Evaluating the small-scale epidemiology of the stony-coral -tissue-loss-disease in the middle Florida Keys.

ABSTRACT: Along the Florida reef tract, stony-coral-tissue-loss disease (SCTLD) has caused extensive mortality of more than 20 scleractinian coral species. The pathogen is unknown, but its epizoology indicates that the disease, facilitated by water currents, has progressed linearly along the tract, affecting reefs at the scale of hundreds of kilometers. To inform ongoing disease mitigation efforts, we examined the small-scale spatial and temporal epidemiology of SCTLD. We established a series of sites in the middle Florida Keys at offshore and inshore locations that had not yet shown signs of SCTLD. We then conducted high-frequency monitoring from February 2018 through September 2019 and documented the onset of SCTLD and its progression through the sites. SCTLD was first observed at one site during

SUBMITTER: Sharp WC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7657511 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature