Temporal Dynamics of Black Band Disease Affecting Pillar Coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus) following Two Consecutive Hyperthermal Events on the Florida Reef Tract

Authors

Cynthia L. Lewis, Florida International University
Karen L. Neely, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation/Fish and Wildlife Research InstituteFollow
Laurie L. Richardson, Florida International University
Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty, Florida International University

ORCID

0000-0003-0934-3256

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Coral Reefs

ISSN

0722-4028

Publication Date

6-2017

Keywords

Black band disease, Coral bleaching, Dendrogyra cylindrus, Florida reef tract

Abstract

Black band disease (BBD) affects many coral species worldwide and is considered a major contributor to the decline of reef-building coral. On the Florida Reef Tract BBD is most prevalent during summer and early fall when water temperatures exceed 29°C. BBD is rarely reported in pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus) throughout the Caribbean, and here we document for the first time the appearance of the disease in this species on Florida reefs. The highest monthly BBD prevalence in the D. cylindrus population were 4.7% in 2014 and 6.8% in 2015. In each year, BBD appeared immediately following a hyperthermal bleaching event, which raises concern as hyperthermal seawater anomalies become more frequent.

DOI

10.1007/s00338-017-1545-1

Volume

36

Issue

2

First Page

427

Last Page

431

Comments

©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Additional Comments

NSF RAPID grant #: 1503483

NSUWorks Citation

Cynthia L. Lewis, Karen L. Neely, Laurie L. Richardson, and Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty. 2017. Temporal Dynamics of Black Band Disease Affecting Pillar Coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus) following Two Consecutive Hyperthermal Events on the Florida Reef Tract .Coral Reefs , (2) : 427 -431. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/956.