Biological Science Faculty Member
Laboratory Home Page
Associate Professor
Ph.D, University of Queensland, Australia, 2011
Graduate Faculty Status
Dr. Scott Burgess is currently recruiting new graduate students for Fall 2026.
Research and Professional Interests:
My research combines ecological and evolutionary principles to study the population biology of coastal marine invertebrates (such as corals, bryozoans, and gastropods). One main focus is on the evolution of dispersal, reproductive strategies, and life histories. Another main focus is on the ecology and evolution of cryptic species of corals in the genus Pocillopora. We typically use some combination of field and laboratory experiments, population, quantitative, and molecular genetics, and mathematical modeling/theory.
Please see the Lab home page for more info and publications.
Selected Publications:
Peniston, J., & Burgess, S. C. (in press). Larval and adult traits coevolve in response to asymmetric coastal currents to shape marine dispersal kernels. The American Naturalist. https://doi.org/10.1086/728003
Hooks, A., & Burgess, S. C. (in press). Variation in polyandry, reproductive output, and within-brood genetic diversity in a marine snail population across seasons and years. Marine Ecology Progress Series
Burgess, S. C., Powell, J., & Bueno, M. (2023). Dispersal, kin aggregation, and the fitness consequences of not spreading sibling larvae. Ecology, 104, e3858. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3858
Wyatt, A. S., Leichter, J. J., Washburn, L., Kui, L., Edmunds, P., & Burgess, S. C. (2023). Hidden heatwaves and severe coral bleaching linked to mesoscale eddies and thermocline dynamics. Nature Communications, 14, 25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35550-5
Johnston, E. C., & Burgess, S. C. (2023). Pocillopora tuahiniensis: a new species of scleractinian coral (Scleractinia, Pocilloporidae) from French Polynesia. Zootaxa, 5369, 117-124. https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5369.1.5
Edmunds, P. J., Johnson, K. W., & Burgess, S. C. (2022). Branching coral morphology affects physiological performance in the absence of colony integration. Biology Letters, 18, 20220414. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0414
Johnston, E. C., Cunning, R., & Burgess, S. C. (2022). Cophylogeny and specificity between cryptic coral species (Pocillopora spp.) at Mo'orea and their symbionts (Symbiodiniaceae). Molecular Ecology, 31, 5368– 5385. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16654
Burgess, S. C., Bode, M., Leis, J., & Mason, L. (2022). Individual variation in marine larval-fish swimming speed and the emergence of dispersal kernels. Oikos, 3, e08896. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.08896
Johnston, E. C., Wyatt, A. S., Leichter, J. J., & Burgess, S. C. (2022). Niche differences in co-occurring cryptic coral species (Pocillopora spp.). Coral Reefs, 41, 767-778. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02107-9
