John A. Berges

John A. Berges is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He holds an affiliate faculty role in the School of Freshwater Sciences. His research focuses on phytoplankton and zooplankton ecophysiology, combining biochemical, molecular, and field-based approaches to study aquatic organisms' responses to environmental stress. Key areas include planktonic systems, benthic processes, and genome-informed ecology. Dr. Berges has contributed to genome annotations of algal species and explores biological rate indices in aquatic ecosystems.

Education: PhD (1994), University of British Columbia; MSc (1989) and BSc (1987), University of Guelph. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratory (1994–1996) and a Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast (1996–2002).

Research interests include cell death mechanisms in algae, nutrient cycling dynamics, and the impact of environmental change on aquatic communities. His work bridges physiological studies with omics technologies to address complex biogeochemical questions. Recent publications emphasize plankton modeling, silica cycling in Lake Michigan, and the role of metacaspases in cell death.

His collaborative projects include agent-based modeling of plankton communities and studies on viral interactions in freshwater ecosystems. Dr. Berges is also engaged in educational initiatives, such as using Wikipedia assignments to teach scientific writing in STEM courses.