scholarly journals Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease biomarker bacteria identified in corals and overlying waters using a rapid field-based sequencing approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia C. Becker ◽  
Marilyn Brandt ◽  
Carolyn A. Miller ◽  
Amy Apprill
Keyword(s):  
Coral Disease ◽  
The United States ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Rna Sequences ◽  
Disease Biomarker ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Ribosomal Rna Sequences ◽  
Reef Tract

AbstractStony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a devastating disease. Since 2014, it has spread along the entire Florida Reef Tract, presumably via a water-borne vector, and into the greater Caribbean. It was first detected in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) in January 2019. To more quickly identify disease biomarker microbes, we developed a rapid pipeline for microbiome sequencing. Over a span of 10 days we collected, processed, and sequenced coral tissue and near-coral seawater microbiomes from diseased and apparently healthy Colpophyllia natans, Montastraea cavernosa, Meandrina meandrites and Orbicella franksi. Analysis of the resulting bacterial and archaeal 16S ribosomal RNA sequences revealed 25 biomarker amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) enriched in diseased tissue. These biomarker ASVs were additionally recovered in near-coral seawater (within 5 cm of coral surface), a potential recruitment zone for pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis of the biomarker ASVs belonging to Vibrio, Arcobacter, Rhizobiaceae, and Rhodobacteraceae revealed relatedness to other coral disease-associated bacteria and lineages novel to corals. Additionally, four ASVs (Algicola, Cohaesibacter, Thalassobius and Vibrio) were exact sequence matches to microbes previously associated with SCTLD. This work represents the first rapid coral disease sequencing effort and identifies biomarkers of SCTLD that could be targets for future SCTLD research.

scholarly journals The Emergence and Initial Impact of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) in the United States Virgin Islands

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn E. Brandt ◽  
Rosmin S. Ennis ◽  
Sonora S. Meiling ◽  
Joseph Townsend ◽  
Kathryn Cobleigh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Cover ◽  
The United States ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Disease Prevalence ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Focal Lesions ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Coral Communities ◽  
The U.S

Coral communities in the Caribbean face a new and deadly threat in the form of the highly virulent multi-host stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). In late January of 2019, a disease with signs and characteristics matching that of SCTLD was found affecting a reef off the coast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Identification of its emergence in the USVI provided the opportunity to document the initial evolution of its spatial distribution, coral species susceptibility characteristics, and its comparative impact on coral cover at affected and unaffected coral reef locations. Re-assessments at sentinel sites and long-term monitoring locations were used to track the spread of the disease, assess species affected, and quantify its impact. The disease was initially limited to the southwest of St. Thomas for several months, then spread around the island and to the neighboring island of St. John to the east. Differences in disease prevalence among species were similar to reports of SCTLD from other regions. Highly affected species included Colpophyllia natans, Eusmilia fastigiata, Montastraea cavernosa, Orbicella spp., and Pseudodiploria strigosa. Dendrogyra cylindrus and Meandrina meandrites were also highly affected but showed more variability in disease prevalence, likely due to initial low abundances and the rapid loss of colonies due to disease. Siderastrea spp. were less affected and showed lower prevalence. Species previously reported as unaffected or data deficient that were found to be affected by SCTLD included Agaricia spp., Madracis spp., and Mycetophyllia spp. We also observed multi-focal lesions at SCTLD-affected sites on colonies of Porites astreoides, despite that poritids have previously been considered low or not susceptible to SCTLD. Loss of coral cover due to acute tissue loss diseases, which were predominantly SCTLD, was significant at several monitoring locations and was more impactful than previous mass bleaching events at some sites. There are no signs that the USVI SCTLD outbreak is abating, therefore it is likely that this disease will become widespread across the U.S. Caribbean and British Virgin Islands in the near future.

scholarly journals Composition of Microbial Communities in Waters Around the Florida Reef Tract and Their Potential Significance for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peeter Laas ◽  
Kelly Ugarelli ◽  
Breege Boyer ◽  
Michael J. Absten ◽  
Henry O. Briceño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Florida Keys ◽  
Fish Parasites ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Shellfish Poisoning ◽  
Florida Reef Tract ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Reef Tract

