Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral,<i>Acropora cervicornis</i>

Miller, Margaret W.; Lohr, Kathryn E.; Cameron, Caitlin M.; Williams, Dana E.; Peters, Esther C.

doi:10.7717/peerj.541

Cited by 68 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…This reference area was chosen to provide a representative comparison, comprising similar reef habitats, prior to initiation of dredging. Coral disease impacts can be very site specific (e.g., Miller et al, 2014), so a more spatially comprehensive quantitative analysis of coral disease effects both in potential impact areas and regionally would be beneficial. However, the increased prevalence of indicators of sedimentation stress and partial mortality, as well as persistent standing sediment on reef substrates at the Port of Miami sedimentation assessment areas (Figs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting sedimentation impacts to coral reefs resulting from dredging the Port of Miami, Florida USA

Miller

Karazsia

Groves

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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The federal channel at Port of Miami, Florida, USA, was dredged between late 2013 and early 2015 to widen and deepen the channel. Due to the limited spatial extent of impact-assessment monitoring associated with the project, the extent of the dredging impacts on surrounding coral reefs has not been well quantified. Previously published remote sensing analyses, as well as agency and anecdotal reports suggest the most severe and largest area of sedimentation occurred on a coral reef feature referred to as the Inner Reef, particularly in the sector north of the channel. A confounding regional warm-water mass bleaching event followed by a coral disease outbreak during this same time frame made the assessment of dredging-related impacts to coral reefs adjacent to the federal channel difficult but still feasible. The current study sought to better understand the sedimentation impacts that occurred in the coral reef environment surrounding Port of Miami, to distinguish those impacts from other regional events or disturbances, and provide supplemental information on impact assessment that will inform discussions on compensatory mitigation requirements. To this end, in-water field assessments conducted after the completion of dredging and a time series analysis of tagged corals photographed pre-, during, and post-dredging, are used to discern dredging-related sedimentation impacts for the Inner Reef north. Results indicate increased sediment accumulation, severe in certain times and places, and an associated biological response (e.g., higher prevalence of partial mortality of corals) extended up to 700 m from the channel, whereas project-associated monitoring was limited to 50 m from the channel. These results can contribute to more realistic prediction of areas of indirect effect from dredging projects needed to accurately evaluate proposed projects and design appropriate compliance monitoring. Dredging projects near valuable and sensitive habitats subject to local and global stressors require monitoring methods capable of discerning non-dredging related impacts and adaptive management to ensure predicted and unpredicted project-related impacts are quantified. Anticipated increasing frequency and intensity of seasonal warming stress also suggests that manageable- but- unavoidable local stressors such as dredging should be partitioned from such seasonal thermal stress events.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting sedimentation impacts to coral reefs resulting from dredging the Port of Miami, Florida USA

Miller

Karazsia

Groves

et al. 2016

PeerJ

Self Cite

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“…In the Florida Keys, coral disease prevalence was highest at control reference treatments, potentially because of high densities of Acropora combined with no active maintenance of natural reef areas, and the overall history of disease-related loss of Caribbean species of Acropora [39,68]. The prevalence of predation scars, on the other hand, was highest at the restored treatments, likely reflecting fireworm predation on freshly planted A. cervicornis [61,69,70].…”

Section: Other Coral-based Indicators Of Reef Resilience Vary Among Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral Restoration Effectiveness: Multiregional Snapshots of the Long-Term Responses of Coral Assemblages to Restoration

et al. 2020

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Coral restoration is rapidly becoming a mainstream strategic reef management response to address dramatic declines in coral cover worldwide. Restoration success can be defined as enhanced reef functions leading to improved ecosystem services, with multiple benefits at socio-ecological scales. However, there is often a mismatch between the objectives of coral restoration programs and the metrics used to assess their effectiveness. In particular, the scales of ecological benefits currently assessed are typically limited in both time and space, often being limited to short-term monitoring of the growth and survival of transplanted corals. In this paper, we explore reef-scale responses of coral assemblages to restoration practices applied in four well-established coral restoration programs. We found that hard coral cover and structural complexity were consistently greater at restored compared to unrestored (degraded) sites. However, patterns in coral diversity, coral recruitment, and coral health among restored, unrestored, and reference sites varied across locations, highlighting differences in methodologies among restoration programs. Altogether, differences in program objectives, methodologies, and the state of nearby coral communities were key drivers of variability in the responses of coral assemblages to restoration. The framework presented here provides guidance to improve qualitative and quantitative assessments of coral restoration efforts and can be applied to further understanding of the role of restoration within resilience-based reef management.

