Can the Two Most Important Coral Species Recover?
The Caribbean bleaching and disease event that began in the summer of 2005 caused significant mortality of the two most important reef-building corals in the U.S. Virgin Islands — Acropora palmata (elkhorn coral) and Montastraea annularis (star coral) complex (Macx). The ability of these corals to recover will largely determine the future seascape in the Virgin Islands. Research by U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, and Florida Institute of Technology scientists on the effects of bleaching and disease showed that M. annularis complex was more affected by bleaching and disease than Acropora palmata. After the record-high seawater temperatures in 2005, more than 98 percent of the Macx coral cover bleached, and about 90 percent of the mortality from disease also occurred on this species group, with healing of disease lesions not seen. From 2003 to 2007, researchers documented disease prevalence on A. palmata around St. John that ranged from 0 to 52 percent, with high levels o
