First, we will use a hierarchical sampling design to test whether coral diseases follow a contagious-disease model over two spatial scales in the Caribbean. We will also undertake this study in locations with and without a recent history of frequent thermal stress to test the alternate hypothesis that coral diseases are not infectious and contagious but are instead the result of compromised coral hosts that have undergone thermal stress. Second, we will undertake transmission experiments to examine whether coral diseases are indeed transmissible.
Study Locations: (1) Mahahual, Mexico (latitude 18"42’N, longitude 87"42’W) and (2) Tuxpan, Mexico (latitude 21"01’N, longitude 97"11’W), (3) Robet van (latitude 9"12’N, longitude 82"09’W), (4) St. John, United States Virgin Islands (USVI) (latitude 18"18’N, longitude 64"45’W), and (5) Wonderland Reef, Florida (latitude 24.56028 N, longitude 81.50127 W).
Dataset | Brief Description |
---|---|
Coral Diseases and thermal history | Coral Disease data at 4 locations in the Caribbean in 2012 |
Coral pyrosequencing data | Microbial communities of corals analyzed using 454 Illumina pyrosequencing |
Coral disease mapping and site information | Locations and depths of sites where samples were taken. |
Mapping information and signs for individual diseased corals | Data describing every diseased coral record from the surveys. |
Raw mapping data for sequencing | Experimental data from coral disease analysis in raw form for sequencing. |
Data and sequence information from analysis pipeline | Data from various stages of the analysis pipeline. |
Coral health status and DNA concentration | Health status and species of each sample taken. |
Sample numbers and associated data for bacteria sequence mapping | Sample numbers, barcode information, primer information and project name. |