Biodiversity and Conservation Staff - Thomas Buckley

Thomas Buckley

DDI: 09 574 4116
Phone: 09 574 4100

Fax: 09 574 4101
Email

Qualifications

BSc Hons Zoology, Victoria University NZ
BSc Zoology, Victoria University NZ
PhD Zoology, Victoria University NZ

Research Interests

My research focuses on systematics, biogeography, speciation, molecular evolution and phylogenetic methods. Study organisms include stick insects, cicadas, fungus-feeding beetles, tortricid moths, earthworms, wetas, onychophorans and terrestrial molluscs. I am particularly interested in the biogeographic origins of the New Zealand biota and evolutionary processes within New Zealand. My interests in systematics also include taxonomy where I am revising the New Zealand stick insect fauna using morphology and genetics. I am also involved in a range of conservation genetics projects on highly threatened invertebrates including terrestrial molluscs, tusked and giant weta. I maintain interests in methods of sequence analysis with an emphasis on likelihood estimation, Bayesian estimation, model selection, tests of topology and coalescent models. Newly developed research directions include transcriptomics and functional genomics of adaptations to environmental stress in stick insects.

For more information on my stick insect research see The New Zealand Stick Insect Web Site

Publications:

Buckley, T.R., D. Attanayake, J.A.A. Nylander, and S. Bradler. 2010. The phylogenetic placement and biogeographical origins of the New Zealand stick insects (Phasmatodea). Systematic Entomology, in press.

Buckley, T.R., K. Marske, and D. Attanayake. 2010. Phylogeography and ecological niche modelling of the New Zealand stick insect Clitarchus hookeri (White) support survival in multiple coastal refugia. Journal of Biogeography, in press.

Allwood, J., D.M. Gleeson, G. Mayer, S. Daniels, J. Beggs and T.R. Buckley. 2010. Support for vicariant origins of the New Zealand Onychophora. Journal of Biogeography, in press.

Marske, K.A., R.A.B. Leschen, G.M. Barker, and T.R. Buckley. 2009. Phylogeography and ecological niche modeling implicate coastal refugia and trans-alpine dispersal of a New Zealand fungus beetle. Molecular Ecology, 18: 5126–5142.

Buckley, T.R., K. Marske, and D. Attanayake. 2009. Identifying glacial refugia in a geographic parthenogen using palaeoclimate modeling and phylogeography: the New Zealand stick insect Argosarchus horridus (White). Molecular Ecology, 18: 4650-4663.

Zeng, Q.Z., and T.R. Buckley. 2009. Phylogenetic analysis of nematode nuclear 18S rDNA sequences indicates the Genus Tripylina Brzeski, 1964 (Nematoda: Tripylidae de Man, 1876) should be placed in Enoplida. Zootaxa, 2238: 25–32.

O’Neill, S.B., T.R. Buckley, T.R. Jewell, and P.A. Ritchie. 2009. Phylogeographic history of the New Zealand stick insect Niveaphasma annulata (Phasmatodea) estimated from mitochondrial and nuclear loci. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 53: 523–536.

Langhoff, P., A. Authier, T.R. Buckley, J.S. Dugdale, A. Rodrigo, and R.D. Newcomb. 2009. Testing DNA barcoding in endemic New Zealand leafroller moths of the genera Ctenopseustis and Planotortrix. Molecular Ecology Resources, 9:691-698.

Marshall, D.C., K.B.R. Hill, T.R. Buckley, K. Fontaine, and C. Simon. 2009. Glacial refugia in a maritime temperate climate: cicada (Kikihia subalpina) mtDNA phylogeography in New Zealand. Molecular Ecology 18:1995-2009.

Leschen, R.A.B., T.R. Buckley, and R. Hoare. 2009. The use of tag names and New Zealand taxonomy. New Zealand Entomologist 32:85-87.

Yeates, G.W., and T.R. Buckley. 2009. First records of mermithid nematodes (Nematoda: Mermithidae) parasitising stick insects (Insecta: Phasmatodea). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 36: 35-39.

Buckley, T.R., D. Attanayake, and S. Bradler. 2009. Extreme convergence in stick insect evolution: phylogenetic placement of the Lord Howe Island tree lobster, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276:1055-1062.

Buckley, T.R., D. Attanayake, D.-C. Park, S. Ravindran, T.R. Jewell, and B.B. Normark. 2008. Investigating hybridization in the parthenogenetic New Zealand stick insect Acanthoxyla (Phasmatodea) using single-copy nuclear loci. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48:335-349.

Buckley, T. R., and E. C. Young. 2008. A revision of the taxonomic status of Sigara potamius and S. limnochares (Hemiptera: Corixidae), water boatmen of braided rivers in New Zealand, New Zealand Entomologist 31:47-57.

Leschen, R. A. B., T. R. Buckley, H. M. Harman, and J. Shulmeister. 2008. Determining the origin and age of the Westland Beech (Nothofagus) gap, New Zealand, using fungus beetle genetics. Molecular Ecology, 17:1256-1276.

