are we talking about the loss of Coral due to human waste being spewn amongst the pristine waters?
Health & Science: Waste bacteria causes disease killing Caribbean corals,
study says
Copyright © 2002 AP Online
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (June 17, 2002 6:20 p.m. EDT) - Bacteria found in the intestines
of humans and other animals have been identified as the cause of a disease
killing elkhorn corals in the Caribbean Sea.
First reported in 1996, the disease has spread widely, causing severe
damage to the branched corals.
On some reefs near Key West, mortality of elkhorn coral has reached 95
percent, and the disease has been recorded in the U.S. Virgin Islands,
Caribbean areas of Mexico, the Bahamas and Florida, said James W. Porter of
the University of Georgia.
Porter and his research team traced the white pox disease that causes the
problem to Serrate marcescens bacteria, which are widely found in the
intestines of humans and other animals.
The findings are reported in Monday's issue of Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
"Elkhorn used to be the commonest coral in the Caribbean, but now it has
been proposed for inclusion on the endangered species list," Porter said.
"Elkhorn coral is the giant redwood of the coral forest."
Asked how the bacteria got to the coral, he responded: "We don't know. ...
We are investigating the possibility that the origin of the bacteria is
human waste, but we don't know."
That is a crucial question in the Florida Keys, where most waste is treated
in septic fields rather than undergoing extensive treatment to kill the
bacteria.
"The implications for people in the Florida Keys are high," Porter said.
Discussions are under way into improving wastewater treatment, he said, but
it costs a lot and state and federal help are not assured.
"Everyone down here is in love with the water. They want to do the right
thing," he said, "but the cost to maintain the highest water quality
standards could be prohibitive for the individual citizenry."
Cheva Heck of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Keys
National Marine Sanctuary agreed that while the bacteria have an
association with humans, "The research itself doesn't tell us where it
comes from."
Dale W. Griffin of the U.S. Geological Survey's Center for Regional and
Coastal Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla., said he found it interesting that
bacteria with a fecal source have been identified as pathogens in the reef.
"One of the primary concerns in the Florida Keys is the waste disposal
problem," said Griffin, who was not part of the research team. He noted the
paper made no conclusion about the source of the bacteria killing the corals.
Coral colonies affected by white pox have irregularly shaped white spots
which eventually grow and kill the coral by consuming the thin layer of
living tissue that covers a coral's limestone skeleton.
The bacteria can grow by as much as one-half square inch to three square
inches daily.
Treating the infected coral also poses problems, as the bacteria have
become resistant to antibiotics, Porter said in a telephone interview.
Meanwhile, stress caused by the warming of the waters in the region is
weakening the corals, making them more vulnerable to infection, he said.
White pox disease has struck only elkhorn coral so far, something Porter
found surprising.
Other corals have their own problems, such as bleaching when the algae that
populate and build the corals die off. That problem that has been
increasing, and many blame it on global warming.
Coral reefs are under assault worldwide, according to the United Nations,
which blames global warming, fertilizer and sewage runoff and even
fishermen's use of dynamite in some areas.
Besides the University of Georgia, where Porter is a professor of ecology,
researchers on the project came from the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, the company MicroGenomics, Clemson University, Mote Marine
Laboratory, Tetra Tech Inc., the Environmental Protection Agency and the
University of South Carolina.
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