Dr James Buckley
Profiles

Dr James Buckley

Lecturer in Ecology

School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Dr James Buckley can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
  • Climate change
  • Conservation
  • Plant ecology
  • Plant-insect interactions
  • Population genetics
  • Evolution and adaptation
Biography

Biography

Lecturer in Ecology

Qualifications

2018 –2020: Postdoctoral researcher in Biocommunciation & Ecology group, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

2015 – 2018: Adaptation to a Changing Environment postdoctoral fellowship, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

2011 - 2015: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded postdoc, University of Glasgow, UK. 

2007 - 2011: NERC funded PhD in Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, UK.

2004- 2007: BSc Hons Biology, University of Nottingham, UK.

Professional membership

Member of Royal Society of Biology

Member of British Ecological Society, European Society for Evolutionary Biology and Genetics Society

Teaching

Teaching

Teaching interests

I am currently teaching on BIOL132 and BIOL214, as well as contributing to the introductory statistics modules in the 1st and 2nd years. I am involved in various day-long field courses (BIOL135) and longer residential field courses (BIOL123) that run throughout the year.

I am a personal tutor on the Conservation Biology degree, as well as the Foundation Year in Biological Sciences (teaching on modules GEES001 and BIO014).

Research

Research

Research interests

Climate change is driving shifts in species distributions and reshuffling local communities, yet our understanding of species' responses to such changes is limited. My research focuses on ecological and evolutionary responses to ongoing climate change, and in particular adaptation to the predicted shifts in community composition and altered interactions with other organisms. In my research I have worked mostly with plants and invertebrates and used a range of techniques, including metabolomics, genomics and field experiments, to assess varaition in putatively adaptive traits. Through such a research programme, I aim to provide insight into those species most vulnerable to future environmental change.

Relevant projects include:

(1) The rapid evolution of butterfly preferences for different host plants associated with climate-driven range expansions and the potential impacts of this on future adaptive potential (PhD with Prof. Jon Bridle, UCL, UK)

(2) Assessing the potential for alpine plants to adapt to future climate change and particularly the increases in herbivore pressure predicted at higher elevations under warmer temperatures (Postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Consuelo De Moraes, Prof. Mark Mescher, Prof Alex Widmer; ETH Zürich, Switzerland).

Other research

In addition to the above research, I also have interests in the role of plant mating system variation (and associated levels of inbreeding) on both plant interactions with other organisms and their response to future environmental change.

Relevant project:

(1) Population genomics of disease resistance in a wild Brassicaceae plant and the impacts of mating system variation (outcrossing vs inbreeding) on plant-disease interactions (Postdoctoral position with Prof. Barbara Mable, University of Glasgow, UK).


Publications

Publications

Key publications

Key publications are highlighted

Journals
Articles
Buckley J, Widmer A, Mescher MC & De Moraes CM (2023) 'Experimental warming increases the vulnerability of high‐elevation plant populations to a specialist herbivore' Functional Ecology , DOI Open access
De Kort H, Legrand S, Honnay O & Buckley J (2022) 'Transposable elements maintain genome-wide heterozygosity in inbred populations' Nature Communications 13, (1) , DOI Open access
Pashalidou FG, Eyman L, Sims J, Buckley J, Fatouros NE, De Moraes CM & Mescher MC (2020) 'Plant volatiles induced by herbivore eggs prime defences and mediate shifts in the reproductive strategy of receiving plants' Ecology Letters 23, (7) 1097-1106 , DOI Open access
Buckley J, Daly R, Cobbold CA, Burgess K & Mable BK (2019) 'Changing environments and genetic variation: natural variation in inbreeding does not compromise short-term physiological responses' Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, (1915) 20192109-20192109 , DOI Open access
Buckley J, Widmer A, Mescher MC & De Moraes CM (2019) 'Variation in growth and defence traits among plant populations at different elevations: Implications for adaptation to climate change' Journal of Ecology 107, (5) 2478-2492 , DOI Open access
Buckley J, Pashalidou FG, Fischer MC, Widmer A, Mescher MC & De Moraes CM (2019) 'Divergence in Glucosinolate Profiles between High- and Low-Elevation Populations of Arabidopsis halleri Correspond to Variation in Field Herbivory and Herbivore Behavioral Preferences' International Journal of Molecular Sciences 20, (1) , DOI Open access
Buckley J, Holub EB, Koch MA, Vergeer P & Mable BK (2018) 'Restriction associated DNA-genotyping at multiple spatial scales in Arabidopsis lyrata reveals signatures of pathogen-mediated selection' BMC Genomics 19, (1) , DOI Open access
Rodríguez-Verdugo A, Buckley J & Stapley J (2017) 'The genomic basis of eco-evolutionary dynamics' Molecular Ecology 26, (6) 1456-1464 , DOI Open access
Buckley J, Kilbride E, Cevik V, Vicente JG, Holub EB & Mable BK (2016) 'R-gene variation across Arabidopsis lyrata subspecies: effects of population structure, selection and mating system' BMC Evolutionary Biology 16, (1) , DOI Open access
Buckley J & Bridle JR (2014) 'Loss of adaptive variation during evolutionary responses to climate change' Ecology Letters 17, (10) 1316-1325 , DOI
Bridle JR, Buckley J, Bodsworth EJ & Thomas CD (2014) 'Evolution on the move: specialization on widespread resources associated with rapid range expansion in response to climate change' Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, (1776) 20131800-20131800 , DOI
BUCKLEY J, BUTLIN RK & BRIDLE JR (2011) 'Evidence for evolutionary change associated with the recent range expansion of the British butterfly,<i>Aricia agestis</i>, in response to climate change' Molecular Ecology 21, (2) 267-280 , DOI
Buckley J, Bridle JR & Pomiankowski A (2010) 'Novel variation associated with species range expansion' BMC Evolutionary Biology 10, (1) , DOI Open access