Simon Tierney

School of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

I am an Evolutionary Ecologist interested in transitions in animal behaviour. I use molecular tool-kits to understand the interplay between whole organisms, their environment and their genes, with a focus on the evolution of insect social organisation and photic niche shifts. My PhD investigated allodapine bees that can switch between solitary and social lifestyles, and I then undertook a series of postdocs exploring neotropical halictine bees that are similarly social, but unusual in their habit of obligate nocturnal foraging. This latter research program developed a parallel interest in vision and my current postdoctoral research involves projects that use high-throughput sequencing to explore the regressive evolution of eye genes in subterranean water beetles; in addition to projects on differential gene expression between queen vs. worker castes and social parasites vs. their hosts (allodapine bees). I have considerable field experience in Australia, the Americas, Africa and Asia.

My Research
Career
Publications
Supervision
Contact

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Behaviour, Ecology, Natural History, Vision, Molecular Evolution, Systematics, Biogeography.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Radio
ABC, Radio National, 28 January 2015.
RN Afternoons, live interview with Michael Mackenzie – “Blind beetles”

News Articles
Science Magazine, ScienceNow – news from Science, 26 July 2011
ScienceShot: A buzz in the dark

ABC, Science Online - Ask an Expert, 18 March 2015
How does evolution explain animals losing vision? Doug Futuyma & Simon Tierney

The Conversation, Science + Technology, 5 February 2015
What blind beetles can teach us about evolution - Simon Tierney (invited contribution)

Entomology Today, Entomological Society of America, 30 January 2015.
Blind Cave Beetles Lack Eyes but Still Have Sight Genes

Appointments

Date	Position	Institution name
2015 - ongoing	Lecturer B	University of Adelaide
2013 - ongoing	Postdoctoral Fellow	University of Adelaide
2005 - 2011	Postdoctoral Fellow	Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Language Competencies

Language Competency
English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
Spanish; Castilian Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
Education

Date Institution name Country Title
2000 - 2005 Flinders University Australia PhD
1994 - 1994 Flinders University Australia Honours
1991 - 1993 Flinders University Australia BA

Language	Competency
English	Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
Spanish; Castilian	Can read, write, speak and understand spoken

Date	Institution name	Country	Title
2000 - 2005	Flinders University	Australia	PhD
1994 - 1994	Flinders University	Australia	Honours
1991 - 1993	Flinders University	Australia	BA

