Comparing bacterial community composition of healthy and dark-spot-affected Siderastrea siderea in Florida and the Caribbean.

ABSTRACT: Coral disease is one of the major causes of reef degradation and therefore of concern to management and conservation efforts. Dark Spot Syndrome (DSS) was described in the early 1990’s as brown or purple amorphous areas of tissue on a coral and has since become one of the most prevalent diseases reported on Caribbean reefs. It has been identified in a number of coral species, but there is debate as to whether it is in fact the same disease in different corals. Further, it is questioned whether these macroscopic signs are in fact diagnostic of an infectious disease, since they can also be caused by physical injury in some species. The most commonly affected species in the Caribbean is the massive starlet coral Siderastrea siderea. We sampled this species in two geographic locations, Dry Tor

ORGANISM(S): mixed sample

SUBMITTER: Yvette Piceno 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-60622 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress