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Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The National Marine Fisheries Service of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, provides information on candidate species that may be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The service discusses the range, characteristics, distribution, conservation efforts, and threats on the staghorn coral. A photograph of the staghorn coral is included.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The National Marine Fisheries Service of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, provides information on candidate species that may be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The service discusses the range, characteristics, distribution, conservation efforts, and threats on the staghorn coral. A photograph of the staghorn coral is included.
Author: Kaitlyn Lizza Publisher: ISBN: Category : Ecology Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Acropora cervicornis was once one of the dominant reef building corals of the Caribbean, Florida Keys, and Dry Tortugas (DRTO), but since the 1970's populations have been decimated throughout their geographic range. Recently, a repopulation was documented through detailed benthic surveys conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey at three locations (Pulaski Shoal, East Key, and Loggerhead Key) within DRTO. Benthic surveys using the U.S Geological Survey's Along-Track Reef Imaging System (ATRIS) revealed hundreds of previously undocumented colonies. These discoveries have provided a unique data-set, allowing a comparison between the historical (1883, 1976) and contemporary distributions (2009, 2011) of A. cervicornis. Kernel density estimates were used to analyze shifts in high density areas and non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance tests were used to analyze differences between years in location and extent of the distribution. The results from the KDEs indicated high density areas have shifted among year's at all three study areas. The comparison of the location and extent of the historical and modern A. cervicornis distributions revealed similarities and differences among years that varied among the study areas. This information is important to the management of this species because it provides vital information on the extent and location of the current distribution relative to historical levels. This study also provides documentation of the population dynamics and ecosystem changes over large time scales within the DRTO region. The above mentioned dataset was also used in a second study to quantify 1) variations in density among factors such as location (study area), suitable habitat type, and water depth, 2) overall spatial population patterns, and 3) spatial patterns in A. cervicornis density. Results indicated population structure was significantly clustered (P = 0.
Author: Carden C. Wallace Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING ISBN: 9780643063914 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 480
Book Description
Staghorn corals (genus Acropora) are the most obvious and important corals on coral reefs throughout the world, providing much of the beauty and variety seen on the reefs. This invaluable reference tool is the first major review of Acropora in over 100 years. It assesses all the known species worldwide, describing each in detail and illustrating the range of variability of form with habitat and geographic location. The classification, evolution and worldwide distribution of all species are reviewed and illustrated with colour plates, full page black and white plates and distribution maps. Details of the general biology of staghorn corals are discussed and illustrated. The book is complemented by a CD-ROM, Staghorn Corals of the World: A Key to Species of Acropora, containing a LucID-based key to all species of Acropora and a photo library of type specimens from museums around the world. Special Offer: Staghorn Corals of the World book and CD-ROM set for only $220.00.
Author: Morgan V. Hightshoe Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Since the 1970s, loss of herbivores, coral bleaching, pollution, and disease epidemics have reshaped the ecological framework of coral reefs. Staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, was a major reef-building scleractinian coral found throughout Florida and the Caribbean that experienced unprecedented population declines primarily due to disease and coral bleaching. These two stressors are coupled; the highest coral disease prevalence occurs after periods of thermal stress caused by increased sea surface temperature. Previous research documented three disease-resistant A. cervicornis genotypes in Panama, but it is unknown if disease-resistant genotypes exist in the Florida Keys. Thermal tolerance has been found to be variable among different species of corals and is relatively unknown in A. cervicornis. To investigate disease resistance and thermal tolerance in corals collected from the Florida Keys, pathogen transmission, thermal tolerance experiments, and coral outplanting studies were conducted, along with histological work to assess the condition of coral tissues. Corals were challenged in situ with exposure to rapid tissue loss (RTL) and bleaching resistance was evaluated ex situ in temperature-controlled seawater tanks, using 39 A. cervicornis genotypes. Disease and bleaching were further characterized in the wild using outplanted colonies. In a pathogen transmission pilot study, 7 out of 39 genotypes developed signs of rapid tissue loss transmission. An expanded transmission experiment that used 12 potentially disease resistant genotypes (based on anecdotal information and results from the pilot study), all genotypes developed signs of RTL transmission. However, susceptibility was variable but not statistically different among genotypes (p>0.05), ranging from 40-100% transmission. Histological analyses revealed significant (p0.05) related to photosynthetic efficiency and tissue condition metrics. No significant differences in mortality, disease, or predation were found between disease resistant and disease susceptible genotypes in outplanting experiments (p>0.05). This study reports the first evidence that disease resistance is present in Florida A. cervicornis genotypes. The variability of disease resistance found within genotypes suggests that genotype is not the only factor influencing disease transmission. Short-term exposure to thermal stress revealed heat tolerant A. cervicornis genotypes, which corroborates with recent published studies. Taken together, these results provide insights into how Caribbean Acropora and other scleractinian species persist through multiple disease and coral bleaching events.
