Contact Information
284 Natural Resources Building
1816 S. Oak St.
Champaign, IL 61820
Research Interests
Host parasite systems provide an opportunity to study the interface between microevolutionary processes and macroevolutionary patterns. The goals of my current research center around recovering the coevolutionary history of birds and their ectoparasitic lice. The degree of cospeciation varies across different groups of lice.
Education
PhD, Ecology, University of Minnesota, 1997
BS, Biology, Bethel College, St Paul MN, 1991
Additional Campus Affiliations
Principal Ornithologist, Illinois Natural History Survey
Affiliate, Entomology
Recent Publications
Baldwin-Brown, J. G., Villa, S. M., Waight, E., Johnson, K. P., Bush, S. E., Clayton, D. H., & Shapiro, M. D. (2025). Genomics of Experimental Adaptive Radiation in the Cryptic Coloration of Feather Lice. Genome biology and evolution, 17(5), Article evaf083. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf083
Cai, C., Johnson, K. P., Fu, Y., Gustafsson, D. R., Azar, D., Su, Y., Xuan, Q., Engel, M. S., & Huang, D. (2025). Cretaceous chewing-louse eggs on enantiornithine birds. National Science Review, 12(2), Article nwae479. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae479
Clodfelter, E. B., Doña, J., Walden, K. K. O., & Johnson, K. P. (2025). Metagenomic analyses reveal three supergroups of Wolbachia in a single genus of feather-feeding lice (Penenirmus). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 211, Article 108387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108387
Gustafsson, D. R., Allen, J. M., Bell, K. C., Bush, S. E., Durden, L. A., Johnson, K. P., Light, J. E., & Weckstein, J. D. (2025). Phthiraptera systematics: past, present, and future. Insect Systematics and Diversity, 9(5), Article ixaf034. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaf034
Johnson, K. P., & Doña, J. (2025). Phylogenomics and biogeography of the feather lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) of parrots. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 144(2), Article blae034. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blae034