Abstract

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a severe threat to Caribbean reefs. Its impact on coral populations results in rapid reef deterioration, and we are still working to understand the disease and how to stop the spread. Between November 2020 and February 2021, about 1900 coral colonies from 24 species were relocated from the Nassau cruise port to the Lighthouse Harbour preceding the commencement of nearby construction. Prior to relocation, corals in the port area exhibited good health and no SCTLD. Conversely, SCTLD was present at the Lighthouse Harbour. This relocation project was an opportunity to study the spread of SCTLD within a coral community, and to better understand species susceptibility. Monthly monitoring of individually tagged corals (n=50) began in November 2020. In February 2021, monitoring was expanded to include photomosaic plots (n=14), such that most of the relocated corals were observed. Two weeks after relocation, SCTLD affected all colonies of Meandrina meandrites and 70% of Eusmilia fastigiata. After four weeks, an additional 5 species were infected, which increased to 8 after 12 weeks, and 14 in 6 months. During the monitoring period, a total of 3 species become locally extinct and 4 species near local extinction. The exoskeletons of certain species, degraded within weeks of reaching total mortality, and most colonies were no longer identifiable without tag or photomosaic evidence. This shows that baseline data is critical for obtaining local extinction data. Additionally, our study shows that it may be possible to use species-specific infection rates and mortality to estimate the arrival of SCTLD to an area. This information can be used to better understand the interspecies and intraspecies spread, track the edge of the disease as it and to prioritize treatment areas to slow the spread

PDF Preview