Diseases of Coral

Coral disease is quickly becoming a crisis to the health and management of the world s coral reefs. There is a great interest from many in preserving coral reefs. Unfortunately, the field of epizootiology is disorganized and lacks a standard vocabulary, methods, and diagnostic techniques, and tropical marine scientists are poorly trained in wildlife pathology, veterinary medicine, and epidemiology. Diseases of Coral will help to rectify this situation.

Section 1: Introduction.

1. Overview and Review of Coral Disease.

2. The Concept of Immunity and Resistance in the Lower Invertebrates.

3. The Concept of Partial Mortality in Colonial Animals.

4. Treatment and Mitigation of Coral Disease: Practical and Ethical Questions.

Section 2: Spatial and Temporal Aspects of Coral Disease.

1. The Relationship between Global Climate Change and Coral Disease.

2. The Seasonality of Coral Disease Outbreaks.

3. Distribution of Coral Disease in the New and Old World Tropics.

4. The Relationship Between Coral Disease and the Decline of Coral Reefs.

5. Quantifying the Impact of Coral Disease on Reef Coral Populations.

Section 3: Field Monitoring and Standard Methods for Recording Coral Disease.

1. Terminology: Creating a Vocabulary to Describe Coral Disease.

2. Distinguishing Coral Predation from Coral Disease.

3. Coral Regeneration and Coral Reef Restoration Following Disease Outbreaks.

4. Protocols for Measuring Coral Disease Prevalence, Severity, and Lethality.

Section 4: Skeletal Anomalies.

1.Coral Tumors.

2. Coral Hyperplasia.

3. Ridge Mortality: A Synergistic Relationship Between Fungal Infection and Coral Predation?.

Section 5: Cyanobacterial Disease.

1. Black Band Disease.

2. Red Band Disease.

3. Pink Line Syndrome.

Section 6: Bacterial Disease.

1. White Plague.

2. White Band Type II.

3. White Pox–serratiosis.

4.Yellow Blotch.

Section 7: Fungal Disease.

1. Aspergillosis Disease.

2. Fungal–protozoan Syndrome.

Section 8: Protozoan Disease.

1. Skeletal Eroding Band.

Section 9: Viral Diseases.

1. Virus–like Particle Syndrome.

Section 10: Zooxanthellae Disease.

1. Coral Bleaching.

2. Vibrio shiloi–induced bleaching.

3. Vibrio coralliilyticus–induced bleaching.

4. Yellow Band.

Section 11: Diseases of Unknown Etiology.

1. Dark Spots Disease.

2. White Plague Type I.

3. White Plague Type III.

4. White Pox–non–serratiosis.

5. White Band Type I.

6. Shut–Down Reaction.

Section 12: Emerging Diseases.

1. Unnamed Diseases.

Section 13: Abiotic Diseases.

1.Salinity Stress.

2. Sediment Stress.

3. Oil Spills.

Section 14: Ecotoxicology of Coral Disease.

1. Coral Toxicology.

2. Toxic Chemicals.

3. Explosive Compounds.

Section 15: Other Non–Infectious Diseases.

1. Trauma.

Section 16: Advanced Diagnostic Techniques.

1. Coral Culture Under Field Conditions.

2. Coral Culture Under Laboratory Conditions.

3. The Relevance of Koch s Postulates for Coral Disease Investigations.

4. Bio–Security and Decontamination of Dive Gear.

5. Treatment, Mitigation, and Quarantine of Coral Disease

Cheryl Woodley is the Chair of the Coral Disease and Health Consortium for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.