Dr. Maggie Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Marine Science in the Red Sea Research Center. Prof. Johnson's research is at the intersection of coral reef ecology, global change biology, and phycology. Broadly, her research interests are centered on the impacts of environmental change on coral reef ecosystems. She uses a combination of field and laboratory based approaches to 1) evaluate and monitor the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems, 2) quantify inherent natural heterogeneity in key environmental parameters including temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH , 3) explore the implications of environmental variability for ecophysiology of coral reef primary producers, 4) and determine the implications of local and global environmental change for these foundational coral reef taxa.

Prof. Johnson uses calcifying reef algae as model taxa to identify and monitor coral reef ecosystem responses in an era of rapid environmental change. While her research involves taxa ranging from fleshy algae to corals, she primarily focuses on calcifying algae - particularly crustose coralline algae. She studies a variety of processes of environmental change in nature and in the lab, and typically focuses on ocean acidification, ocean deoxygenation, and warming.

Coral reef ecology Global change biology Ocean acidification Ocean deoxygenation Warming Climate Change Phycology Calcifying algae Crustose coralline algae