Changing Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Dynamics Through Time in Montastraea cavernosa

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is affecting corals across the Western Atlantic and displays species-specific and regional differences in prevalence, incidence, degree of mortality, and lesion morphology. We examined two Florida sites with different temporal histories of disease emergence; Fort Lauderdale where SCTLD is endemic and the Lower Florida Keys where SCTLD has recently emerged. Our objectives were to (1) assess the potential impact of SCTLD on overall reef condition by surveying reefs in each region, (2) in a single common species, Montastraea cavernosa, examine differences in SCTLD prevalence, colony mortality, and lesion morphology in each region, and (3) look for differences in contagion by conducting transmission experiments using lesions from each region. Reef surveys found sites in both regions had low coral cover, high algae cover, and similar coral species composition. SCTLD prevalence was higher in the Lower Keys than at Fort Lauderdale and two of the common species, M. cavernosa and S. siderea at Fort Lauderdale were dominated by smaller colonies (<5 cm) whereas larger colonies occurred in the Lower Keys. Tagged M. cavernosa SCTLD-affected colonies were followed for 2 years at one site in each region. In both years, Fort Lauderdale colonies showed declining disease prevalence, low colony mortality, and disease lesions were mainly bleached spots lacking tissue loss. In contrast, Lower Keys colonies tagged in the first year maintained 100% disease prevalence with high mortality, and disease lesions were predominantly tissue loss with no bleached edges. However, SCTLD dynamics changed, with year two tagged colonies showing declining disease prevalence, low mortality, and lesion morphology switched to a mixture of bleached polyps and tissue loss with or without bleached edges. Lesion morphology on colonies was a significant predictor of amount of tissue loss. Aquaria studies found the rate of SCTLD transmission using lesions from the different zones (emergent and endemic) were similar. Our study highlights that differences in coral mortality from SCTLD are not necessarily linked to host species, lesion morphology is reflective of subsequent rate of mortality, and disease dynamics change through time on reefs where the disease has newly emerged.

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

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27893v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

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.

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A rapid spread of the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak in the Mexican Caribbean

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.8069 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. e8069 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip ◽

Nuria Estrada-Saldívar ◽

Esmeralda Pérez-Cervantes ◽

Ana Molina-Hernández ◽

Francisco J. González-Barrios

Keyword(s):

Coral Species ◽

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, has impacted many reef-coral 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 by 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 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.

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

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27893 ◽

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

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

Coral Reefs ◽

10.1007/s00338-020-01986-8 ◽

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.

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Metabolomics of Healthy and Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Affected Montastraea cavernosa Corals

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.714778 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica M. Deutsch ◽

Olakunle A. Jaiyesimi ◽

Kelly A. Pitts ◽

Jay Houk ◽

Blake Ushijima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coral Species ◽

Principal Component ◽

Tissue Loss ◽

Coral Tissue ◽

Metabolic Markers ◽

Stony Coral ◽

Differential Outcomes ◽

Betaine Lipids ◽

Montastraea Cavernosa ◽

Apparently Healthy

Stony coral tissue loss disease, first observed in Florida in 2014, has now spread along the entire Florida Reef Tract and on reefs in many Caribbean countries. The disease affects a variety of coral species with differential outcomes, and in many instances results in whole-colony mortality. We employed untargeted metabolomic profiling of Montastraea cavernosa corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease to identify metabolic markers of disease. Herein, extracts from apparently healthy, diseased, and recovered Montastraea cavernosa collected at a reef site near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida were subjected to liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Unsupervised principal component analysis reveals wide variation in metabolomic profiles of healthy corals of the same species, which differ from diseased corals. Using a combination of supervised and unsupervised data analyses tools, we describe metabolite features that explain variation between the apparently healthy corals, between diseased corals, and between the healthy and the diseased corals. By employing a culture-based approach, we assign sources of a subset of these molecules to the endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, Symbiodiniaceae. Specifically, we identify various endosymbiont- specific lipid classes, such as betaine lipids, glycolipids, and tocopherols, which differentiate samples taken from apparently healthy corals and diseased corals. Given the variation observed in metabolite fingerprints of corals, our data suggests that metabolomics is a viable approach to link metabolite profiles of different coral species with their susceptibility and resilience to numerous coral diseases spreading through reefs worldwide.

