Coral Health and Disease [Hardcover]

This book opens with case studies of reefs in the Red Sea, Caribbean, Japan, Indian Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. A section on microbial ecology and physiology describes the symbiotic relations of corals and microbes, and the microbial role in nutrition or bleaching resistance of corals. Coral diseases are covered in the third part. The volume includes 50 color photos of corals and their environments

Coral reefs are the most spectacular and diverse ecosystems in the marine environment. Over the last decades, however, dramatic declines of coral reef communities have been observed. Corals are endangered due to natural and anthropogenic detrimental factors, such as global warming and environmental pollution.

Based on an international meeting on Coral Health and Disease  in Eilat, Israel in April 2003, the book starts with case studies of reefs, e.g. the Red Sea, Caribbean, Japan, Indian Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. The second part on microbial ecology and physiology describes the symbiotic relations of corals and microbes, and the microbial role in nutrition or bleaching resistance of corals. Particular coral diseases such as aspergillosis, white pox, black and white band diseases are treated in the third part. Finally, various hypotheses of the mechanisms of coral bleaching, including a projection of the future of coral reefs, are discussed.

Part I Regional aspects of coral reef health and disease 1 The coral reefs of Eilat, Red Sea: past, present and future - three decades of coral community structure studiesYossi Loya 2 Coral Reef Diseases in the Wider CaribbeanErnesto Weil 3 Coral disease on the Great Barrier ReefBette L. Willis, Cathie A. Page, and Elizabeth A. Dinsdale 4 Coral Diseases in Gulf of M?xico ReefsEric Jordan-Dahlgren and Rosa E. Rodriguez-Martinez 5 Coral Bleaching: Signs of Change in Southern JapanRob van Woesik, Akiyuki Irikawa, and Yossi Loya 6 Coral“*