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Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef

Jessica Haapkylä, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo, Mike Flavell, David G. Bourne, Britta Schaffelke, Bette L. Willis

PLoS ONE, Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Start page: e16893

Swansea University Author: Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0016893

Abstract

Declining water quality coupled with the effects of climate change are rapidly increasing coral diseases on reefs worldwide, although links between coral diseases and environmental parameters remain poorly understood. This is the first study to document a correlation between coral disease and water...

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Published in: PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Published: 2011
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa6754
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first_indexed 2013-07-23T11:55:23Z
last_indexed 2018-02-09T04:34:16Z
id cronfa6754
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fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2017-12-18T11:37:39.1492659</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>6754</id><entry>2012-01-23</entry><title>Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f</sid><ORCID>0000-0003-0036-9724</ORCID><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Unsworth</surname><name>Richard Unsworth</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2012-01-23</date><deptcode>SBI</deptcode><abstract>Declining water quality coupled with the effects of climate change are rapidly increasing coral diseases on reefs worldwide, although links between coral diseases and environmental parameters remain poorly understood. This is the first study to document a correlation between coral disease and water quality on an inshore reef.The temporal dynamics of the coral disease atramentous necrosis (AN) was investigated over two years within inshore populations of Montipora aequituberculata in the central Great Barrier Reef, in relation to rainfall, salinity, temperature, water column chlorophyll a, suspended solids, sedimentation, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon. Overall, mean AN prevalence was 10-fold greater during summer wet seasons than winter dry seasons. A 2.5-fold greater mean disease abundance was detected during the summer of 2009 (44 &#xB1; SE 6.7 diseased colonies per 25 m2), when rainfall was 1.6-fold greater than in the summer of 2008. 1Two water quality parameters explained 67% of the variance in monthly disease prevalence in a Partial Least Squares regression analysis; disease abundance was negatively correlated with salinity (R2 = &#x2212;0.6) but positively correlated with water column particulate organic carbon concentration (R2 = 0.32). Seasonal temperature patterns were also positively correlated with disease abundance, but explained only a small portion of the variance.The results suggest that rainfall and associated runoff may facilitate seasonal disease outbreaks, potentially by reducing host fitness or by increasing pathogen virulence due to higher availability of nutrients and organic matter. In the future, rainfall and seawater temperatures are likely to increase due to climate change which may lead to decreased health of inshore reefs.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>PLoS ONE</journal><volume>6</volume><journalNumber>2</journalNumber><paginationStart>e16893</paginationStart><publisher/><issnElectronic>1932-6203</issnElectronic><keywords/><publishedDay>31</publishedDay><publishedMonth>12</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2011</publishedYear><publishedDate>2011-12-31</publishedDate><doi>10.1371/journal.pone.0016893</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>SBI</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><lastEdited>2017-12-18T11:37:39.1492659</lastEdited><Created>2012-01-23T16:47:26.4130000</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Jessica</firstname><surname>Haapkyl&#xE4;</surname><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Unsworth</surname><orcid>0000-0003-0036-9724</orcid><order>2</order></author><author><firstname>Mike</firstname><surname>Flavell</surname><order>3</order></author><author><firstname>David G.</firstname><surname>Bourne</surname><order>4</order></author><author><firstname>Britta</firstname><surname>Schaffelke</surname><order>5</order></author><author><firstname>Bette L.</firstname><surname>Willis</surname><order>6</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2017-12-18T11:37:39.1492659 v2 6754 2012-01-23 Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2012-01-23 SBI Declining water quality coupled with the effects of climate change are rapidly increasing coral diseases on reefs worldwide, although links between coral diseases and environmental parameters remain poorly understood. This is the first study to document a correlation between coral disease and water quality on an inshore reef.The temporal dynamics of the coral disease atramentous necrosis (AN) was investigated over two years within inshore populations of Montipora aequituberculata in the central Great Barrier Reef, in relation to rainfall, salinity, temperature, water column chlorophyll a, suspended solids, sedimentation, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon. Overall, mean AN prevalence was 10-fold greater during summer wet seasons than winter dry seasons. A 2.5-fold greater mean disease abundance was detected during the summer of 2009 (44 ± SE 6.7 diseased colonies per 25 m2), when rainfall was 1.6-fold greater than in the summer of 2008. 1Two water quality parameters explained 67% of the variance in monthly disease prevalence in a Partial Least Squares regression analysis; disease abundance was negatively correlated with salinity (R2 = −0.6) but positively correlated with water column particulate organic carbon concentration (R2 = 0.32). Seasonal temperature patterns were also positively correlated with disease abundance, but explained only a small portion of the variance.The results suggest that rainfall and associated runoff may facilitate seasonal disease outbreaks, potentially by reducing host fitness or by increasing pathogen virulence due to higher availability of nutrients and organic matter. In the future, rainfall and seawater temperatures are likely to increase due to climate change which may lead to decreased health of inshore reefs. Journal Article PLoS ONE 6 2 e16893 1932-6203 31 12 2011 2011-12-31 10.1371/journal.pone.0016893 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2017-12-18T11:37:39.1492659 2012-01-23T16:47:26.4130000 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Jessica Haapkylä 1 Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 2 Mike Flavell 3 David G. Bourne 4 Britta Schaffelke 5 Bette L. Willis 6
title Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
spellingShingle Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
Richard Unsworth
title_short Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
title_full Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
title_fullStr Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
title_sort Seasonal Rainfall and Runoff Promote Coral Disease on an Inshore Reef
author_id_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author Richard Unsworth
author2 Jessica Haapkylä
Richard Unsworth
Mike Flavell
David G. Bourne
Britta Schaffelke
Bette L. Willis
format Journal article
container_title PLoS ONE
container_volume 6
container_issue 2
container_start_page e16893
publishDate 2011
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-6203
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0016893
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Declining water quality coupled with the effects of climate change are rapidly increasing coral diseases on reefs worldwide, although links between coral diseases and environmental parameters remain poorly understood. This is the first study to document a correlation between coral disease and water quality on an inshore reef.The temporal dynamics of the coral disease atramentous necrosis (AN) was investigated over two years within inshore populations of Montipora aequituberculata in the central Great Barrier Reef, in relation to rainfall, salinity, temperature, water column chlorophyll a, suspended solids, sedimentation, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon. Overall, mean AN prevalence was 10-fold greater during summer wet seasons than winter dry seasons. A 2.5-fold greater mean disease abundance was detected during the summer of 2009 (44 ± SE 6.7 diseased colonies per 25 m2), when rainfall was 1.6-fold greater than in the summer of 2008. 1Two water quality parameters explained 67% of the variance in monthly disease prevalence in a Partial Least Squares regression analysis; disease abundance was negatively correlated with salinity (R2 = −0.6) but positively correlated with water column particulate organic carbon concentration (R2 = 0.32). Seasonal temperature patterns were also positively correlated with disease abundance, but explained only a small portion of the variance.The results suggest that rainfall and associated runoff may facilitate seasonal disease outbreaks, potentially by reducing host fitness or by increasing pathogen virulence due to higher availability of nutrients and organic matter. In the future, rainfall and seawater temperatures are likely to increase due to climate change which may lead to decreased health of inshore reefs.
published_date 2011-12-31T03:08:19Z
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