Journals

Year	Citation
2023	Chapman, N. C., Colin, T., Cook, J., da Silva, C. R. B., Gloag, R., Hogendoorn, K., . . . Mikheyev, A. S. (2023). The final frontier: ecological and evolutionary dynamics of a global parasite invasion.. Biology Letters, 19(5), 20220589. DOI Scopus4 WoS2 Europe PMC4
2023	Tierney, S. M., Bernauer, O. M., King, L., Spooner-Hart, R., & Cook, J. M. (2023). Bee pollination services and the burden of biogeography. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290(2000), 12 pages. DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC2
2022	Shokri Bousjein, N., Tierney, S. M., Gardner, M. G., & Schwarz, M. P. (2022). Does effective population size affect rates of molecular evolution: Mitochondrial data for host/parasite species pairs in bees suggests not. Ecology and Evolution, 12(2), 13 pages. DOI Europe PMC1
2022	Bernauer, O. M., Cook, J. M., & Tierney, S. M. (2022). Division of foraging behaviour: Assessments of pollinator traits when visiting a model plant species. Animal Behaviour, 188, 169-179. DOI Scopus4 WoS3
2022	Langille, B. L., Tierney, S. M., Bertozzi, T., Beasley-Hall, P. G., Bradford, T. M., Fagan-Jeffries, E. P., . . . Cooper, S. J. B. (2022). Parallel decay of vision genes in subterranean water beetles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 173, 1-9. DOI Scopus10 WoS4 Europe PMC3
2021	Stringer, D., Bertozzi, T., Meusemann, K., Delean, J., Guzik, M., Tierney, S., . . . Austin, A. (2021). Development and evaluation of a custom bait design based on 469 single-copy protein-coding genes for exon capture of isopods (Philosciidae: Haloniscus). PLoS One, 16(9), 1-24. DOI Scopus2 WoS1
2021	Bernauer, O. M., Cook, J. M., & Tierney, S. M. (2021). Nesting biology and social organisation of the allodapine bee Exoneura angophorae (Hymenoptera: Apidae): montane environmental constraints yield biased sex allocation yet phenology is unhindered. Insectes Sociaux, 68(4), 337-349. DOI Scopus5 WoS4
2021	Freelance, C. B., Tierney, S. M., Rodriguez, J., Stuart-Fox, D. M., Wong, B. B. M., & Elgar, M. A. (2021). The eyes have it: dim-light activity is associated with the morphology of eyes but not antennae across insect orders. BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, 134(2), 303-315. DOI WoS3
2021	Beasley-Hall, P. G., Bertozzi, T., Bradford, T. M., Foster, C. S. P., Jones, K., Tierney, S. M., . . . Cooper, S. J. B. (2021). Stressed out underground?: Transcriptomics illuminates the genome-wide response to heat stress in surface and subterranean diving beetles. DOI
2020	Langille, B. L., Hyde, J., Saint, K. M., Bradford, T. M., Stringer, D. N., Tierney, S. M., . . . Cooper, S. J. B. (2020). Evidence for speciation underground in diving beetles (Dytiscidae) from a subterranean archipelago. Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, 75(1), 166-175. DOI Scopus22 WoS12 Europe PMC4
2019	Freelance, C. B., Majoe, M., Tierney, S. M., & Elgar, M. A. (2019). Antennal asymmetry is not associated with social behaviour in Australian Hymenoptera. Austral Entomology, 58(3), 589-594. DOI Scopus4 WoS4
2019	Langille, B. L., Tierney, S. M., Austin, A. D., Humphreys, W. F., & Cooper, S. J. B. (2019). How blind are they? Phototactic responses in stygobiont diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) from calcrete aquifers of Western Australia. Austral Entomology, 58(2), 425-431. DOI Scopus10 WoS8
2018	Klopfstein, S., Van Der Schyff, G., Tierney, S., & Austin, A. (2018). Wolbachia infections in Australian ichneumonid parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): Evidence for adherence to the global equilibrium hypothesis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 123(3), 518-534. DOI Scopus6 WoS5
2018	Dew, R. M., Tierney, S. M., & Schwarz, M. P. (2018). Lack of ovarian skew in an allodapine bee and the evolution of casteless social behaviour. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 30(1), 51-69. DOI Scopus6 WoS4
2018	Beasley-Hall, P., Tierney, S., Weinstein, P., & Austin, A. (2018). A revised phylogeny of macropathine cave crickets (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) uncovers a paraphyletic Australian fauna. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 126, 153-161. DOI Scopus10 WoS6 Europe PMC3
2018	Tierney, S. M., Langille, B., Humphreys, W. F., Austin, A. D., & Cooper, S. J. (2018). Massive parallel regression: a précis of genetic mechanisms for vision loss in diving beetles. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 58(3), 465-479. DOI Scopus14 WoS11 Europe PMC4
2017	Tierney, S., Friedrich, M., Humphreys, W., Jones, T., Warrant, E., & Wcislo, W. (2017). Consequences of evolutionary transitions in changing photic environments. Austral Entomology, 56(1), 23-46. DOI Scopus48 WoS43
2017	Dew, R., Tierney, S., Gardner, M., & Schwarz, M. (2017). Casteless behaviour in social groups of the bee Exoneurella eremophila. Apidologie, 49(2), 1-11. DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2016	Dew, R., Tierney, S., & Schwarz, M. (2016). Social evolution and casteless societies: needs for new terminology and a new evolutionary focus. Insectes Sociaux, 63(1), 5-14. DOI Scopus24 WoS20
2015	Rehan, S., Tierney, S., & Wcislo, W. (2015). Evidence for social nesting in Neotropical ceratinine bees. Insectes Sociaux, 62(4), 465-469. DOI Scopus15 WoS15
2015	Tierney, S., Cooper, S., Saint, K., Bertozzi, T., Hyde, J., Humphreys, W., & Austin, A. (2015). Opsin transcripts of predatory diving beetles: a comparison of surface and subterranean photic niches. Royal Society Open Science, 2(1), 140386-1-140386-12. DOI Scopus34 WoS29 Europe PMC14
2013	Smith, J., Chenoweth, L., Tierney, S., & Schwarz, M. (2013). Repeated origins of social parasitism in allodapine bees indicate that the weak form of Emery's rule is widespread, yet sympatric speciation remains highly problematic. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 109(2), 320-331. DOI WoS25 Europe PMC4
2013	Tierney, S. M., Fischer, C. N., Rehan, S. M., Kapheim, K. M., & Wcislo, W. T. (2013). Frequency of social nesting in the sweat bee Megalopta genalis (Halictidae) does not vary across a rainfall gradient, despite disparity in brood production and body size. Insectes Sociaux, 60(2), 163-172. DOI Scopus11 WoS11
