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  Born on October 17^th 1965 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
  Wife:  Berglind Orradottir

  Nationality:    Icelandic
  Citizen of Iceland 

  Education

• Graduated from the College of Reykjavik (Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík) in 1985 (High School Diploma).

• B.Sc. in biology from University of Iceland 1990.

• 1992: “Planning and Design of Experiments in Animal Nutrition”. Internordic Ph.D. course, held at the Agricultural University of Norway.  Lecturer: Dr. Charles J. Wilcox, professor at the University of Florida, USA. 

•  1994: “Interaction between the Animal and its Environment”. Internordic Ph.D. course held at the Swedish Agricultural University, Uppsala.  Main lecturers: Dr. M.F. Seabrook, University of Nottingham, UK and Dr. R. Ewbank.

•  1995: “Research Methods in Ecological Agriculture”, 1^st Nordic course in Ecological Agriculture, held at Fokhol farm, Norway.  Main lecturers: Dr. C.B Flora, professor at the Iowa State University, USA, dr. C.A. Francis, professor at the University of Nebraska, USA and dr. N. Sriskandarajah, University of Western Sidney, Australia.

•  1995: “Voluntary feed intake of livestock”. Internordic Ph.D. course, held at Hvanneyri Agricultural College, Iceland. Main lecturers: Dr. J.M. Forbes, professor at the University of Leeds, UK and dr. T.R. Houpt, professor at Cornell University, USA.

•  1999-: Pursuing Ph.D. in rangeland ecology at Texas A&M University, Dept. of Rangeland Ecology and Management.  Main advisor:  Dr. Steve Archer.

  Occupation

• 1986 - 1987 (summers):  Seasonal Ranger in Skaftafell National Park

• From 1990: Agricultural Research Institute, Iceland, first in Dept. of Chemistry (3 months), then Dept. of Animal Nutrition. Main fields: Grazing and feeding of sheep and horses.  1997 – 1998: Dept. of Environmental Research.

• 1989 - 1991: University of Iceland, Institute of Biology.  Assessment of size and species abundance in pristine wetlands in the southern part of Iceland (see publication no. 9).

• 1991 - 1994: TA in botany at the University of Iceland.  This included both courses in vascular and nonvascular plants.  

• Spring 1991 and 1993:  Instructor in courses on nature protection, held for wardens to be employed by the Icelandic Nature Conservation Council (now Nature Conservation Agency) in national parks and other natural areas under the supervision of INCC.  Fields I did cover:
  -      Methods in nature interpretation
  -      Natural history, botany, wildlife

• Spring 1992, 1994 and 1998:  Same as above, except the course was held by the Icelandic School of Horticulture, Department of Environmental Studies.

• Teacher- and research assistant at the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Managment, Texas A&M University.

  Research projects I have participated in or coordinated 

• Sheep grazing and feeding on Nootka lupins (Lupinus nootkatensis).

• Grazing and intake of sheep on lowland mires and highland heaths.

• Grazing behavior of sheep on lowland mires.

• Inheritance of skin quality in Icelandic sheep.

• Research on transfer of radioactive cesium (¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs) from soil through vegetation to grazing sheep in co-operation with the Icelandic Radiation Protection Institute.

• Research project on quantitative and qualitative amount of quinolizidine alkaloids in Nootka lupin (Lupinus nootkatensis).

•  Possible use of “untraditional” N – fertilizers in organic agriculture.

• Land evaluation, suitability for grazing.  Rules to be used for certifying sustainable or low input sustainable agriculture (LISA).

• Degradation of Icelandic Rangelands: Effect of Sward and Surface Properties on Land Condition (current Ph.D. project).

  Other

• Secretary of the Experimental Council at the Agricultural Research Institute from 1995.

• The Icelandic representative in NJF’s committee on “Ecological Animal Husbandry” (1995 – 1998).

  Miscellaneous publications and presentations

1. Johann Thorsson, Selma Huld Eyjolfsdottir, Olafur Gudmundsson (1992): Utilization of Lupinus nootkatensis for sheep grazing under subarctic conditions. J. Anim. Sci. 70(Suppl. 1), 189.

