Hervell et al., 2007: 

"Prior to 2000, only two studies had focused on coral disease in the region, one on black band disease (Dinsdale, 2002) and the other on skeletal eroding band (Antonius, 1999; Antonius and Lipscomb, 2001). However, dramatic increases in the abundance of white syndrome (described below) on a number of reefs in 2002–2003 (Willis et al., 2004) heralded an increasing awareness of coral disease on the GBR. Quantitative surveys between 2002 and 2006 revealed generally low (< 5 percent) disease prevalence on reefs surveyed in the northern, central, and southern regions of the GBR (Willis et al., 2004; Bette Willis and Cathie Page, James Cook University, pers. comm., December 2006). The surveys sampled a range of habitats and reef types along north-south gradients more than 2000 km in length and cross-shelf (east-west) gradients ranging up to 100 km from the coast. Overall, seven disease types have been recorded: black band disease, skeletal eroding band, white syndrome, brown band disease, growth anomalies, atramentous necrosis, and cyanobacterial syndromes (other than black band disease). Detection of some of the more common and infectious Caribbean diseases (black band disease and potentially some of the white diseases), in combination with discovery of diseases unique to the region such as brown band disease (Willis et al., 2004), suggest that coral diseases are common on Indo- Pacific reefs and may have a greater role in structuring coral communities in the region than previously thought."

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Citation and/or URL

 Harvell, D. Jordan-Dahlgren, E., Merkel, S., Rosenberg, E., Raymundo, L., Smith, G., Weil, G., and Willis, B., 2007, Coral dsease, environmental drivers and the balance betwen coral and microbial associates, Oceanography, 20(1): 36-59.   

Spatial Coverage

Global 

Temporal Coverage

 Not applicable

Update Frequency

 Not applicable

Other Information

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