US EditionA Deadly Disease Is Eating Away at Caribbean Corals and Wreaking Havoc on Reefs. Could Probiotics Be the Solution?
- In late 2020, Smithsonian researchers in Florida applied a probiotic treatment to infected great star coral colonies to slow stony coral tissue loss disease .
- The treatment followed years of investigation into SCTLD, a bacterial-linked disease first noted in Florida in 2014 that has spread rapidly across the Caribbean and affects over 30 coral species.
- The team developed a probiotic paste containing the bacterium McH1-7, which produces antibacterial compounds that inhibit pathogens and was delivered by divers to diseased coral colonies.
- The treatment reduced disease progression to 7 percent of coral tissue in treated colonies compared with 30 percent in untreated ones, representing a significant slowing of the disease's advance.
- While results are promising, researchers caution the exact cause of SCTLD remains unknown and further work is needed to assess probiotic application across different regions and coral species.
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38 Articles
Conservation news
ecotopical.comResearchers race to understand new disease killing Caribbean corals at unprecedented rates
This May, divers found stony coral tissue loss disease on corals in Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize, for the first time. The team from Fragments of Hope, a nonprofit, regularly monitors the site. A month previously there had been no sign at all of the disease. But on their trip in May, they found pillar (Dendrogyra cylindricus), symmetrical brain (Pseudodiploria strigosa) and mountainous star (Orbicella faveolata) corals covered with le…
Daily Journal
Probiotics could help save caribbean coral reefs from extinction
It slows the spread of a deadly disease decimating iconic reefs.
Fish 'beauty salons' may act as microbial hubs in reef ecosystems
Where do you go when you're a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural "beauty salons," lively social hubs of activity where fish "clients" swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners. The little cleaners dart under and around their much bigger clients—even entering their mouths—cleaning their scales of bacteria and parasites like a team of car washers servicing a Buick. Sometimes cleaners even rub against…
Probiotics can help heal ravaged coral reefs
Probiotics are everywhere, claiming to help us poop, restore gut health, and more. They can also be used to help threatened coral reefs. A bacterial probiotic has helped slow the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in wild corals in Florida that were already infected with the disease. The findings are detailed in a study published June 5 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science and show that applying this new probiotic treatment …
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