Disease dynamics and potential mitigation among restored and wild staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis.

ABSTRACT: The threatened status (both ecologically and legally) of Caribbean staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, has prompted rapidly expanding efforts in culture and restocking, although tissue loss diseases continue to affect populations. In this study, disease surveillance and histopathological characterization were used to compare disease dynamics and conditions in both restored and extant wild populations. Disease had devastating effects on both wild and restored populations, but dynamics were highly variable and appeared to be site-specific with no significant differences in disease prevalence between wild versus restored sites. A subset of 20 haphazardly selected colonies at each site observed over a four-month period revealed widely varying disease incidence, although not between restored

SUBMITTER: Miller MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4157300 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature