|language=en-US}}
• 2013 Elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America{{Cite web|title=ESA Fellows – The Ecological Society of America|url=https://www.esa.org/programs/fellows-program/esa-fellows/|access-date=2020-11-25|language=en-US}}
• 2018 Ecological Society of America Deborah A. Neher Career Award{{Cite web|title=Awards – Soil Ecology|url=https://www.esa.org/soilecology/awards/|access-date=2020-11-25|language=en-US}}
• 2020 Elected Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science{{Cite web|title=AAAS Announces Leading Scientists Elected as 2020 Fellows {{!}} American Association for the Advancement of Science|url=https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-announces-leading-scientists-elected-2020-fellows|access-date=2020-11-25|website=www.aaas.org|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=NAU researchers Nancy Johnson and Laura Huenneke elected as 2020 AAAS Fellows – NAU News|url=https://news.nau.edu/johnson-huenneke-aaas/|access-date=2020-11-25|language=en-US}}

• {{Cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=N. C.|last2=Graham|first2=J. H.|last3=Smith|first3=F. A.|date=1997|title=Functioning of mycorrhizal associations along the mutualism–parasitism continuum|journal=The New Phytologist|language=en|volume=135|issue=4|pages=575–585|doi=10.1046/j.1469-8137.1997.00729.x|issn=1469-8137|doi-access=free}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Moore|first1=John C.|last2=Berlow|first2=Eric L.|last3=Coleman|first3=David C.|last4=Ruiter|first4=Peter C. de|last5=Dong|first5=Quan|last6=Hastings|first6=Alan|last7=Johnson|first7=Nancy Collins|last8=McCann|first8=Kevin S.|last9=Melville|first9=Kim|last10=Morin|first10=Peter J.|last11=Nadelhoffer|first11=Knute|date=2004|title=Detritus, trophic dynamics and biodiversity|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00606.x|journal=Ecology Letters|language=en|volume=7|issue=7|pages=584–600|doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00606.x|bibcode=2004EcolL...7..584M |issn=1461-0248|url-access=subscription}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Hoeksema|first1=Jason D.|last2=Chaudhary|first2=V. Bala|last3=Gehring|first3=Catherine A.|last4=Johnson|first4=Nancy Collins|last5=Karst|first5=Justine|last6=Koide|first6=Roger T.|last7=Pringle|first7=Anne|last8=Zabinski|first8=Catherine|last9=Bever|first9=James D.|last10=Moore|first10=John C.|last11=Wilson|first11=Gail W. T.|date=2010|title=A meta-analysis of context-dependency in plant response to inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi|journal=Ecology Letters|language=en|volume=13|issue=3|pages=394–407|doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01430.x|pmid=20100237 |issn=1461-0248|doi-access=free|bibcode=2010EcolL..13..394H }}

Johnson has two children, a daughter and a son.

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Category:American earth scientists

Category:American women earth scientists

Category:American Association for the Advancement of Science

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Category:Living people