Wednesday, August 8, 2018
244, New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Megan J. Donahue1, Jamie M. Caldwell2,3, Scott F. Heron4, Tracy D. Ainsworth5, William Leggat6, Bernardo Vargas-Angel7, Austin Greene2, Erick F. Geiger8,9, Gang Liu8,9, Courtney Couch7, Joleah B. Lamb10,11, Bruce Monger12, Laurie J. Raymundo13 and C. Mark Eakin9, (1)Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i, Kāne‘ohe, HI, (2)Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i, Kane‘ohe, HI, (3)Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, (4)NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Coral Reef Watch-ReefSense, Townsvile, Australia, (5)School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia, (6)School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Australia, (7)NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division, Honolulu, HI, (8)Global Science and Technology, Inc, Greenbelt, MD, (9)NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Coral Reef Watch, College Park, MD, (10)Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, (11)School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, (12)Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, (13)Marine Laboratory, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam
Coral diseases are an increasing threat to the long-term sustainability of coral reefs. Coral disease outbreaks are fundamentally patchy, making it difficult to investigate, monitor, and manage disease. Environmental stress, including high temperatures and terrestrial runoff, increase the susceptibility to disease and abundance of pathogens. Building on an existing NOAA Coral Reef Watch framework, we are developing an early warning system that monitors environmental conditions associated with disease risk, including temperature anomalies and coastal water quality, to predict the likelihood of coral disease outbreaks and apply climate models to forecast outbreak conditions months in advance.
