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The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef

Outbreaks of coral disease have increased worldwide over the last few decades. Despite this, remarkably little is known about the ecology of disease in the Indo-Pacific Region. Here we report the spatiotemporal dynamics of a coral disease termed ‘Acroporid white syndrome’ observed to affect tabular...

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Autores principales: Roff, George, Kvennefors, E. Charlotte E., Fine, Maoz, Ortiz, Juan, Davy, Joanne E., Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3233547/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22163267
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026829
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author Roff, George
Kvennefors, E. Charlotte E.
Fine, Maoz
Ortiz, Juan
Davy, Joanne E.
Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove
author_facet Roff, George
Kvennefors, E. Charlotte E.
Fine, Maoz
Ortiz, Juan
Davy, Joanne E.
Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove
author_sort Roff, George
collection PubMed
description Outbreaks of coral disease have increased worldwide over the last few decades. Despite this, remarkably little is known about the ecology of disease in the Indo-Pacific Region. Here we report the spatiotemporal dynamics of a coral disease termed ‘Acroporid white syndrome’ observed to affect tabular corals of the genus Acropora on the southern Great Barrier Reef. The syndrome is characterised by rapid tissue loss initiating in the basal margins of colonies, and manifests as a distinct lesion boundary between apparently healthy tissue and exposed white skeleton. Surveys of eight sites around Heron Reef in 2004 revealed a mean prevalence of 8.1±0.9%, affecting the three common species (Acropora cytherea, A. hyacinthus, A. clathrata) and nine other tabular Acropora spp. While all sizes of colonies were affected, white syndrome disproportionately affected larger colonies of tabular Acroporids (>80 cm). The prevalence of white syndrome was strongly related to the abundance of tabular Acroporids within transects, yet the incidence of the syndrome appears unaffected by proximity to other colonies, suggesting that while white syndrome is density dependant, it does not exhibit a strongly aggregated spatial pattern consistent with previous coral disease outbreaks. Acroporid white syndrome was not transmitted by either direct contact in the field or by mucus in aquaria experiments. Monitoring of affected colonies revealed highly variable rates of tissue loss ranging from 0 to 1146 cm(−2) week(−1), amongst the highest documented for a coral disease. Contrary to previous links between temperature and coral disease, rates of tissue loss in affected colonies increased threefold during the winter months. Given the lack of spatial pattern and non-infectious nature of Acroporid white syndrome, further studies are needed to determine causal factors and longer-term implications of disease outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef.
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spelling pubmed-32335472011-12-12 The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef Roff, George Kvennefors, E. Charlotte E. Fine, Maoz Ortiz, Juan Davy, Joanne E. Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove PLoS One Research Article Outbreaks of coral disease have increased worldwide over the last few decades. Despite this, remarkably little is known about the ecology of disease in the Indo-Pacific Region. Here we report the spatiotemporal dynamics of a coral disease termed ‘Acroporid white syndrome’ observed to affect tabular corals of the genus Acropora on the southern Great Barrier Reef. The syndrome is characterised by rapid tissue loss initiating in the basal margins of colonies, and manifests as a distinct lesion boundary between apparently healthy tissue and exposed white skeleton. Surveys of eight sites around Heron Reef in 2004 revealed a mean prevalence of 8.1±0.9%, affecting the three common species (Acropora cytherea, A. hyacinthus, A. clathrata) and nine other tabular Acropora spp. While all sizes of colonies were affected, white syndrome disproportionately affected larger colonies of tabular Acroporids (>80 cm). The prevalence of white syndrome was strongly related to the abundance of tabular Acroporids within transects, yet the incidence of the syndrome appears unaffected by proximity to other colonies, suggesting that while white syndrome is density dependant, it does not exhibit a strongly aggregated spatial pattern consistent with previous coral disease outbreaks. Acroporid white syndrome was not transmitted by either direct contact in the field or by mucus in aquaria experiments. Monitoring of affected colonies revealed highly variable rates of tissue loss ranging from 0 to 1146 cm(−2) week(−1), amongst the highest documented for a coral disease. Contrary to previous links between temperature and coral disease, rates of tissue loss in affected colonies increased threefold during the winter months. Given the lack of spatial pattern and non-infectious nature of Acroporid white syndrome, further studies are needed to determine causal factors and longer-term implications of disease outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef. Public Library of Science 2011-12-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3233547/ /pubmed/22163267 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026829 Text en Roff et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Roff, George
Kvennefors, E. Charlotte E.
Fine, Maoz
Ortiz, Juan
Davy, Joanne E.
Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove
The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef
title The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef
title_full The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef
title_fullStr The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef
title_full_unstemmed The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef
title_short The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef
title_sort ecology of ‘acroporid white syndrome', a coral disease from the southern great barrier reef
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3233547/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22163267
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026829
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