Spatial Spread and Impact
UVI research technician Allie Durdall monitors coral health for TCRMP at Sprat Hole, St. Croix, USVI. Photo by L. Henderson
Current Research at The University of the Virgin Islands
Dr. Marilyn Brandt, a Research Associate Professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, is leading the effort to gain an understanding of the distribution and the extent of the disease in real time. As a part of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources’ Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program, a NOAA-funded and UVI-executed long-term monitoring program for reefs across the US Virgin Islands since 2001, many of the locations where disease has been observed have been extensively studied and monitored previously thanks to Dr. Tyler Smith, a Research Associate Professor at UVI. Using these locations and observed presence in other locations, Dr. Brandt, Dr. Smith, and UVI Marine Science staff and students are surveying reefs all around the US Virgin Islands to understand extent and spread of the disease, and possible reasons for coral resilience.
Based on previous research in Florida surrounding SCTLD, brain coral and maze coral have been identified as particularly susceptible, and often can function as a “canary in the coal mine” to indicate the arrival of the disease on a reef. Pillar coral, flower coral, and smooth flower coral have also been identified as particularly susceptible. What is clear, however, is that once the disease is present, it has the ability to affect a wide range of coral, with only mustard hill coral, finger corals, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral identified as having low to no susceptibility.