Coral Reefs and Associated Marine Fauna around the Arabian Peninsula, 2024
Coral reefs in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG) are important ecological and economic resources tha... more Coral reefs in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG) are important ecological and economic resources that survive under harsh environmental conditions, with exposure to temperature and salinity extremes that exceed survival thresholds of corals elsewhere. They are of interest to scientists studying the impacts of global climate change because corals in the PAG already exist in a thermal environment that is equal to, or exceeds, what is predicted to occur throughout the tropical oceans. Here we present current information on how corals have adapted to the challenging PAG conditions, examine patterns of connectivity within the PAG, report on coral bleaching and disease events, and discuss how PAG coral reefs may be changing through time.
The distribution and abundance of scleractinian corals at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian... more The distribution and abundance of scleractinian corals at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands was determined by georeferenced towed-diver surveys that covered close to 27,000 m 2 of benthic habitat and site-specific surveys at 21 sites during 2000–2003. Three complementary methods (towed-diver surveys, video transects, and photoquadrats) were used to quantify percent cover of corals by genus or species in the fore-reef, back-reef, and lagoon habitats. Three genera, Porites, Pocillopora, and Montipora, accounted for more than 99% of the coral cover throughout the atoll, although their relative abundances vary considerably according to habitat and geographic sector within habitats. Fore-reef communities are dominated by massive and encrusting Porites and by Pocillopora, while the back reef is dominated by Montipora and the lagoon by Porites compressa. All taxa show habitat-specific differences in colony density and sizeclass distributions as assessed through colony counts ...
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is affecting corals across the Western Atlantic and displ... more 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 comm...
Coral diseases contribute to the decline of coral reefs globally and threaten the health and futu... more Coral diseases contribute to the decline of coral reefs globally and threaten the health and future of coral reef communities. Acute Montipora white syndrome (aMWS) is a tissue loss disease that has led to the mortality of hundreds of Montipora capitata colonies in Kāne'ohe Bay, Hawai'i in recent years. This study describes the analysis of coral-associated bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing generated by the PacBio RSII platform. Samples from three health states of M. capitata (healthy, healthy-diseased and diseased) were collected during an ongoing aMWS outbreak and a non-outbreak period and the bacterial communities were identified to determine whether a shift in community structure had occurred between the two periods. The bacterial communities associated with outbreak and non-outbreak samples were significantly different, and one major driver was a high abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) identified as Escherichia spp. in the outbreak sequences. In silico bacterial source tracking suggested this OTU was likely from sewage contamination of livestock, rather than human, origin. The most abundant coliform OTU was a culturable E. fergusonii isolate, strain OCN300, however, it did not induce disease signs on healthy M. capitata colonies when used in laboratory infection trials. In addition, screening of the sequencing output found that the most abundant OTUs corresponded to previously described M. capitata pathogens. The synergistic combination of known coral pathogens, sewage contaminants and other stressors, such as fluctuating seawater temperatures and bacterial pathogens, have the potential to escalate the deterioration of coral reef ecosystems.
Feeding Porites compressa infected with a digenean metacercaria to the coral-feeding butterflyfis... more Feeding Porites compressa infected with a digenean metacercaria to the coral-feeding butterflyfish, Chaetodon multicinctus, established that the metacercaria was Podocotyloides stenometra. Those and field examinations finding a prevalence of 100% and an average intensity of infection of 6.5 worms/fish in 28 C. multicinctus off Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, established this fish as a definitive host. Plagioporus sp. of Cheng and Wong, 1974 is a synonym of P. stenometra.
There has been a worldwide increase in the reports of diseases affecting marine organisms. In the... more There has been a worldwide increase in the reports of diseases affecting marine organisms. In the Caribbean, mass mortalities among organisms in reef ecosystems have resulted in major shifts in community structure. However, our ability to fully understand recent disease ...
Percent cover of shallow-water (< 20m) scleractinian corals at Maro Reef, an open atoll with n... more Percent cover of shallow-water (< 20m) scleractinian corals at Maro Reef, an open atoll with no perimeter reef in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), was quantified from analysis of imagery recorded along more than 81 km of benthic habitat by towed divers and at 18 sites surveyed with video transects and photoquadrats. Colony densities and size class distributions were determined from censuses within belt transects at the same sites. All three methods showed statistically significant differences in total coral cover and relative abundance of coral genera among four geographic sectors characterized by different exposure to prevailing wave regimes. Massive and encrusting growth forms of Porites dominated coral cover and density throughout all sectors, with Montipora the next most dominant genus. Patterns of highest coral cover differed from that of most other classic and open atolls in the NWHI. Populations of Pocillopora, though contributing little to percent cover, attained...
