Synopses & Reviews
Coral reefs constitute the most spectacular and diverse ecosystems in the marine environment. They form reservoirs of the highest biological diversity, including genetic resources and bio-active compounds. Unfortunately, coral reefs are also among the most heavily degraded marine ecosystems. Over the last two decades, coral reef communities have been experiencing increasingly stressful conditions due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic detrimental factors. Coral diseases are among the most recent in a series of threats (e.g. coral bleaching, over exploitation of fish stocks, destructive fishing practices and coastal developments) that is challenging the resilience of coral reef communities. During an international meeting on coral diseases held in Eilat, Israel, in 2003, leading scientists presented reviews and recent results of laboratory research and in situ observations in order to assess the status of coral health and to understand the disease mechanisms. The most relevant papers are now presented in Coral Health and Disease. The book starts with several case studies of reefs, which strongly differ regionally, e.g. the Red Sea, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico, Japan, western Indian Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. The second part on microbial ecology and physiology contains contributions describing the symbiotic relations of corals and microbes, the microbial role in nutrition and bleaching resistance and the antibacterial activities of corals. Particular coral diseases, such as aspergillosis, white pox, black, yellow and white band diseases are treated in the third part. Finally, different hypotheses of the mechanisms of coral bleaching, including a projection of the future of coral reefs, are discussed.
Synopsis
Coral reefs are the most spectacular and diverse ecosystems in the marine environment. Over the last decades, however, dramatic declines of coral reef communities have been observed. Corals are endangered due to natural and anthropogenic detrimental factors, such as global warming and environmental pollution. Based on an international meeting on "Coral Health and Disease" in Eilat, Israel in April 2003, the book starts with case studies of reefs, e.g. the Red Sea, Caribbean, Japan, Indian Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. The second part on microbial ecology and physiology describes the symbiotic relations of corals and microbes, and the microbial role in nutrition or bleaching resistance of corals. Particular coral diseases such as aspergillosis, white pox, black and white band diseases are treated in the third part. Finally, various hypotheses of the mechanisms of coral bleaching, including a projection of the future of coral reefs, are discussed.
Synopsis
This book opens with case studies of reefs in the Red Sea, Caribbean, Japan, Indian Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. A section on microbial ecology and physiology describes the symbiotic relations of corals and microbes, and the microbial role in nutrition or bleaching resistance of corals. Coral diseases are covered in the third part. The volume includes 50 color photos of corals and their environments
Table of Contents
Part I Regional aspects of coral reef health and disease
1 The coral reefs of Eilat, Red Sea: past, present and future - three decades of coral community structure studies
Yossi Loya
2 Coral Reef Diseases in the Wider Caribbean
Ernesto Weil
3 Coral disease on the Great Barrier Reef
Bette L. Willis, Cathie A. Page, and Elizabeth A. Dinsdale
4 Coral Diseases in Gulf of México Reefs
Eric Jordan-Dahlgren and Rosa E. Rodriguez-Martinez
5 Coral Bleaching: Signs of Change in Southern Japan
Rob van Woesik, Akiyuki Irikawa, and Yossi Loya
6 Coral bleaching in a temperate sea: from colony physiology to population ecology
Maoz Fine and Yossi Loya
7 Coral bleaching, diseases and mortality in the western Indian Ocean
Tim McClanahan
Part II Microbial ecology and physiology of corals
8 Symbiont diversity on coral reefs and its relationship to bleaching resistance and resilience
Andrew C. Baker
9 Stress effects on metabolism and photosynthesis of hermatypic corals
Noga Stambler and Zvy Dubinsky
10 What can regeneration tell us about coral disease?
Esti Kramarsky-Winter
11 Bacteria as a source of coral nutrition
Ariel Kushmaro and Esti Kramarsky-Winter
12 Antimicrobial activity of sponges and corals
Dovi Kelman
13 Microbial communities of coral surface mucopolysaccharide layers
Kim B. Ritchie and Garriet W. Smith
14 Culture-independent analyses of coral-associated microbes
Forrest Rohwer and Scott Kelly
Part III Coral diseases
15 Aspergillosis of Gorgonians
Garriet W. Smith and Ernesto Weil
16 White pox disease of the Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata
Kathryn Patterson Sutherland and Kim B. Ritchie
17 Temperature-regulated bleaching and tissue lysis of Pocillopora damicornis by the novel pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus
Yael Ben-Haim Rozenblat and Eugene Rosenberg
18 Black Band Disease
Laurie L. Richardson
19 Dark spots disease and yellow band disease, two poorly known coral diseases with high incidence in Cabibbean reefs
Diego L. Gil-Agudelo, Garriet W. Smith, Jaime Garzon-Ferreira, and Ernesto Weil, Dirk Petersen
20 White plague, white band and other "white" diseases
John Bythell, Olga Pantos, and Laurie Richardson
21 Monitoring the health of coral reef ecosystems using community metabolism
Jack Silverman, Boaz Lazar, and Jonathan Erez
22 Coral resistance to disease
Kerri M. Mullen, Ester C. Peters, and C. Drew Harvell
Part IV Coral bleaching
23 Temperature stress and coral bleaching
Paul J. Jokiel
24 The adaptive hypothesis of bleaching
Robert W. Buddemeier, Andrew C. Baker, Daphne C. Fautin, and J. Rebeca Jacobs
25 The bacterial disease hypothesis of coral bleaching
Eugene Rosenberg
26 Coral reefs and projections of future change
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Subject Index