Are infectious diseases really killing corals? Alternative interpretations of the experimental and ecological data

By Michael Lesser, J. Bythell, Ruth D. Gates, R. Johnstone, O. Hoegh‐Guldberg. 2007

316 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Endocrinology, Immunology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cd1380f077f75a4c70dce4282a2198b33de8b2cd

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. A. Baker
2. T. McClanahan
3. Peter W. Glynn
4. Ross Jones
5. Bernhard Riegl
6. E. Weil
7. Jerker Lokrantz
8. A. Norström

In Immunology

1. K. Ritchie
2. J. Bythell
3. A. Cróquer
4. E. Weil
5. M. Sweet
6. T. McClanahan
7. David I. Kline
8. D. Lirman

Citations in the corpus

• Caribbean Corals in Crisis: Record Thermal Stress, Bleaching, and Mortality in 2005 (2010, background): “Mass coral bleaching from thermal stress, followed by outbreaks of contagious or opportunistic diseases [18,36,37], have become a threat common to coral reefs globally.”
• Bacterial assemblages differ between compartments within the coral holobiont (2011, background): “For example, bacterial associates of corals may be important in nutrient cycling (Wild et al. 2004, 2009; Naumann et al. 2009), N-fixation (Lesser et al. 2007a) and antibacterial activity (Ritchie Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Ruth Gates M. J. Sweet (&) A. Croquer J. C. Bythell School of…”
• Alternative states on coral reefs: beyond coral–macroalgal phase shifts (2009, background): “The link, however, between WBD and human activities remains unclear (Lesser et al. 2007).”
• Coral disease following massive bleaching in 2005 causes 60% decline in coral cover on reefs in the US Virgin Islands (2009, background): “High-water temperatures can influence coral disease by either increasing pathogenic abundance or virulence (Rosenberg and Ben-Haim 2002), or by increasing coralhost susceptibility (Lesser et al. 2007; Ainsworth et al. 2008).”
• Fungi in healthy and diseased sea fans (Gorgonia ventalina): is Aspergillus sydowii always the pathogen? (2008, background): “The importance of environmental stress in the development of aspergillosis has been discussed (Lesser et al. 2007).”
• Climate change and coral reef bleaching: An ecological assessment of long-term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook (2008, background): “While the taphonomic signature clearly points to rapid death (Aronson et al., 2002) what exactly killed these corals remains problematic, with some researchers pointing to diseases, while others suggest episodes of bleaching that facilitate epizootics (Lesser et al., 2007).”
• Oxygen consumption in Mediterranean octocorals under different temperatures (2010, background): “These episodes may be due to synergistic effects of thermal anomalies, summer energy shortage, and pathogens (Romano et al., 2000; Garrabou et al., 2001; Lesser et al., 2007; Cerrano and Bavestrello, 2008; Coma et al., 2009; Ferrier-Pagès et al., 2009; Vezzulli et al., 2010).”
• Strong relationship between coral bleaching and growth anomalies in massive Porites (2009, background): “…postulate in coral reef environments, the environmental approach used here has been suggested as a good way to characterize disease responses (covariation) to changes in environmental conditions and help understand disease dynamics in coral reef organisms (Weil et al., 2006; Lesser et al., 2007).”
• Bleaching increases likelihood of disease on Acropora palmata (Lamarck) in Hawksnest Bay, St John, US Virgin Islands (2008, background): “Some authors suggest that the recent increase in coral diseases is not from increasing pathogenic virulence, but from secondary effects of compromised hosts because of anomalously high water temperatures ( Lesser et al. 2007 ).”