Jill F. Johnstone

Jill Johnstone was a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan, where she started the Northern Plant Ecology Lab (NPEL) which she still runs. She primarily conducts research on plant ecology and environmental biology with an emphasis on how boreal forest and tundra are responding to rapid rates of climate change.

Early life and education Johnstone was born and raised in Vermont having both U.S.A. and Canadian citizenship. Her interest in northern ecosystems developed while studying at Middlebury College, where she earned her B.A. in 1992, majoring in Northern Studies. Three years later in 1995, she received her Masters in Science in Biogeography at the University of British Columbia. Soon after she began her professional career by becoming a self-employed environmental consultant performing contract work for several institutions including the Canadian Wildlife Service, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Yukon Territorial Government Renewable Resources, and the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. She has continued publishing while becoming a post-doctoral research fellow at Carleton University and eventually a professor in the Department of Biology and the University of Saskatchewan.

Johnstone's research at the Northern Plant Ecology lab focuses on how changes in natural ecosystem disturbances such as the severity and frequency of fires influence forests and their response to climate change. She correlates this focus to climate warming by studying how migrating southern species may take advantage of natural disturbances by invading northern communities during regrowth. She connects her findings to predict future changes in northern ecosystems and what these new interactions mean for management of human disturbances. Her lab's success is acknowledged by the seven years of funding support from various funding agencies to herself and her students (amounting to more than $350,000).

Awards and recognition named a Women Leader in Fire Science