Jordan Johnson

Prior to pursuing my PhD at Harvard, I undertook an MPhil project at Cambridge University, studying the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. This spirited little beetle reproduces on carrion—a highly variable ecological resource—and exhibits complex (but varying) parental care of young. Recent work had shown that this species was sexually dimorphic in head size, and thus I investigated the ways this variation was expressed both within the species and across the broader Nicrophorus clade. This work gave me a greater appreciation for the use of insects as study systems – with their endlessly diverse forms and functions – beetles being the most abundant among them.

My current research interests lie in further understanding intra- and interspecific variation, with a focus on how these differences relate to the wider ecological interactions a species may participate in. With this in mind, I am currently investigating the leaf beetle genus Chrysomela. Found across the Holarctic, this group exhibits significant variation in colouration and host use, both within and between species. Individuals can express everything from dark ‘melanic’ elytra to more complex orange-and-black patterning, to even a shiny ‘metallic’ morph. While some species feed only on plants from the Salicaceae family (willows and poplars), others instead prefer to host solely on Betulaceae (alders and birch), with yet other species varying their host preference between distinct populations. I wish to understand both how this variation has first evolved, and the consequences it has had for the wider ecological communities that Chrysomela inhabit.