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“…Even though Acropora cervicornis and the hybrid A. prolifera are the fastest growing coral species in the Caribbean, populations have failed to recover region-wide, 35 years after the disease-induced mass mortalities (Precht et al, 2002;Mumby et al, 2006), with only a few populations now covering large areas (Vargas-Ángel, Thomas & Hoke, 2003;Keck et al, 2005;Busch et al, 2016;D'Antonio, Gilliam & Walker, 2016). New colonies and medium size thickets are generally transient, succumbing to recurrent WBD, bleaching, storms, predation, algae overgrowth and/or local habitat deterioration (Aronson & Precht, 2001;Precht et al, 2010;Weil & Rogers, 2011;Miller et al, 2014;Goergen et al, 2019). Low population levels and a lack of significant recovery for roughly 30 years, led to A. palmata and A. cervicornis being listed as critically endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Aronson et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth dynamics in Acropora cervicornis and A. prolifera in southwest Puerto Rico

Weil

Hammerman

Becicka

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Natural population recovery of Acropora palmata, A. cervicornis and their hybrid, Acropora prolifera, have fluctuated significantly after their Caribbean-wide, diseaseinduced mass mortality in the early 1980s. Even though significant recovery has been observed in a few localities, recurrent disease outbreaks, bleaching, storm damage, local environmental deterioration, algae smothering, predation, low sexual recruitment and low survivorship have affected the expected, quick recovery of these weedy species. In this study, the status of three recovering populations of A. cervicornis and two of A. prolifera were assessed over one year using coral growth and mortality metrics, and changes in their associated algae and fish/invertebrate communities in three localities in the La Parguera Natural Reserve (LPNR), southwest coast of Puerto Rico. Five branches were tagged in each of 29, medium size (1-2 m in diameter) A. cervicornis and 18 A. prolifera colonies in the Media Luna, Mario and San Cristobal reefs off LPNR. Branches were measured monthly, together with observations to evaluate associated disease(s), algae accumulation and predation. A. cervicornis grew faster [3.1 ± 0.44 cm/month (= 37.2 cm/y)] compared to A. prolifera [2.6 ± 0.41 cm/month (= 31.2 cm/y)], and growth was significantly higher during Winter-Spring compared to Summer-Fall for both taxa (3.5 ± 0.58 vs. 0.53 ± 0.15 cm/month in A. cervicornis, and 2.43 ± 0.71 vs. 0.27 ± 0.20 cm/month in A. prolifera, respectively). Algal accumulation was only observed in A. cervicornis, and was higher during Spring-Summer compared to Fall-Winter (6.1 ± 0.91 cm/month and 3.8 ± 0.29 cm/month, respectively, (PERMANOVA, df = 2, MS = 10.2, p = 0.37)). Mortality associated with white band disease, algae smothering and fish/invertebrate predation was also higher in A. cervicornis and varied among colonies within sites, across sites and across season. The balance between tissue grow and mortality determines if colonies survive. This balance seems to be pushed to the high mortality side often by increasing frequency of high thermal anomalies, inducing bleaching and disease outbreaks and other factors, which have historically impacted the natural recovery of these taxa in the La Parguera Natural Reserve in Puerto Rico and possibly other areas in the region. Overall, results indicate variability in both growth and mortality rates in both taxa across localities and seasons, with A. cervicornis showing overall higher mortalities compared to A. prolifera.

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Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral,Acropora cervicornis

Cited by 68 publications

References 52 publications

Detecting sedimentation impacts to coral reefs resulting from dredging the Port of Miami, Florida USA

Detecting sedimentation impacts to coral reefs resulting from dredging the Port of Miami, Florida USA

Coral Restoration Effectiveness: Multiregional Snapshots of the Long-Term Responses of Coral Assemblages to Restoration

Growth dynamics in Acropora cervicornis and A. prolifera in southwest Puerto Rico

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