This chapter explores the microorganisms that inhabit different components of the coral reef ecos... more This chapter explores the microorganisms that inhabit different components of the coral reef ecosystem in the Red Sea. Microbes play crucial roles in numerous reef processes, including primary production as well as nutrient and organic matter cycling. Microbes are also ubiquitous symbionts of eukaryotic organisms, providing the host with nutrients, chemical cycling, and defensive functions. The Red Sea is a particularly interesting study system due to its unusual physiochemical properties, such as a strong north-south temperature and salinity gradient. Here we examine the influence of these unusual characteristics on microbes in the water column and sediments, and those associated with corals, sponges, and fish. In the water column, the microbial community indeed appears to correlate with prevailing north-south environmental conditions. For example, heterotrophic picoplankton and the cyanobacteria Synechococcus tend to be more abundant in the warmer, less saline, southern waters. On the other hand, the microbes associated with corals, sponges, and fish seem to be conserved throughout the Red Sea and many other parts of the world. For example, several coral species in the Red Sea harbor Endozoicomonas bacteria, and this is also observed world-wide. Moreover, the dominance of Epulopiscium bacteria in surgeonfish and highly conserved microbial communities in sponges are also commonly reported in other regions. In terms of microbial-based diseases, Red Sea corals display many typical disorders, including white syndromes, skeletal eroding band, black band disease, and growth anomalies, but these are rare within Red Sea waters. Thus, despite strong environmental extremes driving free-living microbial communities in the Red Sea, the microbes in tightly regulated symbiotic environments appear to be conserved, although strain-level and genotype specialization are areas of continuing research.
Nine coral survey methods were compared at ten sites in various reef habitats with different leve... more Nine coral survey methods were compared at ten sites in various reef habitats with different levels of coral cover in Kāne'ohe Bay, O'ahu,…
... SHIFTING BASELINE BY JEAN C. KENYON, MATTHEW J. DUNLAP, AND GRETA S. AEBY ISSUED BY ... SHIFT... more ... SHIFTING BASELINE BY JEAN C. KENYON, MATTHEW J. DUNLAP, AND GRETA S. AEBY ISSUED BY ... SHIFTING BASELINE BY JEAN C. KENYON, 1 MATTHEW J. DUNLAP, 1 AND GRETA S. AEBY 2 ABSTRACT The distribution ...
Coral Reefs and Associated Marine Fauna around the Arabian Peninsula, 2024
Coral reefs in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG) are important ecological and economic resources tha... more Coral reefs in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG) are important ecological and economic resources that survive under harsh environmental conditions, with exposure to temperature and salinity extremes that exceed survival thresholds of corals elsewhere. They are of interest to scientists studying the impacts of global climate change because corals in the PAG already exist in a thermal environment that is equal to, or exceeds, what is predicted to occur throughout the tropical oceans. Here we present current information on how corals have adapted to the challenging PAG conditions, examine patterns of connectivity within the PAG, report on coral bleaching and disease events, and discuss how PAG coral reefs may be changing through time.
The distribution and abundance of scleractinian corals at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian... more The distribution and abundance of scleractinian corals at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands was determined by georeferenced towed-diver surveys that covered close to 27,000 m 2 of benthic habitat and site-specific surveys at 21 sites during 2000–2003. Three complementary methods (towed-diver surveys, video transects, and photoquadrats) were used to quantify percent cover of corals by genus or species in the fore-reef, back-reef, and lagoon habitats. Three genera, Porites, Pocillopora, and Montipora, accounted for more than 99% of the coral cover throughout the atoll, although their relative abundances vary considerably according to habitat and geographic sector within habitats. Fore-reef communities are dominated by massive and encrusting Porites and by Pocillopora, while the back reef is dominated by Montipora and the lagoon by Porites compressa. All taxa show habitat-specific differences in colony density and sizeclass distributions as assessed through colony counts ...
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is affecting corals across the Western Atlantic and displ... more 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 comm...
Coral diseases contribute to the decline of coral reefs globally and threaten the health and futu... more Coral diseases contribute to the decline of coral reefs globally and threaten the health and future of coral reef communities. Acute Montipora white syndrome (aMWS) is a tissue loss disease that has led to the mortality of hundreds of Montipora capitata colonies in Kāne'ohe Bay, Hawai'i in recent years. This study describes the analysis of coral-associated bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing generated by the PacBio RSII platform. Samples from three health states of M. capitata (healthy, healthy-diseased and diseased) were collected during an ongoing aMWS outbreak and a non-outbreak period and the bacterial communities were identified to determine whether a shift in community structure had occurred between the two periods. The bacterial communities associated with outbreak and non-outbreak samples were significantly different, and one major driver was a high abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) identified as Escherichia spp. in the outbreak sequences. In silico bacterial source tracking suggested this OTU was likely from sewage contamination of livestock, rather than human, origin. The most abundant coliform OTU was a culturable E. fergusonii isolate, strain OCN300, however, it did not induce disease signs on healthy M. capitata colonies when used in laboratory infection trials. In addition, screening of the sequencing output found that the most abundant OTUs corresponded to previously described M. capitata pathogens. The synergistic combination of known coral pathogens, sewage contaminants and other stressors, such as fluctuating seawater temperatures and bacterial pathogens, have the potential to escalate the deterioration of coral reef ecosystems.
