Nutrient enrichment can increase the severity of coral diseases
Nutrient enrichment can increase the severity of coral diseases
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DOI：
10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00544.x
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发表时间：
2003-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8.8
通讯作者：
Hettinger, A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bruno, JF;Petes, LE;Hettinger, A
在过去20年中，海洋疾病的流行和严重程度有所增加，对各种基础物种和关键物种产生了重大影响。一种解释是，人类活动引起的环境变化削弱了宿主的抵抗力和/或增加了病原菌的毒力。在这里，我们报告了来自野外实验的证据，即营养丰富可以显著增加两种重要的加勒比海珊瑚流行性疾病的严重程度：普通柳珊瑚扇形柳珊瑚的曲霉病和造礁珊瑚Montastraea annularis和M.frksii的黄带病。通过实验将营养浓度提高2-5倍，几乎使黄带病造成的寄主组织损失增加了一倍。在另一项单独的实验中，营养强化显著增加了两个衡量海扇曲霉病严重程度的指标。我们的结果可能有助于解释珊瑚疾病严重程度的明显斑块，并表明最大限度地减少营养物质污染可能是控制珊瑚流行性疾病的重要管理工具。
The prevalence and severity of marine diseases have increased over the last 20 years, significantly impacting a variety of foundation and keystone species. One explanation is that changes in the environment caused by human activities have impaired host resistance and/or have increased pathogen virulence. Here, we report evidence from field experiments that nutrient enrichment can significantly increase the severity of two important Caribbean coral epizootics: aspergillosis of the common gorgonian sea fan Gorgonia ventalina and yellow band disease of the reef-building corals Montastraea annularis and M. franksii. Experimentally increasing nutrient concentrations by 2-5x nearly doubled host tissue loss caused by yellow band disease. In a separate experiment, nutrient enrichment significantly increased two measures of sea fan aspergillosis severity. Our results may help explain the conspicuous patchiness of coral disease severity, besides suggesting that minimizing nutrient pollution could be an important management tool for controlling coral epizootics.