The Florida Keys, a delicate archipelago of sub-tropical islands extending from the south-eastern tip of Florida, host the vast majority of the only coral barrier reef in the continental United States. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), which was first detected near Virginia Key in 2014, has spread throughout the Florida Reef Tract and to reefs throughout the Caribbean, af-fecting nearly all reef-building corals. Molecular studies of SCTLD have identified opportunistic pathogens associated with the disease, but so far no single pathogen can be clearly pinpointed as its cause. One focus of recent research has been the surrounding environment of the corals, coined the 'coral ecosphere'. Abiotic and microbial components of the coral ecosphere are pivot-al for understanding the health of a reef, and could play an important role in SCTLD in Florida. In this study, we analyzed microbial community structure and abiotic factors that can impact coral (and human) health. Both, bacterial and eukaryotic community structure were significantly linked with variations in temperature, dissolved oxygen and total organic carbon values. High abundances of copiotrophic bacteria as well as several potentially harmful microbes, including coral pathogens, fish parasites, and taxa that have been previously associated with Red Tide and shellfish poisoning, were present in our datasets and can have a pivotal impact on coral health in this ecosystem.

scholarly journals 3D Photogrammetry Reveals Dynamics of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) Lesion Progression Across a Thermal Stress Event

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonora Meiling ◽  
Erinn M. Muller ◽  
Tyler B. Smith ◽  
Marilyn E. Brandt
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stress ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Critical Parameters ◽  
Bleaching Event ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Loss Rates

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in the United States Virgin Islands in January 2019 on a reef at Flat Cay off the island of St. Thomas. A year after its emergence, the disease had spread to several reefs around St. Thomas causing significant declines in overall coral cover. Rates of tissue loss are an important metric in the study of coral disease ecology, as they can inform many aspects of etiology such as disease susceptibility and resistance among species, and provide critical parameters for modeling the effects of disease among heterogenous reef communities. The present study quantified tissue loss rates attributed to SCTLD among six abundant reef building species (Colpophyllia natans, Montastraea cavernosa, Diploria labyrinthiformis, Pseudodiploria strigosa, Orbicella annularis, and Porites astreoides). Field-based 3D models of diseased corals, taken approximately weekly, indicated that the absolute rates of tissue loss from SCTLD slowed through time, corresponding with the accumulation of thermal stress that led to mass bleaching. Absolute tissue loss rates were comparable among species prior to the bleaching event but diverged during and remained different after the bleaching event. Proportional tissue loss rates did not vary among species or through time, but there was considerable variability among M. cavernosa colonies. SCTLD poses a significant threat to reefs across the Caribbean due to its persistence through time, wide range of susceptible coral species, and unprecedented tissue loss rates. Intervention and management efforts should be increased during and immediately following thermal stress events in order maximize resource distribution when disease prevalence is decreased.

scholarly journals Association of butterflyfishes and stony coral tissue loss disease in the Florida Keys

Coral Reefs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1581-1590
Author(s):  
Kara R. Noonan ◽  
Michael J. Childress
Keyword(s):  
Coral Disease ◽  
Florida Keys ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Reef Fishes ◽  
Disease Prevalence ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Surface Areas

AbstractSince 2014, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has rapidly spread throughout the Florida reef tract infecting and killing dozens of coral species. Previous studies have found that corallivorous fishes, such as butterflyfishes, are positively correlated with coral disease prevalence at both local and regional scales. This study investigates the association of SCTLD infection and butterflyfish abundance and behaviors on ten reefs in the middle Florida Keys. Divers conducted video surveys of reef fish abundance and disease prevalence in June 2017, 2018, and 2019; before, during, and after the outbreak of SCTLD infections. SCTLD prevalence increased from 3.2% in 2017 to 36.9% in 2018 and back to 2.7% in 2019. Butterflyfish abundances also showed a similar pattern with a twofold increase in abundance in 2018 over abundances in 2017 and 2019. To better understand the association of individual species of butterflyfishes and diseased corals, 60 coral colonies (20 healthy, 20 diseased, 20 recently dead) were tagged and monitored for butterflyfish activity using both diver-based AGGRA fish counts and 1-h time-lapse videophotography collected in the summers of 2018 and 2019. All reef fishes were more abundant on corals with larger surface areas of live tissue, but only the foureye butterflyfish preferred corals with larger surface areas of diseased tissues. Estimates of association indicate that foureye butterflyfish were found significantly more on diseased corals than either healthy or recently dead corals when compared with the other species of butterflyfishes. Foureye butterflyfish were observed to feed directly on the SCTLD line of infection, while other butterflyfish were not. Furthermore, association of foureye butterflyfish with particular diseased corals decreased from 2018 to 2019 as the SCTLD infections disappeared. Our findings suggest that foureye butterflyfish recruit to and feed on SCTLD-infected corals which may influence the progression and/or transmission of this insidious coral disease.

