Cellular Diagnostics and Coral Health: Declining Coral Health in the Florida Keys

Downs, C; Fauth, John; Robinson, Charles; Curry, Richard; Lanzendorf, Brenda; Halas, John; Halas, Judith; Woodley, Cheryl

Coral reefs within the Florida Keys are disappearing at an alarming rate. Coral cover in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary declined by 38% from 1996-2000. From a resource management perspective, the primary question is whether coral declines result from global or climatic forces, local stresses, or synergistic effects of both. Traditional coral mapping and monitoring programs have difficulty resolving this question, which leaves the identity of the stressors and the mechanism of morbidity/mortality unknown. In 2000, populations of Montastraea annularis at four sites within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and one reef within Biscayne National Park were sampled on a quarterly basis. Biopsy samples of M annularis were analyzed using Environmental Cellular Diagnostics (ECDS). Corals at Alina's Reef in Biscayne National Park appeared healthy in March, but experienced an acute loss of coral coverage by August. Environmental Cellular Diagnostic analysis indicated that Alina's Reef corals were in distress: they had experienced severe oxidative damaging and protein-denaturing stress that affected mitochondrial function in both the coral polyps and their symbiotic zooxanthellae. This condition was associated with a significant xenobiotic detoxification response in both species, indicating that the stressor was a probable chemical contaminant. These results demonstrate that a simple Environmental Cellular Diagnostic assessment is effective in assessing coral health and can identify the mechanism of pathology, as well as providing prognostic and forecasting biomarkers for coral health.