RESEARCH

3D Reconstruction

We create high-resolution 3D models of coral reef habitats using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry tools. These models are used to map coral disease and investigate how changes in reef architecture affect ecological processes.

Molecular Profiling

Multi-omic and 3D cartographic platforms are utilized to characterize the molecular underpinnings of healthy and diseased coral tissue. This approach collates an array of molecular data from individual corals to determine how the colony microbiome influences physiology.

Quantitative Ecology

Coral reefs are complex systems and require robust statistical tools to decipher drivers of coral health and community structure. We utilize an array of multivariate approaches to analyze ecological data to understand how environmental change affects reef systems. 

Epizootiology

Epizootiology is the science dealing with the character, ecology, and causes of diseases in animals. Studying the epizootiology of coral diseases helps us accurately describe conditions and determine ecological and biological drivers of coral health. 

PUBLICATIONS

Burns JHR, Pascoe KH, Kane HH, Nakoa JWP III, Pascoe M, Pierucci SR, Sokol RE, Golgotiu KA, Cortes M, Hacker A, et al. (2024) Community-Based Monitoring for Rapid Assessment of Nearshore Coral Reefs Amid Disturbances in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Remote Sensing.16(5):853. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16050853

Burns JHR, Kapono CA, Pacsoe KH, Kane H (2023) The culture of science in academia is overdue for change. Oceanography 36(4), https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2024.115.

Nakoa JWP III, Burns JHR, Steward K, Kapono LM, Kapono CA (2023) Molecular Cartography of a Hawaiian Coral Assemblage. Diversity. 15(10):1061. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15101061

Kapono CA, Burns JHR, Kane HH (2023) Branding the MEGA Lab; methods that support science communication and citizen science engagement. Frontiers in Environmental Science.;11:1208683. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1208683

Ferreira SB, Burns JHR, Pascoe KH, Kapono CA, Reyes AJ, Fukunaga A (2023) Prediction of habitat complexity using a trait-based approach on coral reefs in Guam. Sci Rep 13, 11095. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38138-1

Burns JHR, Pascoe KH, Ferreira SB, Kane H, Kapono CA, Carrell TL, Reyes A, Fukunaga A (2023) How Do Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites Affect Coral Assemblages? Remote Sensing 15(8):2130. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15082130

Asbury M, Schiettekatte NMD, Couch CS, Oliver T, Burns JHR, Madin JS (2023) Geological age and environments shape reef habitat structure. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1– 11. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13691

Aguiar DK, Wiegner TN, Colbert SL, Burns JHR, Abaya L, Beets J, Couch C, Steward J, Panelo J, Remple K, Nelson C (2023) Detection and impact of sewage pollution on South Kohala's coral reefs, Hawai‘i. Marine Pollution Bulletin 118:114662. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114662

Carlson RR, Foo SA, Burns JHR and Asner GP (2022) Untapped policy avenues to protect coral reef ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 119(49) e2117562119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2117562119

Fukunaga A, McKenna SA, Brown EK, McCutcheon AL and Burns JHR (2022) Temporal patterns in coral reef fish assemblages with varying disturbance levels: A tale of two National Parks in Hawai´i. Frontiers in Marine Science 9:1038365. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.1038365

Helder NK, Burns JHR, Green SJ (2022) Intra-habitat structural complexity drives the distribution of fish trait groups on coral reefs. Ecological Indicators. Sep. 1;142:109266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109266

Donovan M, Alves C, Burns JHR, Drury C, Meier O, Ritson-Williams R, Cunning R, Dunn R, Goodbody-Gringley G, Henderson L, Knapp I, Levy J, Logan C, Mudge L, Sullivan C, Gates RD, Asner G (2022) From polyps to pixels: Understanding coral reef resilience to local and global change across scales. Landscape Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01463-3

Ferrari R, Leon JX, Davies AJ, Burns JHR, Sandin SA, Figueira WF and Gonzalez-Rivero M (2022) Editorial: Advances in 3D Habitat Mapping of Marine Ecosystem Ecology and Conservation. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:827430. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.827430

Fukunaga A, Pascoe KH, Pugh AR, Kosaki RK, Burns JHR (2022) Underwater Photogrammetry Captures the Initial Recovery of a Coral Reef at Lalo Atoll. Diversity.14(1):39. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14010039

Pascoe KH, Fukunaga A, Kosaki RK, Burns JHR (2021) 3D assessment of a coral reef at Lalo Atoll reveals varying responses of habitat metrics following a catastrophic hurricane. Scientific Reports. 11:12050

Fukunaga A, Kosaki RK, Pascoe KH, Burns JHR (2020) Fish Assemblage Structure in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Is Associated with the Architectural Complexity of Coral-Reef Habitats. Diversity. Nov;12(11):430.

Fukunaga A, Burns JHR (2020) Metrics of Coral Reef Structural Complexity Extracted from 3D Mesh Models and Digital Elevation Models. Remote Sensing. Jan;12(17):2676.

Burns JHR, Weyenberg G, Mandel T, Ferreira SB, Gotshalk D, Kinoshita CK, Marshall MJ, Del Moral NAV, Murphy SJ, Pascoe KH, Runyan A, Spengler AJ, Wells BD, Wilde DK and Pelayo R (2020) A Comparison of the Diagnostic Accuracy of in-situ and Digital Image-Based Assessments of Coral Health and Disease. Front. Mar. Sci. 7:304

Fukunaga A, Burns JHR, Pascoe KH, Kosaki RK (2020) Associations between Benthic Cover and Habitat Complexity Metrics Obtained from 3D Reconstruction of Coral Reefs at Different Resolutions. Remote Sensing. Jan;12(6):1011.

