Dr James Buckley

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 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 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).