21 research outputs found
Coral disease time series highlight size-dependent risk and other drivers of white syndrome in a multi-species model
Coral diseases contribute to the decline of reef communities, but factors that lead to disease are difficult to detect. In the present study, we develop a multi-species model of colony-scale risk for the class of coral diseases referred to as White Syndromes, investigating the role of current or past conditions, including both environmental stressors and biological drivers at the colony and community scales. Investigating 7 years of coral survey data at five sites in Guam we identify multiple environmental and ecological associations with White Syndrome, including a negative relationship between short-term heat stress and White Syndrome occurrence, and strong evidence of increasing size-dependent White Syndrome risk across coral species. Our findings result in a generalized model used to predict colony-scale White Syndrome risk for multiple species, highlighting the value of long-term monitoring efforts to detect drivers of coral disease
Growth anomalies on the coral genera Acropora and Porites are strongly associated with host density and human population size across the Indo-Pacific
Growth anomalies (GAs) are common, tumor-like diseases that can cause significant morbidity and decreased fecundity in the major Indo-Pacific reef-building coral genera, Acropora and Porites. GAs are unusually tractable for testing hypotheses about drivers of coral disease because of their pan-Pacific distributions, relatively high occurrence, and unambiguous ease of identification. We modeled multiple disease-environment associations that may underlie the prevalence of Acropora growth anomalies (AGA) (n = 304 surveys) and Porites growth anomalies (PGA) (n = 602 surveys) from across the Indo-Pacific. Nine predictor variables were modeled, including coral host abundance, human population size, and sea surface temperature and ultra-violet radiation anomalies. Prevalence of both AGAs and PGAs were strongly host density-dependent. PGAs additionally showed strong positive associations with human population size. Although this association has been widely posited, this is one of the first broad-scale studies unambiguously linking a coral disease with human population size. These results emphasize that individual coral diseases can show relatively distinct patterns of association with environmental predictors, even in similar diseases (growth anomalies) found on different host genera (Acropora vs. Porites). As human densities and environmental degradation increase globally, the prevalence of coral diseases like PGAs could increase accordingly, halted only perhaps by declines in host density below thresholds required for disease establishment
Water temperature recorded at the Luminao reef flat, Guam, in 2014-2015
This dataset provides water temperature measurements at the Luminao reef flat, Guam, in 2014 to 2015. They were conducted by the Raymundo Lab (University of Guam, Marine Laboratory), using an in situ mounted temperature logger that logged with an hourly resolution. They provide background temperature conditions at the native reef site of the Pocillopora acuta mother colonies' thermal acclimation study. Diurnal temperature characteristics are provided as daily minimum, maximum, and mean temperature values including the standard deviation around mean temperature
Underwater fluorescence on nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014 (Reef Resilience in Guam project)
Dataset: PAM fluorescenceMaximum excitation pressure of Symbiodinium assemblages was assessed as an indicator for holobiont photosynthetic performance of Pocillopora damicornis in shallow (1-2m), back reef and P. eydouxi in deeper fore reef (>3m).
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/639986NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-141867
Temperature and light intensity at 7 locations from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014 (Reef Resilience in Guam project)
Dataset: Temperature and LightTemperature and light intensity data from seven locations from the nearshore reefs in Guam, January to August 2014.
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/640026NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-141867
Coral health survey from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014 (Reef Resilience in Guam project)
Dataset: Coral health surveyCoral health survey from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014.
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/639879NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-141867
Coral surveys from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014 (Reef Resilience in Guam project)
Dataset: Colony monitoringCoral surveys from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014.
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/639899NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-141867
Visual substrate classification along transects from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014 (Reef Resilience in Guam project)
Dataset: Line Intercept Substrate SurveysVisual survey of substrate types along transects 10 m x 5 contiguous segments. Substrates were classified along the transects at 50 cm intervals from the nearshore reefs in Guam during 2014.
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/640007NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-141867
List of coral species with codes from nearshore reefs in Guam in 2014 (Reef Resilience in Guam project)
Dataset: Species listList of coral species with codes surveyed at stations from nearshore reefs in Guam in 2014.
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/639865NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-141867