Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis
The threatened status (both ecologically and legally) of Caribbean staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, has prompted rapidly expanding efforts in culture and restocking, although tissue loss diseases continue to affect populations. In this study, disease surveillance and histopathological character...
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| Format: | Article |
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PeerJ Inc.
2014-08-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/541.pdf |
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| author | Margaret W. Miller Kathryn E. Lohr Caitlin M. Cameron Dana E. Williams Esther C. Peters |
| author_facet | Margaret W. Miller Kathryn E. Lohr Caitlin M. Cameron Dana E. Williams Esther C. Peters |
| author_sort | Margaret W. Miller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The threatened status (both ecologically and legally) of Caribbean staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, has prompted rapidly expanding efforts in culture and restocking, although tissue loss diseases continue to affect populations. In this study, disease surveillance and histopathological characterization were used to compare disease dynamics and conditions in both restored and extant wild populations. Disease had devastating effects on both wild and restored populations, but dynamics were highly variable and appeared to be site-specific with no significant differences in disease prevalence between wild versus restored sites. A subset of 20 haphazardly selected colonies at each site observed over a four-month period revealed widely varying disease incidence, although not between restored and wild sites, and a case fatality rate of 8%. A tropical storm was the only discernable environmental trigger associated with a consistent spike in incidence across all sites. Lastly, two field mitigation techniques, (1) excision of apparently healthy branch tips from a diseased colony, and (2) placement of a band of epoxy fully enclosing the diseased margin, gave equivocal results with no significant benefit detected for either treatment compared to controls. Tissue condition of associated samples was fair to very poor; unsuccessful mitigation treatment samples had severe degeneration of mesenterial filament cnidoglandular bands. Polyp mucocytes in all samples were infected with suspect rickettsia-like organisms; however, no bacterial aggregates were found. No histological differences were found between disease lesions with gross signs fitting literature descriptions of white-band disease (WBD) and rapid tissue loss (RTL). Overall, our results do not support differing disease quality, quantity, dynamics, nor health management strategies between restored and wild colonies of A. cervicornis in the Florida Keys. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:47:23Z |
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| id | doaj.art-8ef20cca6d3c4a28a3109e2b53ee037a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:47:23Z |
| publishDate | 2014-08-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-8ef20cca6d3c4a28a3109e2b53ee037a2023-12-03T10:33:30ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592014-08-012e54110.7717/peerj.541541Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornisMargaret W. Miller0Kathryn E. Lohr1Caitlin M. Cameron2Dana E. Williams3Esther C. Peters4NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami, FL, United StatesRosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, United StatesNOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami, FL, United StatesNOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami, FL, United StatesDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United StatesThe threatened status (both ecologically and legally) of Caribbean staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, has prompted rapidly expanding efforts in culture and restocking, although tissue loss diseases continue to affect populations. In this study, disease surveillance and histopathological characterization were used to compare disease dynamics and conditions in both restored and extant wild populations. Disease had devastating effects on both wild and restored populations, but dynamics were highly variable and appeared to be site-specific with no significant differences in disease prevalence between wild versus restored sites. A subset of 20 haphazardly selected colonies at each site observed over a four-month period revealed widely varying disease incidence, although not between restored and wild sites, and a case fatality rate of 8%. A tropical storm was the only discernable environmental trigger associated with a consistent spike in incidence across all sites. Lastly, two field mitigation techniques, (1) excision of apparently healthy branch tips from a diseased colony, and (2) placement of a band of epoxy fully enclosing the diseased margin, gave equivocal results with no significant benefit detected for either treatment compared to controls. Tissue condition of associated samples was fair to very poor; unsuccessful mitigation treatment samples had severe degeneration of mesenterial filament cnidoglandular bands. Polyp mucocytes in all samples were infected with suspect rickettsia-like organisms; however, no bacterial aggregates were found. No histological differences were found between disease lesions with gross signs fitting literature descriptions of white-band disease (WBD) and rapid tissue loss (RTL). Overall, our results do not support differing disease quality, quantity, dynamics, nor health management strategies between restored and wild colonies of A. cervicornis in the Florida Keys.https://peerj.com/articles/541.pdfRecoveryHistopathologyFlorida KeysTropical stormIncidenceRestoration |
| spellingShingle | Margaret W. Miller Kathryn E. Lohr Caitlin M. Cameron Dana E. Williams Esther C. Peters Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis PeerJ Recovery Histopathology Florida Keys Tropical storm Incidence Restoration |
| title | Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis |
| title_full | Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis |
| title_fullStr | Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis |
| title_short | Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis |
| title_sort | disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral acropora cervicornis |
| topic | Recovery Histopathology Florida Keys Tropical storm Incidence Restoration |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/541.pdf |
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