Prevalence, severity, lethality, and recovery of dark spots syndrome among three Floridian reef-building corals

Porter, James W.; Torres, Cecilia; Sutherland, Kathryn Patterson; Meyers, Meredith K.; Callahan, Michael K.; Ruzicka, Rob; Colella, Michael A.

doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2011.07.027

Cited by 16 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Of the remaining S. siderea coral cover in the Florida Keys, ca. 1% is lost annually from DSS under normal conditions (Porter et al ., ); our data suggest that, at a minimum, chronic nutrient exposure could triple this loss rate to 3% per year given the increase in both disease prevalence and severity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared with another recently published survey, we found that within our control surveys, the prevalence of DSS for S. siderea was comparable to that recorded in this region of the Florida Keys from 2002 to 2004 (ca. 17 in ours vs. 13%) (Porter et al ., ). In contrast, we found that S. siderea in the nutrient‐enriched plots had DSS prevalence of 46%, which was >3.5x the mean prevalence rates typically recorded for this species in the Florida Keys, strongly suggesting that nutrients play a major role in the etiology of this disease and perhaps other diseases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chronic nutrient enrichment increases prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching

Thurber

Burkepile

Fuchs

et al. 2013

Global Change Biology

405

306

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Nutrient loading is one of the strongest drivers of marine habitat degradation. Yet, the link between nutrients and disease epizootics in marine organisms is often tenuous and supported only by correlative data. Here, we present experimental evidence that chronic nutrient exposure leads to increases in both disease prevalence and severity and coral bleaching in scleractinian corals, the major habitat-forming organisms in tropical reefs. Over 3 years, from June 2009 to June 2012, we continuously exposed areas of a coral reef to elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. At the termination of the enrichment, we surveyed over 1200 scleractinian corals for signs of disease or bleaching. Siderastrea siderea corals within enrichment plots had a twofold increase in both the prevalence and severity of disease compared with corals in unenriched control plots. In addition, elevated nutrient loading increased coral bleaching; Agaricia spp. of corals exposed to nutrients suffered a 3.5-fold increase in bleaching frequency relative to control corals, providing empirical support for a hypothesized link between nutrient loading and bleaching-induced coral declines. However, 1 year later, after nutrient enrichment had been terminated for 10 months, there were no differences in coral disease or coral bleaching prevalence between the previously enriched and control treatments. Given that our experimental enrichments were well within the ranges of ambient nutrient concentrations found on many degraded reefs worldwide, these data provide strong empirical support to the idea that coastal nutrient loading is one of the major factors contributing to the increasing levels of both coral disease and coral bleaching. Yet, these data also suggest that simple improvements to water quality may be an effective way to mitigate some coral disease epizootics and the corresponding loss of coral cover in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic nutrient enrichment increases prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching

Thurber

Burkepile

Fuchs

et al. 2013

Global Change Biology

405

306

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Less is known about the relative impacts of nitrogen and phosphorus on coral diseases, such as Dark Spot Syndrome (DSS) in scleractinian corals. DSS is one of the most common diseases of corals in the Florida Keys, representing 71% of all diseased corals and typically afflicting 26% of Montastrea annularis colonies and 8% of Siderastrea siderea colonies on most reefs (Porter et al, 2011). DSS is identified by darkened pigmentation of the coral tissue resulting in purple, black, or brown lesions that can either be circular or elongate (Weil, 2004;Gochfeld et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corals and Their Microbiomes Are Differentially Affected by Exposure to Elevated Nutrients and a Natural Thermal Anomaly

