Mike Johns, PhD

Senior Marine Ecologist

My primary research objective with Point Blue is to combine existing long-term reproductive monitoring datasets with new information from tracking studies and remotely derived environmental observations to model population- and individual-level responses of seabirds to climate variability and human-related threats. This work builds upon the legacy of research conducted at our long-term field station on Southeast Farallon Island.

I first joined Point Blue as a summer seabird intern in 2012, returning in 2014 as a program biologist. I completed my PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2020 where I addressed questions related to age-specific reproductive strategies of Cassin’s auklets, along with their winter dispersal patterns. In addition to my time on the Farallones, I have worked on multiple seabird projects on islands in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, the Columbia River, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and Tasmania. Prior to discovering seabirds, I spent several years working with humpback whales on the east coast of Australia, and on industry vessels as a marine fauna observer on Australia’s west coast. I also maintain a 100-ton offshore captains license, and operated whale and seabird tours out of Monterey Bay during my college years.

When not on the Farallones, I work remotely from my home in Tacoma Washington.