Reef-scale impacts of the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak

Estrada‐Saldívar, Nuria; Molina‐Hernández, Ana; Pérez‐Cervantes, Esmeralda; Medellín‐Maldonado, Francisco; González‐Barrios, F. Javier; Álvarez‐Filip, Lorenzo

doi:10.1007/s00338-020-01949-z

Cited by 62 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Furthermore, it may also prevent coral recruitment and thus the recovery of populations that are highly affected by SCTLD (e.g., Birrell et al, 2005;Arnold et al, 2010;Brandt et al, 2019;Tebbett and Bellwood, 2019); a scenario that may worsen if stressors become more frequent and/or severe. In addition, the loss of highly susceptible coral species may also trigger an abrupt decrease in the accretion (growth) of the reef framework (Estrada-Saldívar et al, 2020), as most of the highly susceptible species to SCTLD are also important reef builders. A shift in the composition of reefbuilding corals and reef structure may not only compromise ecosystem resilience through a reduction in functional traits (González-Barrios et al, 2020;Molina-Hernández et al, 2020) but may also affect many other reef-associated species (Idjadi and Edmunds, 2006;Rogers et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using the data obtained from the coral surveys, we then calculated SCTLD prevalence for each site, time period, and coral species. To evaluate disease prevalence, we took into account diseased and recently deceased colonies to prevent underestimating the effects of the disease, as has been done in other similar studies (Miller et al, 2016;Neely, 2018;Alvarez-Filip et al, 2019;Gintert et al, 2019;Estrada-Saldívar et al, 2020). Siderastrea siderea showed different signs of infection (termed white-blotch syndrome in some studies; Gintert et al, 2019;Weil et al, 2019); however, we considered that this species was affected by SCTLD, as both the timing of when signs appeared and the disease progression were similar to what we observed for other species in Cozumel and elsewhere in the Mexican Caribbean (Alvarez-Filip et al, 2019).…”

Section: Coral Community Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A rigorous evaluation throughout the Mexican Caribbean determined that the disease afflicted all mainland reefs surveyed along the shore within a few months, as the onset of SCTLD in this region occurred in summer 2018; however, due to the high variability in disease prevalence among these sites, a geographical gradient was not evident (Alvarez-Filip et al, 2019). So far, SCTLD may have considerably altered the structure of the coral communities and decreased their physical functionality in the region (Alvarez-Filip et al, 2019;Estrada-Saldívar et al, 2020). In contrast to what was observed in the mainland reefs, SCTLD was first observed in December 2018 on the western coast of Cozumel Island.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak on Coral Communities and the Benthic Composition of Cozumel Reefs

et al. 2021

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In the Caribbean, disease outbreaks have emerged as significant drivers of coral mortality. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a novel white plague-type disease that was first reported off the Florida coast in 2014. This disease affects >20 coral species and is spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean. In December 2018, SCTLD reached southwestern (SW) Cozumel, one of the healthiest reef systems in the Caribbean. In this study, we integrate data from multiple survey protocols conducted between July 2018 and April 2020 to track the progression of the outbreak in SW Cozumel and to quantify the impacts of SCTLD on coral communities and the benthic composition of reefs. Given that the SCTLD outbreak coincided with a period of prolonged thermal stress that concluded in widespread coral bleaching in autumn 2019, we also investigated whether this event further exacerbated coral mortality. Our findings show that SCTLD spread throughout SW Cozumel in only 2 months and reached a peak after only 5 months. By the summer of 2019, most of the afflicted corals were already dead. Species of the families Meandrinidae, Faviinae, and Montastraeidae showed 33–95% mortality. The widespread coral die-off caused an overall loss of 46% in coral cover followed by a rapid increase of algae cover across all surveyed reefs that persisted until at least April 2020. In November 2019, more than 15% of surveyed coral colonies were bleached. However, we did not find that bleaching further increased coral mortality at either the colony or the community level, which suggests that the coral communities were able to recover from this event despite still being affected by the disease. In conclusion, SCTLD is radically changing the ecology of coral reefs by decimating the populations of several key reef-builders and reconfiguring the benthic assemblages. The actions needed to restore coral populations have to be accompanied by stringent controls related to the effects of climate change, coastal development, and wastewater treatment to improve coral conditions and ecosystem resilience.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coral Community Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak on Coral Communities and the Benthic Composition of Cozumel Reefs

et al. 2021

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“…For perspective, this contrasts with COVID-19 mortality rates of about 1.8 % in the United States (source, Johns Hopkins University December 9, 2020; https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/). Even more upsetting, the disease is now killing corals throughout the Caribbean (Alverez-Filip 2018;The Daily Herald 2018;Alvarez-Filip et al 2019;DPNR 2019;Lubofsky 2019;Martin 2019;Talbot 2019;Estrada-Saldıvar et al 2020;Dahlgren 2020), and again the same general suite of species are implicated with similar levels of coral mortality (Henderson et al 2019). For instance, on reef sites monitored throughout the Yucatan of Mexico, Alvarez-Filip et al (2019) noted "our percentage of afflicted colonies by the SCTLD is similar to what was observed in Florida during 2014-2015, where they registered a 30% proportion of afflicted colonies.".…”

