Combining coral larvae and disease connectivity to optimize mitigation and restoration strategies in the Florida Reef Tract

Dobbelaere, Thomas;Holstein, Daniel M.;Muller, Erinn M.;Gramer, Lewis J.;Hanert, Emmanuel;et.al.
(2021) ASLO 2021 Aquatic Sciences Meeting — Location: Online (22.June.2021)

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Abstract
Over the last six years, the Florida Reef Tract (FRT) has been experiencing an outbreak of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). First reported off the coast of Miami- Dade County in 2014, the SCTLD has since spread throughout the entire FRT with the exception of the Dry Tortugas and continues to propagate throughout the Caribbean. Although the causative agent for this disease is currently unknown, the hydrodynamics is highly explanatory of the SCTLD patterns of infection. The same hydrodynamics is also the driving mechanism of coral larvae dispersal and coral connectivity, which enhance the overall system resilience. Connectivity therefore appears to be a double- edged sword as it can both enhance and degrade coral populations. In the present study, we try to disentangle the respective effects of disease and larval connectivity in order to identify reefs best suited to restoration projects. We do that by computing larval and disease connectivity in the entire FRT by using a high- resolution biophysical model. Connectivity information is computed over 3 consecutive years and then analyz ed using graph theory tools to identify reefs with a high restoration potential. These are the reefs that both maximise the benefits of larval connectivity (good larval sources, high larval retention, etc.) and minimiz e the drawbacks of disease connectivity (low upstream disease connectivity, low disease- centrality, etc.). This approach allows the development of reef- specific connectivity metrics as well as the identification of reefs decisive to disease spread; for example, disease super- spreading reefs (high centrality) or corridors, where mitigation could be highly beneficial.
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Dobbelaere, T., Holstein, D. M., Muller, E. M., Gramer, L. J., McEachron, L., Koch, H., & Hanert, E. (2021). Combining coral larvae and disease connectivity to optimize mitigation and restoration strategies in the Florida Reef Tract. ASLO 2021 Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Online. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/240798