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Dr. Erik Johanson
Associate Professor
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Ph.D. University of Tennessee, 2016
Additional:
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Profile
My research program examines the themes of environmental change and human-environment interaction across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Using field-based collection of sediment and water samples along with sediment cores, my group develops high-resolution environmental records through laboratory analyses of ecological and geochemical proxies. Modern research examines environmental hazards and pollutants in diverse systems, from tropical wetlands and lakes to alpine lakes and boreal peatlands, with a particular focus on microplastics, pollen, charcoal, isotopes, and elemental composition of sediments. These data are used to establish ecological baselines that support environmental management and improve predictions of future environmental change. A central component of my work focuses on using sedimentary archives to reconstruct past environments and inform present-day conditions based on a long-term perspective. Research topics include modern environmental hazards, historical ecology including fire and vegetation histories in the tropics, paleoclimate reconstructions, and analyzing past resilience strategies to climate stress. Research projects are often in collaboration with graduate and undergraduate researchers.
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Select Publications (* indicates advisee)
2025 Garzón-Oechsle*, Andrés E., Erik N. Johanson, Sudhagar Nagarajan and Valentina Martínez. In-Between the Sites: Understanding Late Holocene Manteño Agricultural Contexts in the Chongón-Colonche Mountains of Coastal Ecuador through Remote Sensing and Excavation. Journal of Field Archaeology, 49(2). DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2024.2439223.
2025 Horn, Sally P., Kurt A. Haberyan, Erik N. Johanson, Mauricio Murillo Herrera, Amanda Tomlinson, Chad S. Lane, Taber Friedel*, and Morgan R. Steckler. A 1500-year Paleolimnological Record from an Ancient Debris Avalanche Landscape in West Central Costa Rica. Journal of Physical Geography.
2024 Kathryn Swick*, Erik N. Johanson, and Xavier Comas. A multiproxy analysis of modern environmental change within a cypress swamp forest, Collier County, FL. Discover Environment 2, 39. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s44274-024-00065-x.
2024 Taber Friedel*, Erik N. Johanson, and Sally P. Horn. Post-Conquest Vegetation and Fire Dynamics at Laguna Carse, Costa Rica: A Pollen and Microscopic Charcoal Record. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-023-00981-7.
2023 Andrés Garzón-Oechsle*, Erik N. Johanson, and Valentina Martinez. The Bola de Oro Manteños and Their Resilience to Climate Change: chronological reconstruction of agricultural modifications through age-depth modelling and carbon abundance analysis. STRATA, Vol. 1 (2), 1–31. Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural - Ecuador. DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10246526.
2023 Madeleine Bitting*, Erik N. Johanson, Kurt Haberyan, and Sally P. Horn. Response of Diatom Communities to Climate and Human Disturbance: A 4200-year record from Costa Rica. The Holocene, 33(12), 1–13, DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836231197775.
2023 Sally P. Horn, Erik N. Johanson, Mauricio Murillo-Herrera, Kurt A. Haberyan, Taber Friedel* and Chad S. Lane. Initial Limnological Observations at Laguna Pozo Verde, Juan Castro Blanco National Park, Costa Rica. UNED Research Journal, Vol. 15(2), 1–6, DOI https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v15i2.4835.
2022 Yanuskiewicz, Elizabeth, Chad S. Lane, Sally P. Horn, Erik N. Johanson, Douglas W. Gamble. Compound-Specific Stable Carbon and Hydrogen Isotope Analyses of Late-Holocene Vegetation and Precipitation Change at Laguna Los Mangos, Costa Rica. Quaternary International, 1–11, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.08.018.
2020 Johanson, Erik N., Sally P. Horn, Chad S. Lane, Maureen Sánchez, Jacob Cecil. Fire History Across the Little Ice Age in Southern Pacific Costa Rica. Journal of Paleolimnology, 1–23, DOI 10.1007/s10933-020-00118-0.
2019 Johanson, Erik N., Sally P. Horn, Chad S. Lane. Pre-Columbian agriculture, fire, and Spanish contact: A 4200-year record from Laguna Los Mangos, Costa Rica. The Holocene, 1–15, DOI:10.1177/0959683619862032.
2018 Horn, Sally P., Erik N. Johanson, Kurt A. Haberyan, Matthew S. Boehm, Jessie L. Johanson, Maureen Sánchez P., and Mario Hernández V. Initial limnological observations at five small lakes in southern Pacific Costa Rica. UNED Research Journal, Vol. 10(1): 119-134.
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Teaching (Undergraduate)
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Teaching (Graduate)
Pollen in the Neotropics (Directed Independent Study)
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Select Media Coverage
Meltdown, A More Sustainable Way Forward for South Florida (Palm Beach Illustrated, June 2024 issue), PDF of article.
Florida Heat Wave television interview (Channel 10, South Florida), https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/09/06/florida-continues-to-break-heat-records/
Hurricane Preparedness article (FAU University Press), https://www.upressonline.com/2021/09/university-professors-discuss-hurricane-preparedness/?return