Florida's mystery coral-killer identified

Potential role of viruses in white plague coral disease

“…Caribbean WP is characterized by lesions that begin basally or peripherally on a colony, and then progress rapidly (mm to cm per day) across the colony surface resulting in partial to total colony mortality (Richardson et al, 2001;Miller et al, 2006;Weil et al, 2006). Three types of WP (I, II and III) are differentiated based on tissue loss progression rates, with type I progressing the slowest (a few mm per day), type II progressing at a maximum rate of 2 cm per day and type III progressing the fastest (42 cm per day; Dustan, 1977;Richardson et al, 1998Richardson et al, , 2001. Although an infectious agent, the bacterium Aurantimonas coralicida, was hypothesized to be the cause of WP type II in the coral Dichocoenia stokesii (Richardson et al, 1998;Denner et al, 2003), A. coralicida is not always associated with WP-infected coral colonies.…”

“…Three types of WP (I, II and III) are differentiated based on tissue loss progression rates, with type I progressing the slowest (a few mm per day), type II progressing at a maximum rate of 2 cm per day and type III progressing the fastest (42 cm per day; Dustan, 1977;Richardson et al, 1998Richardson et al, , 2001. Although an infectious agent, the bacterium Aurantimonas coralicida, was hypothesized to be the cause of WP type II in the coral Dichocoenia stokesii (Richardson et al, 1998;Denner et al, 2003), A. coralicida is not always associated with WP-infected coral colonies. For example, this bacterium was associated with healthy but not WP-infected Montastraea annularis colonies (Pantos et al, 2003) or WP-infected colonies from different geographic regions and/or host species (Siderastrea, Diploria; Sunagawa et al, 2009;Cárdenas et al, 2012).…”

Ecological Shifts along the Florida Reef Tract: The Past as a Key to the Future

“…Ecological Shifts along the Florida Reef Tract 277 be surprising that some should be opportunistic pathogens of fish and marine invertebrates, including corals that are already stressed. Beginning in the 1970s and continuing through today, coral diseases or disease-like syndromes have appeared in other coral species throughout the Caribbean (Antonius 1977;Edmunds 1991;Nagelkerken et al 1997;Santavy et al 1999;Garzon-Ferreira et al 2001), Bermuda (Garrett and Ducklow 1975), and the Florida Keys (Dustan and Halas 1987;Kuta and Richardson 1996;Richardson et al 1998;Santavy et al 2001;Patterson et al 2002). Other environmental stressors such as pollution, increased nutrients, increased iron supply, African dust, and temperature may be associated with coral disease outbreaks, yet no firm connections have been established (Shinn 1996(Shinn , 2001Epstein et al 1998;Hayes and Goreau 1998;Harvell et al 1999;Hayes et al 2001;Jackson et al 2001;Richardson and Aronson 2002;Bruno et al 2004).…”

Investigating the Driving Mechanisms Behind Differences in Bleaching and Disease Susceptibility Between Two Scleractinian Corals, Pseudodiploria Strigosa and Diploria Labyrinthiformis

“…plague is one such coral disease. White plague was originally described in 1977 (Dustan 1977), and in one epizootic event it has been documented to kill up to 38% of the more vulnerable coral species (Richardson et al 1998a and1998b). As with the majority of coral disease, white plague is identified on the basis of macroscopic phenotypic characteristics (Ainsworth et al 2007), primarily a distinct, rapidly progressing boundary between coral diseased tissue and recently exposed (white) skeleton (Dustan 1977;Bythell et al 2004).…”

“…As with the majority of coral disease, white plague is identified on the basis of macroscopic phenotypic characteristics (Ainsworth et al 2007), primarily a distinct, rapidly progressing boundary between coral diseased tissue and recently exposed (white) skeleton (Dustan 1977;Bythell et al 2004). Three types of white plague (Types I, II, and III) have been defined by lesion progression rate, prevalence rates, and coral species affected (Richardson 1998b;Richardson et al 2001;Bythell et al 2004). However, there is a need to apply microbiological, histological, and cytological methods in addition to physiological characteristics, when describing coral diseases such as white plague (Richardson et al 2001;Ainsworth et al 2007;Kellogg et al 2013;Bourne et al 2015).…”