Thomas N.Buckley

Assistant Professor of Biology (starting summer 2008)
Ph.D. Utah State University, 1999
Voicemail: tba
Email: thomas.buckley@ensisjv.com
Office: tba

Postdoctoral Experience:

Australian National University, utah State University,
University of New South Wales (Australia)

Research Interests:

Environmental plant physiology; Plant water relations;
Photosyntheisi; Integration of metabolism and growth;
Physiological ecology; Plant responses to global change

Research Program:

I study how photosynthesis and transpiration are coordinated by stomata – dynamic epidermal leaf pores that respond to light, humidity, carbon dioxide and water stress on time scales of minutes to days, and that acclimate to growth conditions over much longer time scales.  These questions are important for understanding how terrestrial carbon and water cycles will be affected by climate change.  Work in my lab involves a close interaction between experiments and theoretical modeling.  This ensures that our results will be integrated into models, which help scientists work within a common "language."  Models also allow us to generate rigorous and experimentally testable hypotheses that may not otherwise be intuitively obvious.  I will arrive at SSU in the summer of 2008, but I would encourage students who are interested in pursuing research in my lab to contact me by email to talk about various possibilities.

Representative Publications:

Buckley TN, Roberts DW. 2006. How should leaf area, sapwood area and stomatal conductance vary with tree height to maximize growth? Tree Physiology 26:145-157.

Messinger SM, Buckley TN, Mott KA. 2006. Evidence for involvement of photosynthetic processes in the stomatal response to CO2. Plant Physiology 140:771-778.

Powles JE, Buckley TN, Nicotra AB, Farquhar GD. 2006. Dynamics of stomatal water relations following leaf excision. Plant, Cell and Environment 29:981-992.

Buckley TN. 2005. Tansley Review: The control of stomata by water balance. New Phytologist 168:275-292.

Buckley TN, Mott KA, Farquhar GD. 2003. A hydromechanical and biochemical model of stomatal conductance. Plant, Cell and Environment 26:1767-1785.

Mäkelä A, Givnish TJ, Berninger F, Buckley TN, Farquhar GD, Hari P. 2002. Challenges and opportunities of the optimality approach in plant ecology. Silva Fennica 36:605-614.

Buckley TN, Mott KA. 2000. Stomatal responses to non-local changes in PFD: evidence for long-distance hydraulic interactions. Plant, Cell and Environment 23:301-309.

Course Offerings:

Plant Physiology
Mathematical Biology