About

At the end of January 2015 I left my position as a Lecturer in Geology to focus on research, principally in the applications of bivalve sclerochronology to understanding late Cenozoic climate and oceanography of the North Atlantic region. I am continuing with some teaching duties as an associate lecturer.

Teaching responsibilities

Such teaching as I am now undertaking is principally in geological fieldwork.

Research interests

My research focuses on the use of proxy data from marine bivalve mollusc shells to document environmental change. Fine-scale (e.g. seasonal) information can be obtained from ontogenetic (through-growth) records of stable-isotopic composition and growth-increment width. I have applied this methodology in investigations of the distant (Jurassic) and more recent (late Cenozoic) past, the results from the latter being relevant to prediction of future changes in climate.

Membership of professional bodies

• Member of the Palaeontological Association
• Member of PA Council 1999-2003; Handling Editor of Palaeontology 2000-03
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Qualifications

Undergraduate qualifications

• BA (MA) Geology (2nd Class), 1975, University of Oxford

Research qualifications

• DPhil (1980) on Jurassic bivalve palaeobiology, University of Oxford

Recent conferences

• Valentine A, Johnson A, Leng M & Balson P (2010) Pliocene climate of the southern North Sea Basin: a sclerochronological approach. 54th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association (Univ. Ghent, Belgium, 17-20 December), Programme and Abstracts, 36
• Johnson ALA, Harper EM, Schöne BR, Finlayson A & Valentine A (2012) Evidence and reason for cool winter conditions in the Pliocene North Sea from bivalve sclerochronology. 56th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association (University College Dublin, 16-18 December), Programme and Abstracts, 71-72
• Johnson ALA, Valentine A, Williams M, Schöne BR, Harper EM, Leng MJ, Finlayson A & Knowles T (2013) Investigating a warmer world with sclerochronological data. Third International Sclerochronology Conference (Caernarfon, N. Wales, 18-22 May 2013), Programme and Abstracts, 54.
• Mettam C, Johnson ALA, Nunn EV & Schöne BR (2013) Stable isotope sclerochronology of Callovian (Jurassic) Gryphaea and Cylindroteuthis from the Oxford Clay (Cambridgeshire, England): evidence of palaeoclimate, water depth and belemnite behaviour. Third International Sclerochronology Conference (Caernarfon, N. Wales, 18-22 May 2013), Programme and Abstracts, 122
• Valentine A, Johnson ALA & Leng MJ (2013) Testing the robustness of isotopic palaeotemperatures from Pliocene bivalves of the southern North Sea Basin. Third International Sclerochronology Conference (Caernarfon, N. Wales, 18-22 May 2013), Programme and Abstracts, 142
• Johnson, ALA (2014) Sclerochronology and the cause of Plio-Pleistocene bivalve extinction in the western Atlantic. Challenges in Macroecology: Scaling the Time Barrier (Natural History Museum, London, 1 April 2014)
• Johnson ALA, Valentine A, Leng, MJ, Surge D & Williams M (2014) The cause of late Cenozoic mass extinction in the western Atlantic: insights from sclerochronology. 58th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association (University of Leeds, 16-19 December 2014). Programme, abstracts and AGM papers, 31
• Johnson A, Valentine A, Leng M, Sloane H, Schöne B & Surge D (2016) Evidence, cause and consequence of exceptionally rapid growth in Pliocene scallops of the US eastern seaboard. Fourth International Sclerochronology Conference (Portland, Maine, USA, 5-9 July 2016), Program and Abstracts, 62
• Johnson A, Valentine A, Leng M, Sloane H, Schӧne B & Surge D (2017) The use of seasonally resolved temperature data to identify the cause of marine climate change. European Geosciences Union, General Assembly (Vienna, Austria, 23-28 April), Geophysical Research Abstracts 19, EGU2017-19064-2
• Johnson A, Valentine A, Leng M, Sloane H, Schӧne B & Surge D (2017) Anti-predation strategy, growth rate and extinction amongst Pliocene scallops of the US eastern seaboard. European Geosciences Union, General Assembly (Vienna, Austria, 23-28 April), Geophysical Research Abstracts 19, EGU2017-16494
• Johnson ALA, Valentine A, Leng MJ, Sloane HJ, Schöne BR & Surge D (2017) Seasonally resolved isotopic temperature data as a tool for identifying the cause of marine climate change in the Pliocene. Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry User Group Meeting (British Geological Survey, Keyworth, 5-7 July 2017), Programme and Abstracts, 18
• Johnson ALA, Valentine A, Leng MJ, Sloane HJ, Schöne BR & Surge D (2017) Anti-predation strategy, growth rate and extinction amongst Pliocene scallops of the US eastern seaboard. Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry User Group Meeting (British Geological Survey, Keyworth, 5-7 July 2017), Programme and Abstracts, 44
• Johnson ALA, Valentine AM, Schӧne BR, Surge D, Leng MJ & Sloane HJ (2019) Growth rate, extinction and survival among late Cenozoic marine bivalves of the US eastern seaboard. Fifth International Sclerochronology Conference (Split, Croatia, 16-20 June 2019), Abstracts, 54
• Johnson ALA, Peharda M, Schöne BR, Janeković I & Valentine AM (2019) Microgrowth-increment and isotopic data from sub-thermocline Aequipecten opercularis: recognition of setting and fidelity of temperature records. Fifth International Sclerochronology Conference (Split, Croatia, 16-20 June 2019), Abstracts, 127

Experience in industry

Research posts

• University of Munich: End-Triassic bivalve extinction 1980-1981
• University of Leicester: Mid-Jurassic oyster evolution 1983-1985
• University of Mainz: Bivalve sclerochronology 2009

International experience

I have had research stays totalling about two years in Germany and have active research links with colleagues there (University of Mainz) and in the USA (University of Michigan, University of North Carolina).