2012	Dew, R., Rehan, S., Tierney, S., Chenoweth, L., & Schwarz, M. (2012). A single origin of large colony size in allodapine bees suggests a threshold event among 50 million years of evolutionary tinkering. Insectes Sociaux, 59(2), 207-214. DOI Scopus13 WoS14
2012	Tierney, S., Sanjur, O., Grajales, G., Santos, L., Bermingham, E., & Wcislo, W. (2012). Photic niche invasions: phylogenetic history of the dim-light foraging augochlorine bees (Halictidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1729), 794-803. DOI Scopus25 WoS21 Europe PMC7
2011	Schwarz, M., Tierney, S., Rehan, S., Chenoweth, L., & Cooper, S. (2011). The evolution of eusociality in allodapine bees: Workers began by waiting. Biology Letters, 7(2), 277-280. DOI Scopus45 WoS45 Europe PMC15
2010	Santos, L., Tierney, S., & Wcislo, W. (2010). Nest descriptions of Megalopta aegis (Vachal) and M. guimaraesi Santos & Silveira (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) from the Brazilian Cerrado = Descrição dos ninhos de Megalopta aegis (Vachal) e M. guimaraesi Santos & Silveira (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) do Cerrado. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 54(2), 332-334. DOI Scopus8 WoS8
2009	Wcislo, W., & Tierney, S. (2009). Behavioural environments and niche construction: the evolution of dim-light foraging in bees. Biological Reviews, 84(1), 19-37. DOI Scopus65 WoS56 Europe PMC25
2009	Tierney, S., & Schwarz, M. (2009). Reproductive hierarchies in the African allodapine bee Allodapula dichroa (Apidae; Xylocopinae) and ancestral forms of sociality. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 97(3), 520-530. DOI Scopus12 WoS12 Europe PMC3
2008	Tierney, S., Gonzales-Ojeda, T., & Wcislo, W. (2008). Biology of a nocturnal bee, Megalopta atra (Hymenoptera: Halictidae; Augochlorini), from the Panamanian highlands. Journal of Natural History, 42(27-28), 1841-1847. DOI Scopus15 WoS11
2008	Tierney, S., Gonzales-Ojeda, T., & Wcislo, W. (2008). Nesting biology and social behavior of Xenochlora bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Augochlorini) from Perú. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 81(1), 61-72. DOI Scopus21 WoS19
2008	Chenoweth, L., Fuller, S., Tierney, S., Park, Y., & Schwarz, M. (2008). Hasinamelissa: a new genus of allodapine bee from Madagascar revealed by larval morphology and DNA sequence data. Systematic Entomology, 33(4), 700-710. DOI WoS13
2008	Tierney, S., Smith, J., Chenoweth, L., & Schwarz, M. (2008). Phylogenetics of allodapine bees: a review of social evolution, parasitism and biogeography. Apidologie, 39(1), 3-15. DOI Scopus24 WoS24
2007	Chenoweth, L., Tierney, S., Smith, J., Cooper, S., & Schwarz, M. (2007). Social complexity in bees is not sufficient to explain lack of reversions to solitary living over long time scales. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 7(246), WWW 1-WWW 9. DOI Scopus29 WoS29 Europe PMC14
2007	Smith, J. A., Tierney, S. M., Park, Y. C., Fuller, S., & Schwarz, M. P. (2007). Origins of social parasitism: The importance of divergence ages in phylogenetic studies. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 43(3), 1131-1137. DOI Scopus29 WoS26 Europe PMC11
2006	Schwarz, M., Fuller, S., Tierney, S., & Cooper, S. (2006). Molecular phylogenetics of the exoneurine allodapine bees reveal an ancient and puzzling dispersal from Africa to Australia. Systematic Biology, 55(1), 31-45. DOI Scopus64 WoS62 Europe PMC35
2006	Aenmey, T. K., Tierney, S. M., Pillay, N., & Schwarz, M. P. (2006). Nesting biology of an African allodapine bee <i>Braunsapis vitrea</i>:: female biased sex allocation in the absence of worker-like behavioural castes. ETHOLOGY ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 18(3), 205-220. DOI WoS10
2005	Fuller, S., Schwarz, M., & Tierney, S. (2005). Phylogenetics of the allodapine bee genus <i>Braunsapis</i>:: historical biogeography and long-range dispersal over water. JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, 32(12), 2135-2144. DOI WoS68
2005	Schwarz, M. P., Tierney, S. M., Zammit, J., Schwarz, P. M., & Fuller, S. (2005). Brood provisioning and colony composition of a Malagasy species of <i>Halterapis</i>:: Implications for social evolution in the allodapine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopinae). ANNALS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, 98(1), 126-133. DOI WoS25 Europe PMC11
2004	Schwartz, M., Tierney, S., Cooper, S., & Bull, N. (2004). Molecular phylogenetics of the allodapine bee genus Braunsapis: A-T bias and heterogeneous substitution parameters. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 32(1), 110-122. DOI Scopus42 WoS44 Europe PMC25
2003	Tierney, S. M., & Schwarz, M. P. (2003). Taxonomic description of allodapine bees from the Zanzibar archipelago, genus <i>Macrogalea</i> (Hymenoptera: Apidae). AFRICAN ENTOMOLOGY, 11(2), 199-203. WoS1
2002	Tierney, S. M., Schwarz, M. P., Neville, T., & Schwarz, P. M. (2002). Sociality in the phylogenetically basal allodapine bee genus <i>Macrogalea</i> (Apidae: Xylocopinae):: implications for social evolution in the tribe Allodapini. BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, 76(2), 211-224. DOI WoS30 Europe PMC8
2000	Tierney, S. M., Cronin, A. L., Loussert, N., & Schwarz, M. P. (2000). The biology of <i>Brevineura froggatti</i> and phylogenetic conservatism in Australian allodapine bees (Apidae, Allodapini). INSECTES SOCIAUX, 47(1), 96-97. DOI WoS26
1998	Neville, T., Schwarz, M. P., & Tierney, S. M. (1998). Biology of a weakly social bee, <i>Exoneura (Exoneurella) setosa</i> (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and implications for social evolution in Australian allodapine bees. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, 46(3), 221-234. DOI WoS15
1997	Tierney, S. M., Schwarz, M. P., & Adams, M. (1997). Social behaviour in an Australian allodapine bee Exoneura (Brevineura) xanthoclypeata (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 45(4), 385-398. DOI Scopus28 WoS28

