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Description:
Project Manager:
Ian Enochs
Project Years:
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Project Summary:
We will address the restoration strategy to "support research and development of control techniques for coral disease and corallivores" by continuing to conduct field and lab experiments that explore the factors that promote coral disease transmission and/or abatement. Specifically, this project will support running experiments to quantify disease transmission and resilience, as well as to assess the effectiveness of disease abatement technologies. Previous experiments by this group and others have examined direct disease transmission between corals (infected tissue touching healthy tissue), and ongoing 'omics analyses are being conducted to identify the molecular mechanisms behind disease transmission and coral immune responses. Through the rapid spread of SCTLD along the Florida Reef Tract and wider Caribbean, and observations of disease transmission among coral colonies, however, it has been hypothesized that SCTLD may instead be transmitted largely through water and/or sediments, rather than direct contact among colonies. This would suggest that oceanographic patterns and/or the transfer of ship ballast water among regions may serve as potential disease vectors. Therefore, we will focus most immediately on water and sediment-born transmission, evaluating whether downstream transmission of disease is possible with abiotic vectors, and if mitigation efforts including ultraviolet radiation (UVC) ballast water treatment systems are effective at arresting disease transmission. Subsequent experiments will incrementally address aspects of transmission, identifying the length of time that infectious agents can remain active in water/sediments and identifying co-occurring environmental stressors that impact virulence. Within this same strategy, we propose to conduct experiments that investigate natural resilience and disease susceptibility. Despite being initially observed in the Port of Miami in 2014, SCTLD has not been found on coral populations throughout the Port in recent years. Corals in these urbanized inshore habitats ('urban corals') are exposed to highly-variable environmental conditions due to daily tidal flushing, temperature extremes, and localized land-based sources of pollution. It has yet to be examined whether remaining urban coral populations in this area are innately immune to SCTLD, or whether variable environmental conditions have conferred some kind of stress resilience (i.e. natural stress hardening). Lab-based experiments will be conducted to examine potential disease resistance in local coral populations, in conjunction with assessments of stress resilience to highly-variable environmental conditions. These experiments leverage project #31254 in screening 'urban coral' genotypes from the Port of Miami for SCTLD resistance and physiological performance.Experiments have been and will be conducted leveraging funding from OAR 'Omics (direct and sediment transmission), EPA (waterborne transmission and ballast treatment), and FDEP (environmental cofactors of disease transmission). Partners for these experiments include Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, the Naval Research Laboratory in Key West, and Louisiana State University. Lab-based experiments will also leverage the AOML/CIMAS Experimental Reef Lab to develop and implement disease transmission, ballast treatment, and resistance screening apparatuses.
Expected Outcome:
Conceptually, this project will lead to a better understanding of factors contributing to disease transmission and resistance, as well as an evaluation of methodologies used to treat/limit the spread of disease. In each experiment, multiple genotypes will be investigated and responses will be analyzed using 'omics and physiological techniques. As such, this project will result in a better understanding of inherent variation in susceptibility to SCTLD, as well as the molecular mechanisms by which these disease may alter coral physiology. In addition to these studies, this project will leverage project #31254 to identify stress-resilient coral genotypes, and to evaluate techniques for rapid assessment of coral performance under stress. Results of these studies will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international meetings.
Project Locations:
Project Category:
Restoration
Project Status:
Funding Ended
Associated Products:
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