Coral Reefs: 2000 Publications

Author: Williams, E.H. and Bunkley-Williams, L.
Title: Marine major ecological disturbances of the Caribbean.
Publication: The Infectious Disease Review 2(3): 110-127, 2000.
© Taylor & Francis

Notes: Large-scale marine disturbances, called marine major ecological disturbances (MMEDs), have drastically increased in the last 20-25 years. Coral-reef bleaching has repeatedly killed or weakened coral-reef organisms throughout the Caribbean since 1979. Longspine sea urchins were almost extirpated from the Caribbean in 1983-84, and recurrences have followed, along with smaller die-offs of other sea urchins. A large array of new, epizootic diseases has emerged or become more common or widespread in the last few years to devastate Caribbean coral reefs, and some of the older diseases have also become epizootic. Sea fan mass mortalities removed most of these animals from the Southwestern Caribbean in the early 1980s and possibly related sea fan disturbances now threaten those remaining Caribbean sea fans. A Caribbean-wide fish mass mortality was possibly caused by slime-blotch disease (SBD) in 1980. Since then similar SBD mass mortalities have occurred in South Florida, Bermuda, and the Eastern Caribbean. Recent outbreaks of external lesions on fishes throughout the Caribbean seem to be due to SBD. Green turtles began suffering a Caribbean-wide epizootic of fibropapillomas in the mid-1980s. These gross, external tumors continue to endanger this sea turtle. Although few non-coral reef mass mortalities (marine mammals, molluscs, seagrasses, sea stars, sponges etc; losses from harmful algal blooms) occur in the Caribbean Region, more coral-reef related disturbances occur here than in any other region. Research efforts require more coordination and cohesiveness. We believe MMEDs are driven by the most important phenomena of our times: global changes due to direct and indirect human impacts.