Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Integr Org Biol 2022 19;4(1):obac018. Epub 2022 Jul 19.

Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 94720 CA, USA.

Synopsis: The ectodysplasin pathway has been a target of evolution repeatedly. Genetic variation in the key genes of this pathway (, , and ) results in a rich source of pleiotropic effects across ectodermally-derived structures, including teeth, hair, sweat glands, and mammary glands. In addition, a non-canonical Wnt pathway has a very similar functional role, making variation in the gene also of evolutionary significance. Read More

N Z Med J 2022 May 20;135(1555):99-105. Epub 2022 May 20.

Academic Head, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic, inflammatory diseases that are increasingly prevalent in New Zealand. Previous regional studies describe significantly lower rates of IBD in Māori compared to non-Māori. This article reports the prevalence and incidence of IBD at Lakes District Health Board, and discusses potential contributing factors to the observed increasing incidence rates in Māori. Read More

Ecology 2022 Jun 20:e3800. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Partial migration strategies, in which some individuals migrate but others do not, are widely observed in populations of migratory animals. Such patterns could arise via variation in migratory behaviors made by individual animals, via genetic variation in migratory predisposition, or simply by variation in migration opportunities mediated by environmental conditions. Here we use spatiotemporal variation in partial migration across populations of an amphidromous Hawaiian goby to test whether stream or ocean conditions favor completing its life cycle entirely within freshwater streams rather than undergoing an oceanic larval migration. Read More

Appl Environ Microbiol 2022 05 18;88(9):e0001822. Epub 2022 Apr 18.

Center for Genes, Environment, and Health, National Jewish Healthgrid.240341.0, Denver, Colorado, USA.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are opportunistic pathogens that cause chronic pulmonary disease (PD). NTM infections are thought to be acquired from the environment; however, the basal environmental factors that drive and sustain NTM prevalence are not well understood. The highest prevalence of NTM PD cases in the United States is reported from Hawai'i, which is unique in its climate and soil composition, providing an opportunity to investigate the environmental drivers of NTM prevalence. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022 03 19;19(6). Epub 2022 Mar 19.

Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

Research remains a site of struggle for First Nations peoples globally. Biomedical research often reinforces existing power structures, perpetuating ongoing colonisation by dominating research priorities, resource allocation, policies, and services. Addressing systemic health inequities requires decolonising methodologies to facilitate new understandings and approaches. Read More

Ground Water 2022 01 17;60(1):64-70. Epub 2021 Sep 17.

The USGS California Volcano Observatory (CalVO), U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USA.

About 14.5 months after the 2018 eruption and summit collapse of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i, liquid water started accumulating in the deepened summit crater, forming a lake that attained 51 m depth before rapidly boiling off on December 20, 2020, when an eruption from the crater wall poured lava into the lake. Modeling the growth of the crater lake at Kīlauea summit is important for assessing the potential for explosive volcanism. Read More

Aust J Rural Health 2020 Dec 24;28(6):568-578. Epub 2020 Nov 24.

Royal Life Saving Society-Australia, Broadway, NSW, Australia.

Objective: To contrast unintentional fatal drowning in rivers with lakes to determine appropriateness for application of existing river drowning prevention strategies.

Design: A total population retrospective cross-sectional analysis using coronial data.

Setting: Australia, 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2018. Read More

PeerJ 2020 3;8:e9415. Epub 2020 Jul 3.

University of Hawai'i, Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, Kāne'ohe, Hawai'i, United States of America.

Successful reproduction and survival are crucial to the continuation and resilience of corals globally. As reef waters warm due to climate change, episodic largescale tropical storms are becoming more frequent, drastically altering the near shore water quality for short periods of time. Therefore, it is critical that we understand the effects warming waters, fresh water input, and run-off have on sexual reproduction of coral. Read More

PLoS One 2020 1;15(7):e0233912. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.

This article reports Australia's first confirmed ancient underwater archaeological sites from the continental shelf, located off the Murujuga coastline in north-western Australia. Details on two underwater sites are reported: Cape Bruguieres, comprising > 260 recorded lithic artefacts at depths down to -2.4 m below sea level, and Flying Foam Passage where the find spot is associated with a submerged freshwater spring at -14 m. Read More

J Anat 2020 06 24;236(6):1160-1166. Epub 2020 Feb 24.

Aquatic Toxicology Laboratory, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, USA.

Assessing the factors that contribute to successful locomotor performance can provide critical insight into how animals survive in challenging habitats. Locomotion is powered by muscles, so that differences in the relative proportions of red (slow-oxidative) vs. white (fast-glycolytic) fibers can have significant implications for locomotor performance. Read More

J Hered 2020 02;111(1):70-83

Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai'i, Kaneohe, HI.

Species flocks are proliferations of closely-related species, usually after colonization of depauperate habitat. These radiations are abundant on oceanic islands and in ancient freshwater lakes, but rare in marine habitats. This contrast is well documented in the Hawaiian Archipelago, where terrestrial examples include the speciose silverswords (sunflower family Asteraceae), Drosophila fruit flies, and honeycreepers (passerine birds), all derived from one or a few ancestral lineages. Read More

Ecol Appl 2019 06 25;29(4):e01891. Epub 2019 Apr 25.