Additional interests and activities

• I was recently Director of PhD studies of Annemarie Valentine (topic: Pliocene climate and oceanography of the North Atlantic region through bivalve sclerochronology)
• I undertake my research (and other) travel by environmentally friendly means: train to China for the Second International Palaeontological Congress (2006); freighter, train and bicycle to Florida and Maine for the first and fourth International Sclerochronology Conferences (2007, 2016), to Virginia for the North American Dendroecological Fieldweek (2011) and to various research institutions in the eastern USA (2015, 2019); train for all European conference and research engagements since 2008

In the media

• Two interviews on Radio Derby
• Video interview broadcast on regional TV and posted on YouTube

Recent publications

• Williams M, Haywood AM, Harper EM, Johnson ALA, Knowles T, Leng MJ, Lunt DJ, Okamura B, Taylor PD & Zalasiewicz J (2009) Pliocene climate and seasonality in North Atlantic shelf seas. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 367, 85-108
• Johnson ALA, Hickson JA, Bird A, Schöne BR, Balson PS, Heaton THE & Williams M (2009) Comparative sclerochronology of modern and mid-Pliocene (c. 3.5 Ma) Aequipecten opercularis (Mollusca, Bivalvia): an insight into past and future climate change in the north-east Atlantic region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284, 164-179
• Williams M, Nelson AE, Smellie JL, Leng MJ, Johnson ALA, Jarram DR, Haywood AM, Peck VL, Zalasiewicz J, Bennett C & Schöne BR (2010) Sea ice extent and seasonality for the Early Pliocene northern Weddell Sea determined from fossil Austrochlamys bivalves. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 292, 306-318
• Valentine A, Johnson ALA, Leng M J, Sloane HJ & Balson PS (2011) Isotopic evidence of cool winter conditions in the mid-Piacenzian (Pliocene) of the southern North Sea Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 309, 9-16
• Salzmann U, Williams M, Haywood AM, Johnson ALA, Kender S & Zalasiewicz J (2011) Climate and environment of a Pliocene warm world. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 309, 1-8
• Dowsett HJ, Robinson MM, Stoll DK, Foley KM, Johnson ALA, Williams M & Riesselman CR (2013) The PRISM (Pliocene palaeoclimate) reconstruction: time for a paradigm shift. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 371: 20120524, 24 pp
• Mettam C, Johnson ALA, Nunn EV & Schöne BR (2014) Stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) sclerochronology of Callovian (Middle Jurassic) bivalves (Gryphaea (Bilobissa) dilobotes) and belemnites (Cylindroteuthis pusoziana) from the Peterborough Member of the Oxford Clay Formation (Cambridgeshire, England): evidence of palaeoclimate, water depth and belemnite behaviour. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 399, 187-201
• Johnson ALA, Valentine A, Leng MJ, Sloane HJ, Schöne BR & Balson PS (2017) Isotopic temperatures from the early and mid-Pliocene of the US Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain, and their implications for the cause of regional marine climate change. Palaios 32, 250-269
• Vignols RM, Valentine AM, Finlayson AG, Harper EM, Schöne BR, Leng MJ, Sloane HJ & Johnson ALA (2019) Marine climate and hydrography of the Coralline Crag (early Pliocene, UK): isotopic evidence from 16 benthic invertebrate taxa. Chemical Geology 526, 62-83
• Johnson ALA, Valentine AM, Leng MJ, Schöne BR & Sloane HJ (2019) Life history, environment and extinction of the scallop Carolinapecten eboreus (Conrad) in the Plio-Pleistocene of the US eastern seaboard. Palaios 34, 49-70
• Trofimova T, Alexandroff SJ, Mette MJ, Tray E, Butler PG, Campana SE, Harper EM, Johnson ALA, Morrongiello JR, Peharda M, Schöne BR , Andersson C, Andrus CFT, Black BA, Burchell M, Carroll ML, DeLong KL, Gillanders BM, Grønkjær P, Killam D, Prendergast AL, Reynolds DJ, Scourse JD, Shirai K, Thébault J, Trueman C & de Winter N (2020) Fundamental questions and applications of sclerochronology: Community-defined research priorities. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 245
• Johnson ALA, Valentine AM, Schöne BR, Leng MJ, Sloane HJ & Janeković I (2021) Growth-increment characteristics and isotopic (δ¹⁸O) temperature record of sub-thermocline Aequipecten opercularis (Mollusca:Bivalvia): evidence from modern Adriatic forms and an application to early Pliocene examples from eastern England. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 561
• Johnson ALA, Harper EM, Clarke A, Featherstone AC, Heywood DJ, Richardson KE, Spink JO & Thornton LAH (2021) Growth rate, extinction and survival amongst late Cenozoic bivalves of the North Atlantic. Historical Biology 33, 802-813