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Diversity and Disease: The Effects of Coral Diversity on Prevalence and Impacts of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.682688 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Sophia V. Costa ◽

Stephanie J. Hibberts ◽

Danielle A. Olive ◽

Kayla A. Budd ◽

Alexys E. Long ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Virgin Islands ◽

Disease Prevalence ◽

Tissue Loss ◽

Coral Tissue ◽

Caribbean Region ◽

Epidemic Disease ◽

Stony Coral ◽

High Species Diversity ◽

Disease Present

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in January 2019. This disease affects at least 20 scleractinian coral species; however, it is not well understood how reef diversity affects its spread or its impacts on reef ecosystems. With a large number of susceptible species, SCTLD may not follow the diversity-disease hypothesis, which proposes that high species diversity is negatively correlated with disease prevalence. Instead, SCTLD may have a higher prevalence and a greater impact on reefs with higher coral diversity. To test this, in 2020 we resampled 54 sites around St. Thomas previously surveyed in 2017 or 2019 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. These sites represented a variety of species diversity values [categorized into poor (<12 spp. rich.) and rich (≥12 spp. rich.)] in multiple disease zones (Endemic: disease present ≥ 9 months; Epidemic: disease present 2–6 months; Control and Emergent: disease present no disease/<2 months). We hypothesized that, contrary to the diversity-disease hypothesis, sites with high species diversity (as measured by species richness or Simpson’s index) would have higher disease prevalence within the epidemic zone, and that high species diversity sites would have a greater impact from disease within the endemic zone. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between disease prevalence and diversity in the epidemic zone, and a similar trend in the endemic zones. Additionally, a negative relationship was seen between pre-outbreak diversity and loss of diversity and coral cover within the endemic zone. This supports the hypothesis that higher diversity predicts greater disease impact and suggests that SCTLD does not follow the diversity-disease hypothesis. Within the epidemic zone, the species with the highest SCTLD prevalence were Dendrogyra cylindrus, Colpophyllia natans, and Meandrina meandrites, while in the endemic zone, Diploria labyrinthiformis, Pseudodiploria strigosa, Montastraea cavernosa, and Siderastrea siderea had the highest SCTLD prevalence. Understanding the relationship between species diversity and SCTLD will help managers predict the most vulnerable reefs, which should be prioritized within the USVI and greater Caribbean region.

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Assessing the effectiveness of two intervention methods for stony coral tissue loss disease on Montastraea cavernosa

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-86926-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Erin N. Shilling ◽

Ian R. Combs ◽

Joshua D. Voss

Keyword(s):

Treatment Effectiveness ◽

Coral Disease ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Disease Status ◽

Tissue Loss ◽

Coral Tissue ◽

Management Options ◽

Stony Coral ◽

Montastraea Cavernosa ◽

Coral Health

AbstractStony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in Florida in 2014 and has since spread to multiple coral reefs across the wider Caribbean. The northern section of Florida’s Coral Reef has been heavily impacted by this outbreak, with some reefs experiencing as much as a 60% loss of living coral tissue area. We experimentally assessed the effectiveness of two intervention treatments on SCTLD-affected Montastraea cavernosa colonies in situ. Colonies were tagged and divided into three treatment groups: (1) chlorinated epoxy, (2) amoxicillin combined with CoreRx/Ocean Alchemists Base 2B, and (3) untreated controls. The experimental colonies were monitored periodically over 11 months to assess treatment effectiveness by tracking lesion development and overall disease status. The Base 2B plus amoxicillin treatment had a 95% success rate at healing individual disease lesions but did not necessarily prevent treated colonies from developing new lesions over time. Chlorinated epoxy treatments were not significantly different from untreated control colonies, suggesting that chlorinated epoxy treatments are an ineffective intervention technique for SCTLD. The results of this experiment expand management options during coral disease outbreaks and contribute to overall knowledge regarding coral health and disease.