et al. 2018

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Nutrient pollution can increase the prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching in ambient temperature conditions or during experimental thermal challenge. However, there have been few opportunities to study the effects of nutrient pollution during natural thermal anomalies. Here we present results from an experiment conducted during the 2014 bleaching event in the Florida Keys, USA, that exposed Agaricia sp. (Undaria) and Siderastrea siderea corals to 3 types of elevated nutrients: nitrogen alone, phosphorous alone, and the combination of nitrogen and phosphorus. Overall, bleaching prevalence and severity was high regardless of treatment, but nitrogen enrichment alone both prolonged bleaching and increased coral mortality in Agaricia corals. At the same time, the elevated temperatures increased the prevalence of Dark Spot Syndrome (DSS), a disease typically associated with cold temperatures in Siderastrea siderea corals. However, nutrient exposure alone did not increase the prevalence or severity of disease, suggesting that thermal stress overwhelms the effects of nutrient pollution on this disease during such an extreme thermal event. Analysis of 78 Siderastrea siderea microbial metagenomes also showed that the thermal event was correlated with significant shifts in the composition and function of the associated microbiomes, and corals with DSS had microbiomes distinct from apparently healthy corals. In particular, we identified shifts in viral, archaeal, and fungal families. These shifts were likely driven by the extreme temperatures or other environmental co-variates occurring during the 2014 bleaching event. However, no microbial taxa were correlated with signs of DSS. Furthermore, although nutrient exposure did not affect microbial alpha diversity, it did significantly affect microbiome beta-diversity, an effect that was independent of time. These results suggest that strong thermal anomalies and local nutrient pollution both interact and act independently to alter coral health in a variety of ways, that ultimately contribute to disease, bleaching, and mortality of reefs in the Florida Keys.

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“…DSS is known to primarily affect three species of hermatypic coral: Stephanocoenia intersepta , Siderastrea siderea and Montastraea annularis [5], although visual signs are different among these species (see Weil 2004). [6] showed that within the Florida Keys 71.2% of corals surveyed showing signs of disease were infected by DSS, highlighting that it is one of the most commonly occurring diseases in the region. Furthermore, [7] suggested that the disease may in fact affect many other species of coral further highlighting the importance of this syndrome in coral ecology and population biology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of the Bacterial and Fungal Communities Associated with Different Lesion Sizes of Dark Spot Syndrome Occurring in the Coral Stephanocoenia intersepta

et al. 2013

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The number and prevalence of coral diseases/syndromes are increasing worldwide. Dark Spot Syndrome (DSS) afflicts numerous coral species and is widespread throughout the Caribbean, yet there are no known causal agents. In this study we aimed to characterise the microbial communities (bacteria and fungi) associated with DSS lesions affecting the coral Stephanocoenia intersepta using nonculture molecular techniques. Bacterial diversity of healthy tissues (H), those in advance of the lesion interface (apparently healthy AH), and three sizes of disease lesions (small, medium, and large) varied significantly (ANOSIM R = 0.052 p<0.001), apart from the medium and large lesions, which were similar in their community profile. Four bacteria fitted into the pattern expected from potential pathogens; namely absent from H, increasing in abundance within AH, and dominant in the lesions themselves. These included ribotypes related to Corynebacterium (KC190237), Acinetobacter (KC190251), Parvularculaceae (KC19027), and Oscillatoria (KC190271). Furthermore, two Vibrio species, a genus including many proposed coral pathogens, dominated the disease lesion and were absent from H and AH tissues, making them candidates as potential pathogens for DSS. In contrast, other members of bacteria from the same genus, such as V. harveyii were present throughout all sample types, supporting previous studies where potential coral pathogens exist in healthy tissues. Fungal diversity varied significantly as well, however the main difference between diseased and healthy tissues was the dominance of one ribotype, closely related to the plant pathogen, Rhytisma acerinum, a known causal agent of tar spot on tree leaves. As the corals’ symbiotic algae have been shown to turn to a darker pigmented state in DSS (giving rise to the syndromes name), the two most likely pathogens are R. acerinum and the bacterium Oscillatoria, which has been identified as the causal agent of the colouration in Black Band Disease, another widespread coral disease.

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Prevalence, severity, lethality, and recovery of dark spots syndrome among three Floridian reef-building corals

Cited by 16 publications

References 26 publications

Chronic nutrient enrichment increases prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching

Chronic nutrient enrichment increases prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching

Corals and Their Microbiomes Are Differentially Affected by Exposure to Elevated Nutrients and a Natural Thermal Anomaly

Characterisation of the Bacterial and Fungal Communities Associated with Different Lesion Sizes of Dark Spot Syndrome Occurring in the Coral Stephanocoenia intersepta

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