Book Chapters

Year	Citation
2020	Schwarz, M. P., & Tierney, S. M. (2020). Allodapine Bees. In C. K. Starr (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Insects (pp. 1-5). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. DOI
2009	Wcislo, W., & Tierney, S. (2009). The evolution of communal behavior in bees and wasps: an alternative to eusociality. In J. Gadau, & J. Fewell (Eds.), Organization of insect societies: from genomes to sociocomplexity (pp. 148-169). USA: Harvard University Press.
2006	Schwarz, M. P., Tierney, S. M., & Chapman, T. W. (2006). Phylogenetic analyses of life history traits in allodapine bees and social evolution.. In V. E. Kipyatkov (Ed.), Life Cycles of Social Insects: Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution. (pp. 147-155). St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Press.
1997	Neville, T., Schwarz, M. P., & Tierney, S. M. (1997). Life cycle and sociality in an Australian allodapine bee Exoneura (Exoneurella) setosa.. In V. E. Kipyatkov (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Colloquia on Social Insects: Volume 3-4 (pp. 239-246).
1997	Schwarz, M. P., Bull, N. J., Tierney, S. M., Cronin, A. L., & Reyes, S. G. (1997). Social evolution in Hymenoptera - insights from Australian allodapine bees.. In V. E. Kipyatkov (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Colloquia on Social Insects: Volume 3-4. (pp. 11-18). St. Petersburg: Russian Language Section, International Union for the Study of Social Insects; Socium, St. Petersburg.

Conference Items

Year	Citation
2018	Tierney, S. M., Langille, B., Humphreys, W. F., Austin, A. D., & Cooper, S. J. B. (2018). Massive parallel regression: genetic mechanisms for eye loss amongst subterranean diving beetles. Poster session presented at the meeting of INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY. San Francisco, CA: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC.

Curated or Produced Public Exhibition or Events

Year	Citation
2015	Tierney, S. (2015). International Pint of Science Festival 2015 - Adelaide (No. Of Pieces: Two evening events) [Exhibition]. http://pintofscience.com.au/events/adelaide/.
2014	Tierney, S. M. (2014). The Bees Knees: The importance of pollinators and their recent decline (No. Of Pieces: Seminar) [Exhibition]. Science in the Pub Adelaide.

Internet Publications

Year Citation
2015 Tierney, S. M. (2015). What blind beetles can teach us about evolution. The Conversation.

Year	Citation
2015	Tierney, S. M. (2015). What blind beetles can teach us about evolution. The Conversation.

Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Date	Role	Research Topic	Program	Degree Type	Student Load	Student Name
2015 - 2020	Co-Supervisor	Regressive Evolution of Vision and Speciation in the Subterranean Diving Beetles from Western Australia	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Ms Barbara Langille
2014 - 2019	Co-Supervisor	The systematics and biogeographic history of Australian arid zone oniscidean isopods (Philosciidae)	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Dr Danielle Nicole Stringer

Email: simon.tierney@adelaide.edu.au

Simon Tierney

Appointments

Language Competencies

Education

Journals

Book Chapters

Conference Items

Curated or Produced Public Exhibition or Events

Internet Publications

Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

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