Professor Simon Creer

Professor of Molecular Ecology

Contact info

I am interested in using contemporary molecular tools to address diverse questions focusing on biodiversity, ecology and evolution. This is a particularly exciting time in the field of molecular ecology, since advances in DNA sequencing throughput have recently offered a paradigm shift in our ability to assess previously intractable functional and taxonomic biodiversity at an unprecedented scale, augmenting existing biodiversity fields and empowering others. Using such technologies, I am testing a range of hypotheses regarding the alpha and beta functional and taxonomic diversity of macro-, meio- and microbial communities (e.g. microbiomes) in space and time, based on genomic, community and environmental DNA (eDNA). Focal habitats have included estuarine, coastal and deep sea environments with an increasing focus now on freshwater, terrestrial, whole organisms and the aerial biosphere in order to understand the drivers of diversity in natural communities and also how diversity is linked with ecological function, trophic relationships, environmental and human health. Current additional activities include phylogenomics, population genetics, life history evolution, polyploidy, pollination genomics.

Any funded Fellowship, postgraduate or postdoctoral positions will be advertised on the group website/social media feeds, but we also welcome enquiries from candidates seeking their own funding mechanisms, to develop future research collaborations.


Email: s.creer@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: +44(0)1248 382302

Address: School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK

URL: http://mefgl.bangor.ac.uk/staff/si.php

Twitter: @SiCreerProf

  1. Article › Research › Peer-reviewed
  2. Published

    Targeting optimal introns for phylogenetic analyses in non-model taxa: experimental results in Asian pitvipers.

    Creer, S., Malhotra, A., Thorpe, R. S. & Pook, C. E., 1 Aug 2005, In: Cladistics. 21, 4, p. 390-395

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  3. Published

    Temperate airborne grass pollen defined by spatio-temporal shifts in community composition

    Brennan, G. L., Potter, C., De Vere, N., Griffith, G. W., Skjøth, C. A., Osborne, N. J., Wheeler, B. W., McInnes, R. N., Clewlow, Y., Barber, A., Hanlon, H. M., Hegarty, M., Jones, L., Kurganskiy, A., Rowney, F. M., Armitage, C., Adams-Groom, B., Ford, C. R., Petch, G. M., The PollerGEN Consortium & Creer, S., May 2019, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 3, 5, p. 750-754

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  4. Published

    Temporal Patterns of Honeybee Foraging in a Diverse Floral Landscape Revealed Using Pollen DNA Metabarcoding of Honey

    Jones, L., Lowe, A., Ford, C. R., Creer, S. & de Vere, N., 1 Aug 2022, In: Integrative and Comparative Biology. 62, 2, p. 199-210

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  5. Published

    Temporal change in floral availability leads to periods of resource limitation and affects diet specificity in a generalist pollinator

    Lowe, A., Jones, L., Brennan, G., Creer, S., Christie, L. & de Vere, N., 24 Oct 2022, In: Molecular Ecology. 32, 23, p. 6363-6376 14 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  6. Published

    Temporal genetic homogeneity among shore crab (Carcinus maenas) larval events supplied to an estuarine system on the Portuguese northwest coast.

    Domingues, C. P., Creer, S., Taylor, M. I., Queiroga, H. & Carvalho, G. R., 1 May 2011, In: Heredity. 106, 5, p. 832-840

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  7. Published

    The biogeography of the atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) gut microbiome

    Llewellyn, M. S., McGinnity, P., Dionne, M., Letourneau, J., Thonier, F., Carvalho, G., Creer, S. & Derome, N., May 2016, In: ISME Journal. 10, p. 1280-1284

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  8. Published

    The ecologist’s field guide to sequence-based identification of biodiversity

    Creer, S., Deiner, K., Frey, S., Porazinska, D., Taberlet, P., Thomas, W. K., Potter, C. & Bik, H. M., 13 Sept 2016, In: Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 7, p. 1008-1018 11 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  9. Published

    The importance of being genomic: Non-coding and coding sequences suggest different models of toxin multi-gene family evolution

    Malhotra, A., Creer, S., Harris, J. B. & Thorpe, R. S., 7 Sept 2015, In: Toxicon. 107, Part B, p. 344-358

