Biological consequences of an outbreak of growth anomalies on Isopora palifera at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
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Biological consequences of an outbreak of growth anomalies on Isopora palifera at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Sophie Preston1
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Zoe Richards1,2
Received: 14 July 2020 / Accepted: 14 October 2020 Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Growth anomalies (GAs), a tumour-like disease affecting scleractinian corals, have been reported across the major reef systems of the Indo-Pacific and wider Atlantic regions, predominantly affecting Acropora and Porites species. In 2018, GAs were observed for the first time on Isopora palifera, an important observation from the isolated Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the East Indian Ocean, as the species is a key reef building coral at the atoll. In this study, the local distribution and abundance of GAs was quantified to determine if this occurrence could be classified as an outbreak, and the effects of this disease on I. palifera on reproductive potential and growth was described using histological and geochemical analysis. Growth anomalies were documented at 75% of sites and affected approximately one third of the I. palifera colonies examined. This disease compromises the biological and reproductive functioning of the host, as evidenced by a significant reduction in the density of oocytes, mesenteries, polyps, and zooxanthellae in infected tissues in comparison to healthy tissue. Furthermore, geochemical analysis indicates changes to key trace elements may be the result of bioerosion processes by infecting bacteria and the Topic Editor Steve Vollmer
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-02019-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorised users. & Sophie Preston [email protected] 1
Trace Environmental DNA Laboratory, Coral Conservation and Research Group, School of Molecular and Life Science, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
2
Department of Aquatic Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Kew Street, Welshpool, WA 6106, Australia
reprecipitation of calcite. The results of this study indicate the division of energy to the rapid skeletal development that characterises the disease, may have occurred at the detriment of the future reproductive potential of the population. Keywords Atoll Biology Coral Coral reef Disease Ecology Histology Geochemistry
Introduction Growth anomalies (GAs) are pale, tumour-like disease that commonly affect important reef building species across the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic coral reefs (Weil 2004; Aeby et al. 2011). First described on Madrepora kauaiensis (revised Madrepora oculata (Hoeksema and Cairns 2020)) in 1965 (Squires 1965), they have been reported to affect over 14 genera; however species belonging to Acroporidae and Poritidae are disproportionately affected (17 and 7 species, respectively; Aeby et al. 2011). GAs have been defined as tumours (Gaten˜o et al. 2003), calicoblastic neoplasms (Peters et al. 1986), neoplasia (Squires 1965) or skeletal tissue anomalies (Domart-Coul
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