scholarly journals Impacts of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) on Coral Community Structure at an Inshore Patch Reef of the Upper Florida Keys Using Photomosaics

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Kolodziej ◽  
Michael S. Studivan ◽  
Arthur C. R. Gleason ◽  
Chris Langdon ◽  
Ian C. Enochs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Florida Keys ◽  
Coral Community ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Coral Mortality ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Reef Tract

Since the appearance of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) on reefs off Miami in 2014, this unprecedented outbreak has spread across the entirety of Florida’s coral reef tract, as well as to many territories throughout the Caribbean. The endemic zone reached the upper Florida Keys by 2016, resulting in partial or complete mortality of coral colonies across numerous species. Disease was first observed at Cheeca Rocks (Islamorada, Florida) in the beginning of 2018, with reports of coral mortality peaking mid-year. The disease was still present at Cheeca Rocks as of March 2020, however, to a lesser degree compared to the initial outbreak. Annual monitoring efforts have been ongoing at Cheeca Rocks since 2012, including repeated benthic photomosaics of a 330 m2 survey zone, spanning six replicate sites. As such, a repository of coral community composition data exists for before and after the disease outbreak that was analyzed to assess the impacts of SCTLD on reef communities at an upper Florida Keys inshore reef. Cheeca Rocks is hypothesized to be a resilient reef due to its persistent high coral cover despite its inshore location, which subjects corals to fluctuating water quality and marginal environmental conditions. Coral populations here have been shown to recover from bleaching events and heat stress with minimal coral mortality. Though colonies of coral species characterized as highly and moderately susceptible to SCTLD (e.g., Colpophyllia natans, Diploria labyrinthiformis, Pseudodiploria strigosa, Orbicella annularis, and O. faveolata) suffered mortality as a result of the outbreak with an average loss of 16.42% relative cover by species, the overall impacts on coral cover and community structure were relatively low, contributing to a loss of total coral cover of only 1.65%. Comparison of photomosaic data to other studies indicate Cheeca Rocks may not have been affected as severely as other sites on Florida’s coral reef tract, underlying this site’s potential role in coral resilience to stressors including bleaching events, land-based pollution, and disease epizootics.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of topical antibiotics in treating corals affected by Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Neely ◽  
Kevin A. Macaulay ◽  
Emily K. Hower ◽  
Michelle A. Dobler
Keyword(s):  
Coral Species ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Hard Coral ◽  
Topical Antibiotic ◽  
Topical Antibiotics ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Orbicella Faveolata ◽  
Reef Tract

Since 2014, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) has led to mass mortality of the majority of hard coral species on the Florida Reef Tract. Following the successful treatment of SCTLD lesions on laboratory corals using water dosed with antibiotics, two topical pastes were developed as vehicles to directly apply antibiotic treatments to wild corals. These pastes were tested as placebos and with additions of amoxicillin on active SCTLD lesions on multiple coral species. The effectiveness of the pastes without antibiotics (placebo treatments) was 4% and 9%, no different from untreated controls. Adding amoxicillin to both pastes significantly increased effectiveness to 70% and 84%. Effectiveness with this method was seen across five different coral species, with success rates of the more effective paste ranging from 67% (Colpophyllia natans) to 90% (Orbicella faveolata and Montastraea cavernosa). Topical antibiotic application is a viable and effective tool for halting disease lesions on corals affected by SCTLD.

scholarly journals Microbial community shifts associated with the ongoing stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak on the Florida Reef Tract

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie L. Meyer ◽  
Jessy Castellanos-Gell ◽  
Greta S. Aeby ◽  
Claudia Häse ◽  
Blake Ushijima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Species ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
Healthy Tissue ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Florida Reef Tract ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Reef Tract ◽  
Apparently Healthy