Author: Silvia Libro Publisher: ISBN: Category : Acropora cervicornis Languages : en Pages : 104
Book Description
Over the past thirty years, marine disease outbreaks have increased significantly, producing dramatic alterations in marine ecosystems worldwide. Reef-building corals have been particularly vulnerable to the increase in new epizootic diseases, and yet many aspects of the coral-pathogen interaction remain unresolved, including how corals respond to disease infections. One example is represented by White Band Disease (WBD), a coral disease that causes rapid tissue degradation in acroporid corals. Since the 1970`s, WBD outbreaks have caused catastrophic mass mortalities of two foundation species on Caribbean coral reefs, the staghorn coral "Acropora cervicornis" and the elkhorn coral A. palmata, which populations have collapsed by up to 98%. The etiology of WBD has not been fully elucidated yet, but presence of disease resistant genotypes and local recovery from WBD in natural populations of "A. cervicornis" suggest that staghorn corals have the ability to fight the disease and that genetic mechanisms may underlie resistance to WBD. My thesis focuses on understanding the genetic basis of coral host immunity and resistance to WBD in the endangered staghorn coral "Acropora cervicornis" using next-generation sequencing (RNA-seq). To identify the key mediators of the immune response of staghorn corals to WBD disease, I conducted transcriptome analysis of healthy and WBD-infected staghorn corals from natural populations. My results show that WBD causes expression changes in 4% of the coral host transcriptome, and that the immune response to staghorn corals is characterized by pathogen recognition, production of reactive oxygen species, apoptosis and stress response genes, as well as eicosanoids, a class of lipid metabolites including leukotrienes and prostaglandins, that had not previously identified as immune mediators in scleractinian corals. Using common garden experiments, I exposed resistant and susceptible corals to healthy and to WBD-infected grafts to identify expression changes associated to resistance during disease exposure (WBD grafts) and allorecognition (healthy grafts). I found that expression patterns associated to disease resistance are independent from exposure to WBD and do not include any of the immune pathways involved in the response against WBD corals. Rather, the gene expression signature of WBD resistance encompasses a very small number of genes that are constitutively up- or down-regulated in resistant corals. Mechanisms involved in WBD resistance include RNA interference-mediated post-transcriptional regulation, antiviral defense and heat stress response, suggesting a link between thermal stress tolerance and disease resistance. Expression changes associated to exposure revealed that allorecognition only induces expression changes for a small subset of genes involved in general stress response and nematocyst discharge, while exposure to WBD has a large-scale effect on the transcriptome. Consistent with the results described above, disease exposure resulted in enhanced pathogen recognition, synthesis of ROS and production of eicosanoids. Hallmarks of early stage response to WBD included Toll-like receptors (TLR)-mediated NF-kB signaling, Prophenolxidase activity and increased expression of Heath shock proteins and antivirals. These results also show that eicosanoids in staghorn corals are involved in the response to WBD but not to allogeneic tissue exposure and mechanical injury, indicating a pivotal role during pathogen infections rather than during wound repair and general stress response. Taken together, these results indicate that "A. cervicornis" mounts a powerful response against disease infections involving several innate immune pathways. In addition, this response does not appear to be a general immune response, as indicated by the highly divergent expression profiles of corals exposed to WBD and healthy grafts, suggesting that "A. cervicornis" is able to discriminate between pathogen attack and allorecognition. By characterizing the genetic signature of resistance to WBD, this research represents a valuable contribution to understanding how corals respond to disease and can serve as a conservation tool to identify and farm WBD-resistant genotypes for large scale restoration of the endangered Caribbean "Acropora". This knowledge is critical to the conservation of threatened reef corals and has direct conservation implications for the endangered Caribbean staghorn coral "A. cervicornis".
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Author: Kaitlyn Lizza
Author: Carden C. Wallace
Author: Elizabeth Goergen Silver
Author: Bruce E. Chalker
Author: Cara Helene Dickman
Author: Morgan V. Hightshoe
Author: Bruce Edward Chalker
Author: Reanna Jeanes
Author: Silvia Libro