Mandel T, Gotshalk D, Del Moral N, Wilde D, Marshall M, Spengler A, Murphy S, Wells B, Burns JHR, Weyenberg G (2019) Balancing Human and Machine Performance When Analyzing Image Cover. International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI) 2019 Dec 5 (pp. 669-674). IEEE.

Burns JHR, Fukunaga A, Pascoe KH, Runyan A, Craig BK, Talbot J, Pugh A, Kosaki RK (2019) 3D Habitat Complexity of Coral Reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is Driven by Coral Assemblage Structure. Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-2/W10, 61-67, 2019. DOI:10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W10-61-2019

Magel JMT, Burns JHR, Gates RD, Baum JK (2019) Effects of bleaching-associated mass coral mortality on reef structural complexity across a gradient of local disturbance. Scientific Reports. 9(1) 2512: DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37713-1

Leigh J, Kobayashi D, Kirshenbaum N, Wooton T, Gonzalez A, Renambot L, Johnson A, Brown M, Burks A, Bharadwaj K, Nishimoto A, Haga J, Burns JHR, Pelayo B (2019) Usage Patterns of Wideband Display Environments In e-Science Research, Development and Training. 15th International Conference on eScience (eScience) 2019 Sep 24 (pp. 301-310). IEEE.

Adolf JE, Burns JHR, Walker JK, Gamiao S (2019) Near shore distributions of phytoplankton and bacteria in relation to submarine groundwater discharge-fed fishponds, Kona coast, Hawai‘i, USA. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. Volume 219: Pages 341-353

Fukunaga A, Burns JHR, Craig BK, Kosaki R (2019) Integrating Three-Dimensional Benthic Habitat Characterization Techniques into Ecological Monitoring of Coral Reefs. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 7, 27; doi:10.3390/jmse7020027

Burns JHR, Johnson-Sapp K, Bahr KD, Fukunaga A, Swatland D, Kosaki R (2018) Innovative 3D imaging tools for assessing damages to coral reef habitats caused by grounding events. Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series ONMS-18-03; 18 pp.

Couch CS, Burns JHR, Liu G, Steward K, Gutlay TN, Kenyon J, et al. (2017) Mass coral bleaching due to unprecedented marine heatwave in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands). PLoS ONE12(9): e0185121

Burns JHR, Delparte D (2017) Comparison of commercial structure-from-motion photogrammetry software used for underwater three-dimensional modeling of coral reef environments. ISPRS/CIPA Archives, Underwater 3D Recording and Modeling, Commission II, Volume XLII-2/W3

Price M, Raupp JT, Keogh K, Burns JHR (2016) Managing a sigh of relief: The wreck of USNS Mission San Miguel. Journal of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. 40: 17

Burns JHR, Alexandrov T, Ovchinnikova E, Gates RD, Takabayashi M (2016) Data for spatial analysis of growth anomaly lesions on Montipora capitata corals using 3D reconstruction techniques. Data in Brief. 9: 460-462

Burns JHR, Alexandrov T, Ovchinnikova E, Gates RD, Takabayashi M (2016) Investigating the spatial distribution of Growth Anomalies affecting Montipora capitata corals in a 3-dimensional framework. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 140: 51-57

Caldwell JM, Burns JHR, Couch C, Ross M, Runyon C, Takabayashi M, Vargas-Ángel B, Walsh W, Walton M, White D, and Williams G (2016) Hawaiʻi Coral Disease database (HICORDIS): species-specific coral health data from across the Hawaiian archipelago. Data in Brief. 8: 1054-1058.

Burns JHR, Delparte D, Kapono L, Belt M, Gates RD, Takabayashi M (2016) Assessing the impact of acute disturbances on the structure and composition of a coral community using innovative 3D reconstruction techniques. Methods in Oceanography. 15-16: 49-59

Gregg TM, Mead L, Burns JHR, Takabayashi M (2015) Puka Mai He Ko ‘a: The Significance of Coral in Hawaiian Culture. In Ethnobiology of Corals and Coral Reefs (pp. 103-115). Springer International Publishing.

Burns JHR, Delparte D, Gates RD, Takabayashi M. (2015) Integrating structure-from-motion photogrammetry with geospatial software as a novel technique for quantifying 3D ecological characteristics of coral reefs. PeerJ 3:e1077

Burns JHR, Delparte D, Gates RD, Takabayashi M (2015) Utilizing underwater three-dimensional modeling to enhance ecological and biological studies of coral reefs. ISPRS/CIPA Archives, Underwater 3D Recording and Modeling, Commission V, Volume XL-5/W5

Burns JHR, Gregg TM, Takabayashi M (2013) Does coral disease affect symbiodinium? Investigating the impacts of growth anomaly on symbiont photophysiology. PLoS ONE 8(8): e72466

Burns JHR, Takabayashi M (2011) Histopathology of Growth Anomaly Affecting the Coral, Montipora capitata: Implications on Biological Functions and Population Viability. PLoS ONE 6(12): e28854

Burns JHR, Rozet NK, Takabayashi M (2011) Morphology, severity, and distribution of growth anomalies in the coral, Montipora capitata, at Wai‘ōpae, Hawai‘i. Coral Reefs 30: 819-826

Takabayashi M, Gregg TM, Farah E, Burns JHR, Teves K, Cody NH (2010) The prevalence of skeletal growth anomaly and other afflictions in scleractinian coral at Wai‘ōpae, Hawai‘i. Proc 11th Int Coral Reef Symp 18: 820-824