Angus Buckling

Research Interests

I research the evolutionary ecology of microbes, with a particular focus on parasites. I try to carry out my research at the interface of a range of evolutionary and ecological disciplines (social evolution, coevolution, population ecology, community ecology) to address both general and system-specific questions. The primary research method is to follow the evolution of microbial populations under controlled ecological conditions (experimental evolution). In addition to their massive population sizes and short generation times, which allows for real-time studies of evolution, laboratory populations of microbes can be kept in suspended animation, providing a living ‘fossil record’. We are complementing this approach by mathematical modelling, and surveys of natural populations.

Microbial Experimental Evolutionary Ecology

Contacts

Selected Publications

• Pal, C., Macia, M., Oliver, A., Schachar, I. & Buckling, A. Coevolution with parasites drives the evolution of bacterial mutation rates. Nature, in press.
• Brockhurst, M. A., Bell, T., Hochberg, M. E. & Buckling, A. 2006. Character displacement and cooperation in bacterial biofilms. Current Biology 16, 1-5.
• Morgan, A.D., Gandon, S. & Buckling, A. 2005. The effect of migration on local adaptation in a coevolving host-parasite system. Nature 437, 253-256.
• Griffin, A. S., West, S. A. & Buckling, A. 2004. Cooperation and competition in a pathogenic bacterium. Nature 430, 1024-1027.
• Buckling, A., Wills, M.A. & Colegrave, N. 2003. Adaptation constrains diversification in experimental bacterial populations. Science 302, 2107-2109.