Buckley, T. R., and C. Simon. 2007. The evolution of the cicada genus Maoricicada Dugdale (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea) and the origins of the New Zealand alpine biota. Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society, 91:419-435.

Leschen, R. A. B., and T. R. Buckley. 2007. Multistate characters and diet shifts: evolution of Erotylidae (Coleoptera). Systematic Biology, 56:97-112.

Marshall, D. C., C. Simon, T. R. Buckley. 2006. Accurate branch length estimation in partitioned Bayesian analyses requires accommodation of among-partition rate variation and attention to branch length priors. Systematic Biology, 55:993-1003.

Simon, C. T. R. Buckley, F. Frati, J. Stewart, and A. Beckenbach. 2006. Incorporating molecular evolution into phylogenetic analysis, and a new compilation of conserved polymerase chain reaction primers for animal mitochondrial DNA. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 37:545-579.

Buckley, T. R., M. Cordeiro, D. Marshall, and C. Simon. 2006. Differentiating between hypotheses of lineage sorting and introgression in New Zealand alpine cicadas (Maoricicada Dugdale). Systematic Biology 55:411-425.

Posada, D., and T. R. Buckley. 2004. Advantages of AIC and Bayesian approaches over likelihood ratio tests for model selection in phylogenetics. Systematic Biology 53:793-808.

Hilario, E., T. R. Buckley, and J. M. Young. 2004. Improved resolution on the phylogenetic relationships among Pseudomonas by the combined analysis of atpD, carA, recA and 16S rDNA. Antoine van Leeuwenhoek International Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology 86:51-64.

Arensburger, P. A., T. R. Buckley, C. Simon, M. S. Moulds and K. E. Holsinger. 2004. Biogeography and phylogeny of the New Zealand cicada genera based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA data. Journal of Biogeography 31:557-569.

Misof, B., C. L. Anderson, T. R. Buckley, D. Erpenbeck, A. Rickert, and K. Misof. 2002. An empirical analysis of mt 16S rRNA covarion-like evolution in insects: site-specific rate variation is clustered and frequently detected. Journal of Molecular Evolution 55:460-469.

Miller, R. E., T. R. Buckley, and P. S. Manos. 2002. An examination of the monophyly of morning glory taxa using Bayesian phylogenetic inference. Systematic Biology 51:740-753.

Buckley, T. R. 2002. Model misspecification and probabilistic tests of topology: evidence from empirical data sets. Systematic Biology 51: 509-523.

Buckley, T. R., and C. W. Cunningham. 2002. The effects of nucleotide substitution model assumptions on estimates of nonparametric bootstrap support. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19:394-402.

Buckley, T. R., P. Arensburger, C. Simon, and G. K. Chambers. 2002. Combined data, Bayesian phylogenetics, and the origin of the New Zealand cicada fauna. Systematic Biology 51:4-18.

Liang, Y., T. R. Buckley, L. L. Tu, S. D. Langdon, and T. F. Tedder. 2001. Structural organization of the human MS4A gene cluster on chromosome 11q12. Immunogenetics 53:357-368.

Buckley, T. R., C. Simon, and G. K. Chambers. 2001. Phylogeography of the New Zealand cicada Maoricicada campbelli based on mitochondrial DNA sequences: ancient clades associated with Cenozoic environmental change. Evolution 55:1395-1407.

Chambers, G. K, W. M. Boon, T. R. Buckley, and R. A. Hitchmough. 2001. Using molecular methods to understand the Gondwanan affinities of the New Zealand biota: three case studies. Australian Journal of Botany 49:377-387.

Killian, J. K., T. R. Buckley, N. Stewart, B. L. Munday, and R. L. Jirtle. 2001. Marsupials and Eutherians reunited: genetic evidence for the Theria hypothesis of mammalian evolution. Mammalian Genome 12:513-517.

Buckley, T. R., C. Simon, H. Shimodaira, and G. K. Chambers. 2001. Evaluating hypotheses on the origin and evolution of the New Zealand alpine cicadas (Maoricicada) using multiple comparison tests of tree topology. Molecular Biology and Evolution 18:223-234.

Buckley, T. R., C. Simon, and G. K. Chambers. 2001. Exploring among-site rate variation models in a maximum likelihood framework using empirical data: effects of model assumptions on estimates of topology, branch lengths and bootstrap support. Systematic Biology 50:67-86.

Misof, B., A. M. Rickert, T. R. Buckley, G. Fleck, and K. P. Sauer. 2001. Phylogenetic signal and its decay in mitochondrial SSU and LSU rRNA gene fragments of dragonflies. Molecular Biology and Evolution 18:27-37.

Buckley, T. R., C. Simon, P. K. Flook, and B. Misof. 2000. Secondary structure and conserved motifs of the frequently sequenced domains IV and V of the insect mitochondrial large subunit rRNA gene. Insect Molecular Biology 95:565-580.