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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(3)

Australian subtropical white syndrome: a transmissible, temperature-dependent coral disease

S. J. Dalton A B C , S. Godwin A , S. D. A. Smith A B and L. Pereg A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

B Present Address: National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, PO Box 4321, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: sdalton@nmsc.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(3) 342-350 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09060
Submitted: 18 March 2009  Accepted: 26 August 2009   Published: 29 March 2010

Abstract

Since 2000, a disease displaying white-syndrome characteristics has been observed affecting corals from the genus Turbinaria in the Solitary Islands Marine Park, New South Wales, Australia. Recently termed Australian subtropical white syndrome, this disease is transmissible through direct contact and by a predatory vector, but transmission through the water column has not been observed. In aquarium experiments, progressive tissue loss, extending from the region where healthy Turbinaria mesenterina fragments were in direct contact with samples of diseased coral, was noted in 66% of treatments. No tissue loss occurred in any of the controls or when healthy fragments were not in direct contact with diseased corals. Field experiments confirmed that the disease was infectious through direct contact. Further experiments showed that the rate of tissue loss was significantly higher when corals were exposed to summer temperatures (26°C). These results suggest that temperature increases predicted in most climate change models could lead to the loss of dominant coral species, displacing other organisms that rely on corals for food and shelter. Finally, the present study showed that removal of the disease margin provides a management tool to minimise coral tissue loss during an epizootic.

Additional keywords: elevated temperatures, infectious disease, subtropical reefs, Turbinaria mesenterina.


Acknowledgements

We thank M. Harrison, M. Rule, A. Carroll, A. Cox and J. Rowland for their assistance in the field and during the laboratory experiments and M. Rule and S. Cairns for statistical assistance. We thank Megan Stone from the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) who provided the temperature data. The University of New England, Solitary Islands Marine Park Authority and Australian Geographic supported this research financially. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their critique, which has improved this manuscript. Coral specimen collections for the aquarium experiments and in situ transmission experiments were conducted in accordance with NSW DPI Scientific Research (permit number P06/0064).


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