Feeding Porites compressa infected with a digenean metacercaria to the coral-feeding butterflyfis... more Feeding Porites compressa infected with a digenean metacercaria to the coral-feeding butterflyfish, Chaetodon multicinctus, established that the metacercaria was Podocotyloides stenometra. Those and field examinations finding a prevalence of 100% and an average intensity of infection of 6.5 worms/fish in 28 C. multicinctus off Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, established this fish as a definitive host. Plagioporus sp. of Cheng and Wong, 1974 is a synonym of P. stenometra.
There has been a worldwide increase in the reports of diseases affecting marine organisms. In the... more There has been a worldwide increase in the reports of diseases affecting marine organisms. In the Caribbean, mass mortalities among organisms in reef ecosystems have resulted in major shifts in community structure. However, our ability to fully understand recent disease ...
Percent cover of shallow-water (< 20m) scleractinian corals at Maro Reef, an open atoll with n... more Percent cover of shallow-water (< 20m) scleractinian corals at Maro Reef, an open atoll with no perimeter reef in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), was quantified from analysis of imagery recorded along more than 81 km of benthic habitat by towed divers and at 18 sites surveyed with video transects and photoquadrats. Colony densities and size class distributions were determined from censuses within belt transects at the same sites. All three methods showed statistically significant differences in total coral cover and relative abundance of coral genera among four geographic sectors characterized by different exposure to prevailing wave regimes. Massive and encrusting growth forms of Porites dominated coral cover and density throughout all sectors, with Montipora the next most dominant genus. Patterns of highest coral cover differed from that of most other classic and open atolls in the NWHI. Populations of Pocillopora, though contributing little to percent cover, attained...
This chapter explores the microorganisms that inhabit different components of the coral reef ecos... more This chapter explores the microorganisms that inhabit different components of the coral reef ecosystem in the Red Sea. Microbes play crucial roles in numerous reef processes, including primary production as well as nutrient and organic matter cycling. Microbes are also ubiquitous symbionts of eukaryotic organisms, providing the host with nutrients, chemical cycling, and defensive functions. The Red Sea is a particularly interesting study system due to its unusual physiochemical properties, such as a strong north-south temperature and salinity gradient. Here we examine the influence of these unusual characteristics on microbes in the water column and sediments, and those associated with corals, sponges, and fish. In the water column, the microbial community indeed appears to correlate with prevailing north-south environmental conditions. For example, heterotrophic picoplankton and the cyanobacteria Synechococcus tend to be more abundant in the warmer, less saline, southern waters. On the other hand, the microbes associated with corals, sponges, and fish seem to be conserved throughout the Red Sea and many other parts of the world. For example, several coral species in the Red Sea harbor Endozoicomonas bacteria, and this is also observed world-wide. Moreover, the dominance of Epulopiscium bacteria in surgeonfish and highly conserved microbial communities in sponges are also commonly reported in other regions. In terms of microbial-based diseases, Red Sea corals display many typical disorders, including white syndromes, skeletal eroding band, black band disease, and growth anomalies, but these are rare within Red Sea waters. Thus, despite strong environmental extremes driving free-living microbial communities in the Red Sea, the microbes in tightly regulated symbiotic environments appear to be conserved, although strain-level and genotype specialization are areas of continuing research.
Nine coral survey methods were compared at ten sites in various reef habitats with different leve... more Nine coral survey methods were compared at ten sites in various reef habitats with different levels of coral cover in Kāne'ohe Bay, O'ahu,…
... SHIFTING BASELINE BY JEAN C. KENYON, MATTHEW J. DUNLAP, AND GRETA S. AEBY ISSUED BY ... SHIFT... more ... SHIFTING BASELINE BY JEAN C. KENYON, MATTHEW J. DUNLAP, AND GRETA S. AEBY ISSUED BY ... SHIFTING BASELINE BY JEAN C. KENYON, 1 MATTHEW J. DUNLAP, 1 AND GRETA S. AEBY 2 ABSTRACT The distribution ...
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