ABSTRACTAs many as 22 of the 45 coral species on the Florida Reef Tract are currently affected by stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). The ongoing disease outbreak was first observed in 2014 in Southeast Florida near Miami and as of early 2019 has been documented from the northernmost reaches of the reef tract in Martin County down to Key West. We examined the microbiota associated with disease lesions and apparently healthy tissue on diseased colonies of Montastraea cavernosa, Orbicella faveolata, Diploria labyrinthiformis, and Dichocoenia stokesii. Analysis of differentially abundant taxa between disease lesions and apparently healthy tissue identified five unique amplicon sequence variants enriched in the diseased tissue in three of the coral species, namely an unclassified genus of Flavobacteriales and sequences identified as Fusibacter (Clostridiales), Planktotalea (Rhodobacterales), Algicola (Alteromonadales), and Vibrio (Vibrionales). In addition, several groups of likely opportunistic or saprophytic colonizers such as Epsilonbacteraeota, Patescibacteria, Clostridiales, Bacteroidetes, and Rhodobacterales were also enriched in SCTLD disease lesions. This work represents the first microbiological characterization of SCTLD, as an initial step toward identifying the potential pathogen(s) responsible for SCTLD.

scholarly journals A rapid spread of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease outbreak in the Mexican Caribbean

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip ◽  
Nuria Estrada-Saldívar ◽  
Esmeralda Pérez-Cervantes ◽  
Ana Molina-Hernández ◽  
Francisco J. Gonzalez-Barrios
Keyword(s):  
Coral Disease ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
Disease Prevalence ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Western Atlantic ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Mexican Caribbean ◽  
Coral Communities

Caribbean reef corals have experienced unprecedented declines from climate change, anthropogenic stressors and infectious diseases in recent decades. Since 2014 a highly lethal, new disease, called stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), has impacted many species in Florida. During the summer of 2018 we noticed an anomalously high disease prevalence affecting different coral species in the northern portion of the Mexican Caribbean. We assessed the severity of this outbreak in 2018/2019 using the AGRRA coral protocol to survey 82 reef sites across the Mexican Caribbean. Then, using a subset of 14 sites we detailed information from before the outbreak (2016/2017) to explore the consequences of the disease on the condition and composition of coral communities. Our findings show that the disease outbreak has already spread across the entire region, affecting similar species (with similar disease patterns) to those previously described for Florida. However, we observed a great variability in prevalence and tissue mortality that was not attributable to any geographical gradient. Using long-term data, we determined that there is no evidence of such high coral disease prevalence anywhere in the region before 2018, which suggests that the entire Mexican Caribbean (~450 km) was afflicted by the disease within a few months. The analysis of sites that contained pre-outbreak information showed that this event considerably increased coral mortality and severely changed the structure of coral communities in the region. Given the high prevalence and lethality of this disease, and the high number of susceptible species, we encourage reef researchers, managers and stakeholders across the Western Atlantic to accord it the highest priority for the near future.

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1-47
Author(s):  
William Precht
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Coral Disease ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Compliance Monitoring

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.

scholarly journals Rapid Population Decline of the Pillar Coral Dendrogyra cylindrus Along the Florida Reef Tract

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Neely ◽  
Cynthia L. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Population Decline ◽  
Tissue Loss ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Florida Reef Tract ◽  
Stony Coral ◽  
Chronic Stressors ◽  
The Status ◽  
Reef Tract ◽  
Functional Extinction ◽  
Dendrogyra Cylindrus

AbstractCoral reefs worldwide are in a state of decline, but the status of populations and stressors for rare species are generally not well documented using broad-scale monitoring protocol. We fate-tracked all known colonies of the pillar coral Dendrogyra cylindrus on the Florida Reef Tract from 2013 – 2020 to assess the population and document the impacts of chronic and acute stressors. Large average colony size, an absence of juveniles, and large geographic distances between genotypes suggest that the Florida D. cylindrus population has been reproductively extinct for decades. During the study period, low-intensity chronic stressors were balanced by regrowth, while back-to-back years of coral bleaching and thermally-exacerbated disease led to declines that the subsequent years of recovery suggest would take 11 uninterrupted years to overcome. The most recent stressor on Florida’s D. cylindrus population is “stony coral tissue loss disease.” Following the appearance of the disease in Florida in 2015, it resulted in unrecoverable losses to the D. cylindrus population as tissue, colonies, and whole genotypes were driven to extinction. Losses of 91% of coral tissue, 88% of colonies, and 73% of genotypes between 2014 and early 2020 have led to functional extinction of D. cylindrus on the Florida Reef Tract.

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