Palmata Case Study - 867 Words

A study by Ritchie, 2006 illustrated how a temperature increase initiates a temporal shift within A.palmata mucus isolates, from beneficial bacteria to dominance by members of the genus Vibrio, suggesting that protective mechanisms employed by this species are lost under warmer conditions. Increased temperatures lowering coral resistance, thus, increasing disease susceptibility is well documented (Bruno, 2007; Muller et al, 2008), as is the rise in ocean heat content (Figure 3). Figure 3: Time series showing seasonal and annual average of global upper ocean heat content for the 0-700m layer since 1955 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) A suggested source of the WBD pathogen is African dust of which hundreds of millions of†¦show more content†¦Both species affected emphasise asexual fragmentation at the expense of dispersive sexual reproduction therefore, recovery is further strained due to the reproductive strategies (Aronson Precht, 2001). In addition to this, two pesticides commonly incorporated into African dust have been found to interfere with the settlement of coral larvae (Virginia et al, 2003). Management Strategies Responsive management plans are limited due to a lack of effectual diagnosis methods. Protective statuses’ such as being listed on the IUCN can act as a buffer following outbreaks, and it has been shown the decreased damage from human impacts via the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) lowers disease prevalence in corals (Lamb et al, 2015; Groner et al, 2015), yet despite this, implementing effective preventative and conservation methods remains a cause for concern. Trial studies have shown antibiotic treatments to be successful in supressing transmission of WBD, specifically with the use of Ampicillin and Tetracycline, although the latter being less efficient (Kline, 2011) and Paromomycin has been shown to arrest the disease completely (Sweet et al, 2014). Genetic research has shown that gene flow is regionally restricted in both Acropora species; Hemond and Vollmer, 2010, identified mitochondrial DNA sequence data unique within A. cervicornis of the Florida Keys suggesting colonies within this area are highly genetically