The Ecology of ‘Acroporid White Syndrome', a Coral Disease from the Southern Great Barrier Reef

Outbreaks of coral disease have increased worldwide over the last few decades. Despite this, remarkably little is known about the ecology of disease in the Indo-Pacific Region. Here we report the spatiotemporal dynamics of a coral disease termed ‘Acroporid white syndrome’ observed to affect tabular corals of the genus Acropora on the southern Great Barrier Reef. The syndrome is characterised by rapid tissue loss initiating in the basal margins of colonies, and manifests as a distinct lesion boundary between apparently healthy tissue and exposed white skeleton. Surveys of eight sites around Heron Reef in 2004 revealed a mean prevalence of 8.1±0.9%, affecting the three common species (Acropora cytherea, A. hyacinthus, A. clathrata) and nine other tabular Acropora spp. While all sizes of colonies were affected, white syndrome disproportionately affected larger colonies of tabular Acroporids (>80 cm). The prevalence of white syndrome was strongly related to the abundance of tabular Acroporids within transects, yet the incidence of the syndrome appears unaffected by proximity to other colonies, suggesting that while white syndrome is density dependant, it does not exhibit a strongly aggregated spatial pattern consistent with previous coral disease outbreaks. Acroporid white syndrome was not transmitted by either direct contact in the field or by mucus in aquaria experiments. Monitoring of affected colonies revealed highly variable rates of tissue loss ranging from 0 to 1146 cm−2 week−1, amongst the highest documented for a coral disease. Contrary to previous links between temperature and coral disease, rates of tissue loss in affected colonies increased threefold during the winter months. Given the lack of spatial pattern and non-infectious nature of Acroporid white syndrome, further studies are needed to determine causal factors and longer-term implications of disease outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef

Mechanisms of Psychological Distress following War in the Former Yugoslavia: The Role of Interpersonal Sensitivity

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This study was funded by a grant from the European Commission, contract number INCO-CT-2004-509176. AN was supported by a Clinical Early Career Research Fellowship (113295) and a Project Grant (104288

Effectiveness of moorings constructed from rope in reducing impacts to seagrass

Seagrass meadows commonly reside in shallow sheltered coastal environments which are typically safe havens for mooring boats. There is evidence from around the globe that the use of common swinging chain moorings leads to halos of bare sediment in otherwise productive seagrass. These halos reduce animal abundance and diversity and lead to a loss of the carbon stored within sediments. To protect and enhance seagrass ecosystem services, low-cost simple solutions are required that can solve the problems of boating-based disturbance. In the present novel study, we provide evidence that the simple replacement of mooring chains with rope can significantly reduce damage to sensitive benthic habitats such as seagrass. At three locations across a range of environmental conditions, we provide evidence that well-established moorings constructed from rope do not damage seagrass. Overall, there was a significant effect (F1,756 = 299.46, p 0.001) of the mooring type and distance from the mooring base. This equates to a 44% increase in seagrass cover within areas around a rope mooring relative to a chain one. Most small boat mooring activity happens within the summer months, therefore large heavy-duty winter mooring systems are not required in many situations, opening opportunities for adapted systems that have a reduced environmental impact. The present study suggests that there is a ready-made, low-technology, low-cost solution already in existence for halting the widespread loss of seagrass from small boat mooring damage and allowing recovery and opportunity for restoration

High-resolution wave data for improving marine habitat suitability models

Habitat suitability modelling (HSM) is a tool that is increasingly being used to help guide decision making for conservation management. It can also be used to focus efforts of restoration in our oceans. To improve on model performance, the best available environmental data along with species distribution data are needed. Marine habitats tend to have ecological niches defined by physical environmental conditions and of particular importance for shallow water species is wave energy. In this study we examined the relative improvements to HSM outputs that could be achieved by producing high-resolution Delft-3D modelled wave height data to see if model predictions at a fine-scale can be improved. Seagrasses were used as an exemplar and comparisons at fine-scale showed considerable differences in the area predicted suitable for seagrass growth and greatly increased the importance of waves as a predictor variable when compared with open-source low resolution wave energy data

Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video

There remains limited knowledge of how offshore windfarm developments influence fish assemblages, particularly at a local scale around the turbine structures. Considering the existing levels of anthropogenic pressures on coastal fish populations it is becoming increasingly important for developers and environmental regulators to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing fish assemblages. Improving our ability to assess such fish populations in close proximity to structures will assist in increasing this knowledge. In the present study we provide the first trial use of Baited Remote Underwater Stereo-Video systems (stereo BRUVs) for the quantification of motile fauna in close proximity to offshore wind turbines. The study was conducted in the Irish Sea and finds the technique to be a viable means of assessing the motile fauna of such environments. The present study found a mixture of species including bottom dwellers, motile crustaceans and large predatory fish. The majority of taxa observed were found to be immature individuals with few adult individuals recorded. The most abundant species were the angular crab (Goneplax rhomboides) and the small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula). Of note in this study was the generally low abundance and diversity of taxa recorded across all samples, we hypothesise that this reflects the generally poor state of the local fauna of the Irish Sea. The faunal assemblages sampled in close proximity to turbines were observed to alter with increasing distance from the structure, species more characteristic of hard bottom environments were in abundance at the turbines (e.g. Homarus gammarus, Cancer pagarus, Scyliorhinus spp.) and those further away more characteristic of soft bottoms (e.g. Norwegian Lobster). This study highlights the need for the environmental impacts of offshore renewables on motile fauna to be assessed using targeted and appropriate tools. Stereo BRUVs provide one of those tools, but like the majority of methods for sampling marine biota, they have limitations. We conclude our paper by providing a discussion of the benefits and limitations of using this BRUV technique for assessing fauna within areas close to offshore windfarms

Silver–N-heterocyclic carbenes in π–Activation: Synergistic effects between the ligand ring size and the anion

A series of 12 silver­(I)–N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes were prepared featuring five- (both saturated and unsaturated backbone), six-, and seven-membered ring ligand scaffolds. The N-substituents of the NHCs were diisopropylphenyl in all cases, while the anion was varied between bromide, acetate, and triflate. The complexes were evaluated as catalysts in the spirocyclization of 1-(1H-indol-3-yl)-4-phenylbut-3-yn-2-one to give a spirocyclic indolenine product. To our knowledge, it is the first time that a systematic study has been conducted to examine the effects of both NHC ring size and anion in this type of silver-catalyzed reaction. While the acetate and triflate complexes catalyzed the reaction to 100% conversion, the bromide complexes exhibited a significant ligand/anion effect. Reactions catalyzed by both complexes bearing the five-membered ring NHC ligands and the complex bearing the seven-membered ring NHC ligand stalled after approximately two turnovers. However, the bromide complex bearing the six-membered ring NHC ligand catalyzes the reaction to almost full conversion, similarly to the acetate and triflate complexes. This demonstrates that the NHC ligand ring size can have a dramatic effect in these types of reactions and does not necessarily display a linear correlation