Sonke Johnsen, Ida Stephens Owens Distinguished Professor of Biology

Contact Info:

Office Location:	BioSci: 301
Office Phone:	(919) 660-7321
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://www.biology.duke.edu/johnsenlab/

Teaching (Spring 2026):

• BIOLOGY 427.01, SENSORY BIOLOGY Synopsis

  Bio Sci 113, Tu 03:05 PM-05:35 PM

  (also cross-listed as NEUROSCI 427.01, PSY 427.01)

Education:

Ph.D.	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	1996
B.A.	Swarthmore College	1988

Specialties:

Organismal Biology and Behavior
ecology
Ecology and Population Biology
fisheries and fish ecology
Evolution
marine science

Research Interests: Comparative physiology; focusing on vision, crypsis, optics, and bioluminescence in the open ocean

Keywords:

Adaptation, Physiological • Aggression • Agonistic Behavior • Algorithms • Amino Acid Sequence • Animal behavior • Animal Structures • Animals • Anisotropy • Aquatic Organisms • Bahamas • Behavior, Animal • Biological Evolution • Biology • Bioluminescence • Biophysical Phenomena • Biophysics • Birefringence • Brachyura • Butterflies • Calcium Carbonate • Career Choice • Cephalopoda • Choice Behavior • Cognition • Color • Color Perception • Color Vision • Competitive Behavior • Computer Simulation • Contrast Sensitivity • Courtship • Cryptochromes • Crystallins • Cues • Decapodiformes • Differentiation • Dimerization • Eavesdropping • Ecology • Ecosystem • Electromagnetic Fields • Electron microscopy • Electron Probe Microanalysis • Eye • Faculty • Feeding Behavior • Female • Fishes • Flavoproteins • Florida • Form Perception • Fourier Analysis • Glutathione Transferase • History, 21st Century • Invertebrates • Iron • Lens, Crystalline • Light • Luminescent Measurements • Luminescent Proteins • Magnetics • Male • Marine Biology • Mating Preference, Animal • Mechanoreceptors • Microspectrophotometry • Models, Biological • Models, Theoretical • Molecular Sequence Data • Mollusca • Molting • Monte Carlo Method • Moths • Motion Perception • Motor Activity • Movement • Nervous System Physiological Phenomena • Neurobiology • Oceans and Seas • Octopodiformes • Ocular Physiological Phenomena • Ocular Physiological Processes • Optics • Optics and Photonics • Orientation • Oxides • Pacific Ocean • Palaemonidae • Particle Size • Passeriformes • Pattern Recognition, Visual • Pectinidae • Perception • Pheromones • Photic Stimulation • Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate • Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate • Phylogeny • Pigmentation • Polychaeta • Polyplacophora • Predatory Behavior • Psychophysics • Quantum Theory • Refraction, Ocular • Refractometry • Retinal Pigments • Rhodopsin • Rod Opsins • Salinity • Scattering, Radiation • Scyphozoa • Sea Urchins • Seawater • Selection • Sexual Behavior, Animal • Silicon Dioxide • Species Specificity • Specimen Handling • Spectrometry, Fluorescence • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization • Spectrum Analysis • Sperm Whale • Spiders • Static Electricity • Strongylocentrotus purpuratus • Temperature • Time Factors • United States • User-Computer Interface • Video Recording • Vision • Vision, Ocular • Visual Acuity • Visual Perception • Water • X-Ray Diffraction • Zooplankton

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

• Eleanor Caves  
• Kate Thomas  
• Laura E. Bagge  
•  

Postdocs Mentored

• Christine Bedore (May 01, 2013 - present)  
• Karin Akre (April 01, 2013 - present)  
• Yakir Gagnon (November 1, 2010 - July 01, 2013)  
• Sarah Zylinski (November 1, 2009 - September 15, 2012)  
• Sandra Cooke (September 1, 2008 - July 15, 2012)  
• Dina Leech (September 1, 2001 - March 1, 2003)  

Recent Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. Granger, J; Nevitt, G; Johnsen, S, Multispecies sensory networks and social foraging strategies: Implications for population decline in procellariiform seabirds., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 122 no. 41 (October, 2025), pp. e2509317122 [doi]  [abs]
2. Schweikert, LE; Bracken-Grissom, HD; Ayoglu, U; Johnsen, S, Strategies and significance of self-assessing dynamic visual appearance., Trends in ecology & evolution, vol. 40 no. 9 (September, 2025), pp. 913-924 [doi]  [abs]
3. Caves, EM; Cheney, KL; Dacke, M; Dixit, T; Fialko, K; Franklin, AM; Jessop, A-L; Hart, NS; Hempel de Ibarra, N; Morehouse, NI; Morgan, R; Murugavel, B; Oakley, TH; Speiser, DI; Stoddard, MC; Warrant, EJ; Johnsen, S; Schweikert, LE, Emerging frontiers in visual ecology., The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 228 no. 15 (August, 2025), pp. jeb250537 [doi]  [abs]
4. Bolin, J; Moreno, V; Johnsen, S; Schweikert, L, Humpback whale (<i>Megaptera novaeangliae</i>) visual acuity allows silhouette detection but not fine detail discrimination over ecological distances., Proceedings. Biological sciences, vol. 292 no. 2047 (May, 2025), pp. 20243101 [doi]  [abs]
5. Phillips, ML; Granger, JN; Johnsen, S, Collective movement increases initial accuracy and path efficiency in talitrid amphipod orientation., Biology letters, vol. 20 no. 12 (December, 2024), pp. 20240497 [doi]  [abs]