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Measuring Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Induction and Lesion Progression Within Two Intermediately Susceptible Species, Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.717265 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Katherine R. Eaton ◽

Jan H. Landsberg ◽

Yasunari Kiryu ◽

Esther C. Peters ◽

Erinn M. Muller

Keyword(s):

Basal Body ◽

Direct Contact ◽

Coral Cover ◽

Physical Contact ◽

Tissue Loss ◽

Coral Tissue ◽

Progression Rate ◽

Stony Coral ◽

Orbicella Faveolata ◽

Montastraea Cavernosa

During the last several decades, Florida’s Coral Reef (FCR) has been impacted by both global and local stressors that have devastated much of its living coral cover. Additionally, since 2014 FCR has experienced a lethal disease outbreak termed stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Here, we examined SCTLD spreading dynamics within and among fragmented coral colonies and quantified lesion progression rate of two intermediately susceptible species—Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata—through induction experiments conducted in laboratory aquaria. M. cavernosa colonies showing subacute tissue loss were sequentially fragmented parallel to the lesion edge to determine whether isolated tissue that showed no tissue-loss signs, referred to as isolated apparently healthy (AH) donor fragments, would subsequently exhibit tissue loss. Additionally, AH M. cavernosa and O. faveolata fragments, referred to as recipient fragments, were placed in direct contact with the M. cavernosa donor fragments to assess incidence of new tissue-loss lesions. Finally, AH M. cavernosa donor fragments were placed in direct contact with recipient M. cavernosa and O. faveolata fragments to account for aggression from direct contact. Samples were collected for histopathology of the corals through time. Many isolated AH donor fragments developed tissue-loss lesions during the 60-day study, suggesting SCTLD may be systemic within small-sized colonies. Our results confirmed that physical contact between recipient fragments and subacute SCTLD-lesioned tissue often led to tissue loss in recipient fragments. None of the control recipient or donor fragments experienced tissue loss. Grossly, multifocal lesions started on or adjacent to the septal and costal basal body walls with tissue loss progressing across the polyp septa and coenenchyme, respectively, in both species. Histologically, initial tissue-loss lesions in both species exhibited characteristic lytic necrosis (LN) at the basal body wall of the gastrodermis. O. faveolata exhibited higher rates of lesion appearance and subsequent mortality compared to M. cavernosa, but once a lesion appeared, M. cavernosa lost tissue faster than O. faveolata. This work contributes to the growing knowledge of SCTLD dynamics and highlights the differences in lesion progression within susceptible species.

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Metabolomics of healthy and stony coral tissue loss disease affected Montastraea cavernosa corals

10.1101/2021.08.18.456681 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica M Deutsch ◽

Olakunle Jaiyesimi ◽

Kelly Pitts ◽

Jay Houk ◽

Blake Ushijima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coral Species ◽

Principal Component ◽

Tissue Loss ◽

Coral Tissue ◽

Metabolic Markers ◽

Stony Coral ◽

Differential Outcomes ◽

Betaine Lipids ◽

Montastraea Cavernosa ◽

Apparently Healthy

Stony coral tissue loss disease, first observed in Florida in 2014, has now spread along the entire Florida Reef Tract and on reefs in many Caribbean countries. The disease affects a variety of coral species with differential outcomes, and in many instances results in whole-colony mortality. We employed untargeted metabolomic profiling of Montastraea cavernosa corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease to identify metabolic markers of disease. Herein, extracts from apparently healthy, diseased, and recovered corals, Montastraea cavernosa, collected at a reef site near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida were subjected to liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Unsupervised principal component analysis reveals wide variation in metabolomic profiles of healthy corals of the same species, which differ from diseased corals. Using a combination of supervised and unsupervised data analyses tools, we describe metabolite features that explain variation between the apparently healthy corals, between diseased corals, and between the healthy and the diseased corals. By employing a culture-based approach, we assign sources of a subset of these molecules to the endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, Symbiodiniaceae. Specifically, we identify various endosymbiont- specific lipid classes, such as betaine lipids, glycolipids, and tocopherols, which differentiate samples taken from apparently healthy corals and diseased corals. Given the variation observed in metabolite fingerprints of corals, our data suggests that metabolomics is a viable approach to link metabolite profiles of different coral species with their susceptibility and resilience to numerous coral diseases spreading through reefs worldwide.

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

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.715329 ◽

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.

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