Section: The Outbreakmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure to respond to a coral disease epizootic in Florida: causes and consequences

Precht¹

2021

ReEco

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Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in September 2014 near Virginia Key, Florida. In roughly six years, the disease spread throughout Florida and into the greater Caribbean basin. The high prevalence of SCTLD and high resulting mortality in coral populations, and the large number of susceptible species affected, suggest that this outbreak is one of the most lethal ever recorded. The initial recognition and management response to this catastrophic disease in Florida was slow, which delayed the start of monitoring programs and prevented coordinated research programs by at least two years. The slow management response was a result of several factors that operated concurrently. First, the Port Miami dredging project was ongoing during the coral disease epidemic and dredging rather than SCTLD was blamed by some managers and local environmental groups for the extreme coral losses reported in the project’s compliance monitoring program. Second, this blame was amplified in the media because dredging projects are intuitively assumed to be bad for coral reefs. Third, during this same time State of Florida policy prohibited government employees to acknowledge global warming in their work. This was problematic because ocean warming is a proximal cause of many coral diseases. As a result, the well-known links between warming and coral disease were ignored. A consequence of this policy was that the dredging project provided an easy target to blame for the coral mortality noted in the monitoring program, despite convincing data that suggested otherwise. Specifically, results from the intensive compliance monitoring program, conducted by trained scientific divers, were clear. SCTLD that was killing massive numbers of corals throughout Florida was also killing corals at the dredge site – and in the same proportions and among the same suite of species. While eradication of the disease was never a possibility, early control measures may have slowed its spread or allowed for the rescue of significant numbers of large colonies of iconic species. This coral disease outbreak has similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and there are lessons learned from both that will improve disease response outcomes in the future, to the benefit of coral reefs and human populations.

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“…A recent devastating disease outbreak, termed stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) originated in southeast Florida (Precht et al, 2016;Walton et al, 2018) and has spread to the Florida Keys and other areas in the Caribbean (Alvarez-Filip et al, 2019;Weil et al, 2019). SCTLD has affected at least 24 coral species and resulted in very high levels of mortality between initial onset in 2014 and the present (Precht et al, 2016;Walton et al, 2018;Estrada-Saldívar et al, 2020;Heres et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated ex situ Spawning in Two Highly Disease Susceptible Corals in the Family Meandrinidae

et al. 2021

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Members of the family Meandrinidae are highly susceptible to stony coral tissue loss disease, resulting in population reductions up to 88% in both Dendrogyra cylindrus and Meandrina meandrites along the Florida Reef Tract. Reductions in abundance on this scale leave these species susceptible to limitations in sexual reproduction and natural recovery without intervention. In response to the ongoing outbreak of the disease across the Caribbean, a variety of genetic rescue projects have been implemented to bring disease susceptible species into ex situ culture and preserve living genetic diversity. In this study, corals being held in a long-term ex situ genetic bank were maintained using artificial lighting and temperature cues programmed to mimic natural cycles in Key Largo, FL, United States. Synchronized broadcast spawning events in both species were documented in aquaria over two annual spawning cycles in 2019 and 2020. Timing of gamete release relative to the perceived date and sunset was highly synchronized with wild observations. Up to 21 unique D. cylindrus genotypes collected from reef locations spanning over 230 km contributed gametes to the larval pool. The majority of these parental colonies are no longer alive in the wild. Repeatable and predictable ex situ spawning events such as these will become an essential tool for managed breeding and assisted fertilization in species suffering from severe population declines. These annual events have the potential to produce thousands of genetically diverse offspring for restoration efforts and offer future hope for the long-term survival of these threatened species.

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Reef-scale impacts of the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak

Cited by 62 publications

References 17 publications

Effects of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak on Coral Communities and the Benthic Composition of Cozumel Reefs

Effects of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak on Coral Communities and the Benthic Composition of Cozumel Reefs

Failure to respond to a coral disease epizootic in Florida: causes and consequences

Repeated ex situ Spawning in Two Highly Disease Susceptible Corals in the Family Meandrinidae

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