2. Johann Thorsson, Olafur Gudmundsson (1993): Fóðrun á alaskalúpínu (Feeding with Nootka lupin). Ráðunautafundur [Annual meeting of the Icelandic Extension Service] 1993, 295-306.

3. Emma Eythorsdottir, Johann Thorsson (1993): Inheritance of skin quality in Icelandic sheep. 44th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Århus, Denmark, 16. -19. August 1993. Poster abstract.

4. Olafur Gudmundsson, Johann Thorsson, Anna Gudrun Thorhallsdottir (1994): Sheep grazing on lupine under humid northern conditions. In: Proceedings of the 1st Circumpolar Agricultural Conference, Whitehorse, YT, Canada. (Ed: Scott Smith,CA) Agriculture Canada, Research Branch, Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research, Ottawa, 17-18.

5. Knut Hove, Hans Lönsjö, Inger Andersson, Riitta Sormunen-Christian, Hanne Solheim Hansen, Kari Indridason, Hans Pauli Joensen, Vappu Kossila, Andrew Liken, Sigurdur Magnusson, Sven P. Nielsen, Arja Paasikallio, Sigurdur E. Palsson, Klas Rosén, Tone Selnes, Per Strand, Johann Thorsson & Trygvi Vestergaard (1994): Radiocaesium transfer to grazing sheep in nordic environments. In: Nordic Radioecology.  The Transfer of Radionuclides through Nordic Ecosystems to Man. 1st ed. (Ed: Dahlgaard, H) Elsevier, Amsterdam+, 211-227.

6. Olafur Gudmundsson & Johann Thorsson (1994): Grazing sheep on lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) in cold climatic regions. In: Advances in Lupin Research. (Eds: Neves Martins, JM, Beirao da Costa, ML) Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA Press), Lisabon, 459-461.

7. Jon Gudmundsson, Fridrik Palmason & Johann Thorsson (1994): Biological nitrogen fixation and utilization of lupines in Iceland. NJF seminar on nitrogen fixation, held at Risoe Research Station, 26^th – 28^th May. Poster abstract.

8. Johann Thorsson & Olafur Gudmundsson (1995): Grazing sheep on lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) in Iceland. NJF conference held in Reykjavik Iceland, 26th – 29th June. Poster abstract.

9. Thora Ellen Thorhallsdottir, Johann Thorsson, & Svafa Sigurdardottir (1995): Effects of drainage on mires in Iceland. NJF conference held in Reykjavik Iceland, 26^th – 29^th June. Abstract.

10. Johann Thorsson, Kristin Hlidberg (1997): Potential speciality products in Lupinus nootkatensis and some native Icelandic plant species. A. Quinolizidine alkaloids and the Nootka lupin. In: Plant Based Speciality Products and Biopolymers. (Ed: Lone Andreasen) (Tema Nord, 1997:606.) Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen, 147-155.

11. Johann Thorsson & Kristin Hlidberg (1997): Beiskjuefni í alaskalúpínu Lupinus nootkatensis [Alkaloids in Nootka lupin Lupinus nootkatensis]. Búvísindi [Icelandic Agricultural Sciences] 11:75-89.

12. Olafur Arnalds, Johann Thorsson & Elin F. Thorarinsdottir (2003): Landnýting og vistvæn framleiðsla sauðfjárafurða [Land use and Sustainable Sheep Farming].  Fjölrit RALA nr. 211 [RALA Report no 211].  Rannsóknastofnun landbúnaðarins, Reykjavík [Agricultural Res. Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland].

13. Johann Thorsson, Steve Archer, Asa Aradottir & Olafur Arnalds (2003): Degradation of Icelandic Rangelands: Processes and Properties.  Poster presented at the annual SRM meeting, Casper Wyoming.

14. Johann Thorsson, Steve Archer, Asa Aradottir, Ben Wu & Olafur Arnalds (2004): Land Degradation in Iceland: Rates, Patterns and Processes.  Oral presentation at the annual ESA meeting, Portland, Oregon.

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 © 2003 Johann Thorsson.  All rights reserved.