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  10. Published

    The utility of AFLPs for supporting mitochondrial DNA phylogeographical analyses in the Taiwanese bamboo viper, Trimeresurus stejnegeri

    Creer, S., Thorpe, R., Malhotra, A., Chou, W. H. & Stenson, A. G., 1 Jan 2004, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 17, 1, p. 100-107

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  11. Published

    Tideless estuaries in brackish seas as possible freshwater-marine transition zones for bacteria: the case study of the Vistula river estuary

    Golebiewski, M., Calkiewicz, J., Creer, S. & Piwosz, K., Apr 2017, In: Environmental Microbiology Reports. 9, 2, p. 129-143

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  12. Published

    Transcriptomics and in vivo tests reveal novel mechanisms underlying endocrine disruption in an ecological sentinel, Nucella lapillus

    Hughes, R. N., Pascoal, S., Carvalho, G. R., Vasieva, O., Hughes, R., Cossins, A., Fang, Y., Ashelford, K., Olohan, L., Barroso, C., Mendo, S. & Creer, S., 1 Mar 2013, In: Molecular Ecology. 22, 6, p. 1589-1608

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  13. Published

    UK DNA working group eDNA week, January 2022

    Handley, L. L., Blackwell, T., Broadhurst, H. A., Clark, K., Davison, P. I., England, J., Mariani, S., McDevitt, A. D., Pillay, G. K., Read, D., Walsh, K., Nisbet, A. & Creer, S., 1 Jan 2023, In: Environmental DNA. 5, 1, p. 18-24 7 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  14. Published

    Ultrasequencing of the meiofaunal biosphere: practice, pitfalls and promises.

    Creer, S., Fonseca, V. G., Porazinska, D. L., Giblin-Davis, R. M., Sung, W., Powers, D. M., Packer, M., Carvalho, G. R., Blaxter, M. L., Lambshead, P. J. & Thomas, W. K., 1 Mar 2010, In: Molecular Ecology. 19, 1, p. 4-20

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  15. Published

    Using DNA metabarcoding to investigate honey bee foraging reveals limited flower use despite high floral availability

    De Vere, N., Jones, L. E., Gilmore, T., Moscrop, J., Lowe, A., Smith, D., Hegarty, M. J., Creer, S. & Ford, C. R., 2017, In: Scientific Reports. 7, 42838.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  16. Published

    Whole genome duplication and transposable element proliferation drive genome expansion in Corydoradinae catfishes

    Marburger, S., Alexandrou, M., Taggart, J. B., Creer, S., Carvalho, G., Oliveira, C. & Taylor, M. I., 14 Feb 2018, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285, 1872, 20172732.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  17. Published

    Worldwide Analysis of Sedimentary DNA Reveals Major Gaps in Taxonomic Knowledge of Deep-Sea Benthos

    Sinniger, F., Pawlowski, J., Harii, S., Gooday, A. J., Yamamoto, H., Chevaldonne, P., Cedhagen, T., Carvalho, G. & Creer, S., 14 Jun 2016, In: Frontiers in Marine Science. 3, 92

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  18. Comment/debate › Research › Not peer-reviewed
  19. Published

    Marine ecology: Genetics from a drop in the ocean

    Creer, S. & Seymour, M., 4 Jan 2017, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 1, 0037.

    Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debate

  20. Chapter › Research › Peer-reviewed
  21. Published

    Design considerations for eDNA metabarcoding surveys

    Perry, W. B., Pillay, K., George, P., Brennan, G., Lowe, A., Jones, L., Holman, L., Gibson, T., de Vere, N. & Creer, S., 19 Jan 2024, Applied Environmental Genomics. Berry, O. F., Holleley, C. E. & Jarman, S. N. (eds.). CRC Press

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

  22. Review article › Research › Peer-reviewed
  23. Published

    Strategies for sample labelling and library preparation in DNA metabarcoding studies

    Bohmann, K., Elbrecht, V., Caroe, C., Bista, I., Leese, F., Bunce, M., Yu, D. W., Seymour, M., Dumbrell, A. & Creer, S., May 2022, In: Molecular Ecology Resources. 22, 4, p. 1231-1246 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

  24. Published

    Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators

    Lowe, A., Jones, L., Witter, L., Creer, S. & de Vere, N., 24 Mar 2022, In: Diversity. 14, 4

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

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