11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

7.170
Coralline Algal Disease in The U.s. Affiliated Pacific Islands
Bernardo VARGAS-ANGEL* 1
1 Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, NOAA, Honolulu, HI
Coralline algae are an important component of tropical coral reef systems, representing as
much as 30 to 50% of the live benthic cover. On many reefs, the Corallinaceae play a
pivotal role as major builders and consolidators of carbonate material. Additionally,
encrusting coralline red algae have been implicated in providing essential chemical cues
and substrate for coral larval recruitment. Growing consensus pertaining to the threat of
increased disease in coral reef ecosystems has focused on scleractinian disease
characterization and prevalence. Little is known about coralline algal diseases,
distribution, abundance, and the potential implications of declining crustose coralline
algal flora. During rapid ecological assessments on 25-m belt transects, coralline algal
disease was surveyed at 326 discrete sites at 40 US affiliated Pacific islands/banks/atolls
between 2006 and 2007. Five major disease categories were enumerated and disease
densities (# cases per 100 m 2 of reef area) were estimated. For most locations, where
present, disease density exhibited considerable spatial variability. No diseases were
observed in the remote Johnston and Wake Atolls, or at Howland, Baker, Jarvis, or
Swains Islands. Coralline algal diseases were also absent in the main Hawaiian Islands,
and were rare in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (< 1 case/100 m 2 ). Conversely,
diseases were common in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
(3–10 cases/100 m 2 ). The highest densities of disease were detected in American Samoa
(13–28 cases/100 m 2 ) at Tutuila and Ofu-Olosega, respectively, where the coralline lethal
orange disease accounted for more than 85% of cases. In contrast, at Kingman and
Palmyra Atolls, coralline fungal disease ranked the highest, totaling densities of 2
cases/100 m 2 . Results indicate a need for further studies on coralline algal disease
dynamics, monitoring, and assessment of potential risks to reef building communities.
7.171
Black Band Disease Outbreak in Nikko Bay, Palau
Alma RIDEP-MORRIS* 1
1 School of Marine & Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Coral diseases have dramatically increased in recent years and are now recognized as one
of the key threats to coral reefs worldwide, having considerable negative impacts on the
structure and health of coral reefs. In spite of this awareness, very little is known about
the epizootiology and etiology of most coral diseases on Indo-Pacific reefs. To predict
the impacts of Black Band Disease (BBD) on the coral reefs of Palau, knowledge of the
ecology and dynamics of BBD, particularly the progression and spread of the disease, is
critical. The objective of this research is to monitor a BBD outbreak on Pachyseris
speciosa in Nikko Bay, Palau. Three permanent quadrats ~10mx10m were set up in
January 2007. 64 colonies of P. speciosa were tagged and photographs were taken of
each colony at monthly intervals to gain insights into the spread and mode of disease
transmission, to examine seasonal patterns in the abundance of BBD, and to determine
the impacts of disease on population dynamics. Temperature, sedimentation and salinity
will be monitored to identify environmental drivers of disease. Preliminary results show
that the mean rate of progression of BBD across corals is 3mm/day in fast moving bands.
Seasonal patterns in rates of linear progression indicate that virulence and mean
abundance of BBD are clearly correlated with warm sea surface temperatures (SST),
being greatest during the warmer months of May-June when SST reached 29.9ºC (29
cases/100m²; 37% prevalence) and least during the cooler months of January when SST
was 28ºC (16 cases/100m²; 20% prevalence). My results show that BBD outbreaks are
causing significant mortality on local Palauan reefs, are more likely to occur during
warmer summer months, and that assessments of reef health in Palau should carefully
consider seasonal variability in BBD abundance.
Poster Mini-Symposium 7: Diseases on Coral Reefs
7.172
The Black Band Disease Of Indonesian Coral Reefs
Agus SABDONO* 1 , Ocky RADJASA 2
1 Marine Science, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia, 2 Center for Tropical Coastal
and Marine Studies, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country with approximately 17,508 islands
containing valuable coastal and marine resources such as coral reefs. The majority of
Indonesia's 210 million people live near the coast and million of people rely on coral reefs for
livelihood. One of the important issues currently related to Indonesian coral reef ecosystems is
the disease emergence. One of them is Black Band Disease (BBD).
Black band disease (BBD) is a virulent disease primarily affecting scleractinian corals.
Eventhough the BBD bacterial mat is dominated by a cyanobacterium, the quantitative
composition of the BBD bacterial mat community has not described previously. The bacterial
community associated with black band disease (BBD) of the branching corals Acropora sp. in
this study was examined using culture-dependent techniques. A complementary molecular
techniques of 16S rDNA genes [amplified 16S ribosomal DNA) was used to give a
comprehensive characterization of the community. On the basis of the results of sequen
analysis, our data show that BBD1 isolate was closely related with Myroides odoratimimus
(99.0%), BBD2 isolate was Bacillus algicola (99.6%) and BBD3 isolate was Marine
Alcaligenaceae bacterium (96.0%). Of the three bacteria identified, these were not previously
found in other studies. This result will allow the dominant BBD bacteria to be targeted for
isolation and culturing experiments designed at interpreting the disease etiology.
Key words: Black Band Disease, Acropora sp., 16S rDNA
7.173
Coral And Crustose Coralline Algae Disease On The Reefs Of American Samoa
Greta AEBY* 1 , Thierry WORK 2 , Douglas FENNER 3 , Eva DIDONATO 4
1 Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, HI, 2 USGS, Natl Wildlife Health Center,
Honolulu, HI, 3 American Samoa Dept of Marine and Wildlife Resources, Pago Pago, American
Samoa, 4 National Park Service, Sullivan's Island, SC
Coral disease is emerging as a problem worldwide. In 2003, a disease outbreak on table
acroporids occurred on the reefs of Tutuila, American Samoa and so in June 2004 we initiated
disease surveys at seven sites around Tutuila. In February 2005, we re-surveyed the sites on
Tutuila and surveyed five stations within Ofu Lagoon. The objectives of this study were to: 1)
determine the types, distribution and abundance of disease in reef corals and crustose coralline
algae (CCA) on the reefs of Tutuila and Ofu Lagoon; 2) look for seasonal differences in levels
of disease; 3) compare levels of disease between the relatively pristine reefs of Ofu Lagoon and
the more impacted reefs of Tutuila; 4) systematically describe gross and microscopic
morphology of lesions in reef corals and develop a standardized nomenclature for identifying
and designating coral disease. Fourteen coral diseases and two diseases of CCA were
documented from the reefs of Tutuila. Five coral diseases and one CCA disease were found in
Ofu. Acropora white syndrome, Acropora growth anomalies (GA) and coralline lethal orange
disease, were the most common diseases on the reefs of Tutuila whereas Porites GA was the
most common disease in Ofu. There were no significant differences in overall disease levels
between Tutuila and Ofu. No seasonal differences were found in overall prevalence of coral or
CCA disease, however, the types and frequency of occurrence of some diseases varied.
Histological analyses of coral lesions found that microscopic changes in tissues can be used to
distinguish tissue loss due to trauma from changes due to disease. The discoloration indicative
of dark spot disease was associated with endolithic hypermycosis. Six distinct types of growth
anomalies were seen in Acropora and on histology, proliferation of the basal body wall was
found to be the hallmark of the disease.
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