Department of Botany, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA.

Declining natural resources have contributed to a cultural renaissance across the Pacific that seeks to revive customary ridge-to-reef management approaches to protect freshwater and restore abundant coral reef fisheries. We applied a linked land-sea modeling framework based on remote sensing and empirical data, which couples groundwater nutrient export and coral reef models at fine spatial resolution. This spatially explicit (60 × 60 m) framework simultaneously tracks changes in multiple benthic and fish indicators as a function of community-led marine closures, land-use and climate change scenarios. Read More

PLoS One 2018 14;13(3):e0193230. Epub 2018 Mar 14.

Department of Botany, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.

Declining natural resources have led to a cultural renaissance across the Pacific that seeks to revive customary ridge-to-reef management approaches to protect freshwater and restore abundant coral reef fisheries. Effective ridge-to-reef management requires improved understanding of land-sea linkages and decision-support tools to simultaneously evaluate the effects of terrestrial and marine drivers on coral reefs, mediated by anthropogenic activities. Although a few applications have linked the effects of land cover to coral reefs, these are too coarse in resolution to inform watershed-scale management for Pacific Islands. Read More

PLoS One 2017 16;12(11):e0187951. Epub 2017 Nov 16.

Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai'i Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.

Aquaculture accounts for almost one-half of global fish consumption. Understanding the regional impact of climate fluctuations on aquaculture production thus is critical for the sustainability of this crucial food resource. The objective of this work was to understand the role of climate fluctuations and climate change in subtropical coastal estuarine environments within the context of aquaculture practices in He'eia Fishpond, O'ahu Island, Hawai'i. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2017 Dec 22;51(23):13976-13984. Epub 2017 Nov 22.

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan , 1100 N University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States.

The complex biogeochemical cycle of Hg makes identifying primary sources of fish tissue Hg problematic. To identify sources and provide insight into this cycle, we combined carbon (δC), nitrogen amino acid (δN), and Hg isotope (ΔHg, ΔHg, δHg) data for six species of Hawaiian marine bottomfish. Results from these isotopic systems identified individuals within species that likely fed from separate food webs. Read More

Insect Sci 2018 Apr 14;25(2):199-210. Epub 2017 Mar 14.

Department of Environment, Ecology & Evolution, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

The so called witchetty grub is a publicized food source for Australian Aborigines. Despite heavy use, the identities and number of species consumed is still not known because of the lack of identified voucher specimens. Taxonomy based on adults makes identification of larval forms difficult. Read More

BMC Health Serv Res 2016 11 10;16(1):645. Epub 2016 Nov 10.

The Onemda Group, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Background: Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) provide community-focussed and culturally safe services for First Peoples in Australia, including crisis intervention and health promotion activities, in a holistic manner. The ecological model of health promotion goes some way towards describing the complexity of such health programs. The aims of this project were to: 1) identify the aims and purpose of existing health promotion programs conducted by an alliance of ACCOs in northern Victoria, Australia; and 2) evaluate the extent to which these programs are consistent with an ecological model of health promotion, addressing both individual and environmental determinants of health. Read More

PeerJ 2016 1;4:e2426. Epub 2016 Sep 1.

Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.

For most species the timing of extinction events is uncertain, occurring sometime after the last sighting. However, the sightings themselves may also be uncertain. Recently a number of methods have been developed that incorporate sighting uncertainty in the inference of extinction based on a series of sightings. Read More

Parasitology 2016 10 11;143(12):1605-14. Epub 2016 Jul 11.

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,Tulane University,New Orleans,LA 70118,USA.

The presence of introduced hosts can increase or decrease infections of co-introduced parasites in native species of conservation concern. In this study, we compared parasite abundance, intensity, and prevalence between native Awaous stamineus and introduced poeciliid fishes by a co-introduced nematode parasite (Camallanus cotti) in 42 watersheds across the Hawaiian Islands. We found that parasite abundance, intensity and prevalence were greater in native than introduced hosts. Read More

J Exp Biol 2016 10 28;219(Pt 19):3100-3105. Epub 2016 Jul 28.

Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA.

Experimental measurements of escape performance in fishes have typically been conducted in still water; however, many fishes inhabit environments with flow that could impact escape behavior. We examined the influences of flow and predator attack direction on the escape behavior of fish, using juveniles of the amphidromous Hawaiian goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni In nature, these fish must escape ambush predation while moving through streams with high-velocity flow. We measured the escape performance of juvenile gobies while exposing them to a range of water velocities encountered in natural streams and stimulating fish from three different directions. Read More

J Evol Biol 2016 Oct 21;29(10):2054-2069. Epub 2016 Jul 21.

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.

It is widely accepted that insular terrestrial biodiversity progresses with island age because colonization and diversification proceed over time. Here, we assessed whether this principle extends to oceanic island streams. We examined rangewide mtDNA sequence variation in four stream-dwelling species across the Hawaiian archipelago to characterize the relationship between colonization and demographic expansion, and to determine whether either factor reflects island age. Read More

Biol Bull 2015 Oct;229(2):134-42

Department of Biological Sciences and Molette Laboratory for Climate Change and Environmental Studies, Auburn University, 101 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg., Auburn, Alabama 36849.

Larvae in aquatic habitats often develop in environments different from those they inhabit as adults. Shrimp in the Atyidae exemplify this trend, as larvae of many species require salt or brackish water for development, while adults are freshwater-adapted. An exception within the Atyidae family is the "anchialine clade," which are euryhaline as adults and endemic to habitats with subterranean fresh and marine water influences. Read More

PeerJ 2015 4;3:e1136. Epub 2015 Aug 4.

Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai'i , Kāne'ohe, HI , USA.

Until recently, subtropical Hawai'i escaped the major bleaching events that have devastated many tropical regions, but the continued increases in global long-term mean temperatures and the apparent ending of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) cool phase have increased the risk of bleaching events. Climate models and observations predict that bleaching in Hawai'i will occur with increasing frequency and increasing severity over future decades. A freshwater "kill" event occurred during July 2014 in the northern part of Kāne'ohe Bay that reduced coral cover by 22. Read More

Mitochondrial DNA A DNA Mapp Seq Anal 2016 07 10;27(4):2710-8. Epub 2015 Jun 10.

a Department of Biological Sciences and Molette Laboratory for Climate Change and Environmental Studies , Auburn University , Auburn , AL , USA .

The Atyidae are caridean shrimp possessing hair-like setae on their claws and are important contributors to ecological services in tropical and temperate fresh and brackish water ecosystems. Complete mitochondrial genomes have only been reported from five of the 449 species in the family, thus limiting understanding of mitochondrial genome evolution and the phylogenetic utility of complete mitochondrial sequences in the Atyidae. Here, comparative analyses of complete mitochondrial genomes from eight genetic lineages of Halocaridina rubra, an atyid endemic to the anchialine ecosystem of the Hawaiian Archipelago, are presented. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2015 Jun 13;49(11):6909-18. Epub 2015 May 13.

∥Hawaii Department of Health, State Laboratory Division, 2725 Waimano Home Road, Pearl City, Hawaii 96782, United States.

In Hawaii, some of the most important commercial and recreational fishes comprise an assemblage of lutjanids and carangids called bottomfish. Despite their importance, we know little about their trophic ecology or where the mercury (Hg) that ultimately resides in their tissue originates. Here we investigated these topics, by analyzing muscle samples for mercury content, nitrogen, carbon, and amino acid specific nitrogen isotope ratios in six species distributed across different depths from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). Read More

BMC Ecol 2014 Oct 25;14:28. Epub 2014 Oct 25.

Background: A remarkable range of environmental conditions is present in the Hawaiian Islands due to their gradients of elevation, rainfall and island age. Despite being well known as a location for the study of evolutionary processes and island biogeography, little is known about the composition of the non-marine algal flora of the archipelago, its degree of endemism, or affinities with other floras. We conducted a biodiversity survey of the non-marine macroalgae of the six largest main Hawaiian Islands using molecular and microscopic assessment techniques. Read More

Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2014 Dec 1;178:109-20. Epub 2014 Sep 1.

Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.

Crustaceans generally act as oxy-regulators, maintaining constant oxygen uptake as oxygen partial pressures decrease, but when a critical low level is reached, ventilation and aerobic metabolism shut down. Cave-adapted animals, including crustaceans, often show a reduced metabolic rate possibly owing in part to the hypoxic nature of such environments. However, metabolic rates have not been thoroughly explored in crustaceans from anchialine habitats (coastal ponds and caves), which can experience variable oxygenic regimes. Read More

J Contam Hydrol 2014 Oct 25;166:1-10. Epub 2014 Jul 25.

Water Resources Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States. Electronic address:

The fate and transport of estrogen compounds in the environment is of increasing concern due to their potential impact on freshwater organisms, ecosystems and human health. The behavior of these compounds in batch experiments suggests low mobility, while field studies indicate the persistence of estrogen compounds in the soil with the possibility of migration to surface water as well as groundwater. To better understand the movement of these chemicals through soils, we examined their transport in three different Hawaiian soils and two aqueous matrices. Read More

J Exp Biol 2014 Jul 17;217(Pt 13):2309-20. Epub 2014 Apr 17.

Department of Biological Sciences and Cellular and Molecular Biosciences Program, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.

Studies of euryhaline crustaceans have identified conserved osmoregulatory adaptions allowing hyper-osmoregulation in dilute waters. However, previous studies have mainly examined decapod brachyurans with marine ancestries inhabiting estuaries or tidal creeks on a seasonal basis. Here, we describe osmoregulation in the atyid Halocaridina rubra, an endemic Hawaiian shrimp of freshwater ancestry from the islands' anchialine ecosystem (coastal ponds with subsurface freshwater and seawater connections) that encounters near-continuous spatial and temporal salinity changes. Read More