Prevalence and Impact of Yellow Band Disease

Yellow-band disease (YBD) was first reported from the Florida Keys in 1994, and is now commonly observed throughout much of the Western Atlantic, including Panama, the Netherland Antilles, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. In most locations it appears that the disease suddenly emerged in the mid to late 1990s, with a dramatic increase in the number of infections between 1997-2001. YBD emerged as a significant threat to fore reef communities (5-25 m) of Mona Island, Puerto Rico in 1999. This disease is of particular concern because it affects the most important reef-building corals found on western Atlantic reefs today (Montastraea annularis complex), and these corals are also being impacted by several other diseases.

The rate and extent of mortality from yellow-band disease (YBD) to Montastraea annularis (species complex) was evaluated over eight years on reefs off Mona Island. The disease was first observed in 1996. Disease prevalence increased dramatically in 1999, affecting up to 52% of all M. annularis colonies in permanent study sites. YBD continued to spread among adjacent, previously uninfected corals over the next 4 years.

Although this disease causes relatively slow rates of mortality (5-15 cm/year), it is of extreme concern because:

• The affected species are the dominant corals on these reefs;
• Larger colonies are affected more frequently than small corals;
• Colonies with single YBD lesions have become infected in multiple locations;
• Most (85%) colonies identified with YBD in 1999 and 2000 were still affected in 2003, and these corals have lost a mean of 60% of their living tissue;
• Mortality from YBD is being compounded by black band disease, white plague and other syndromes;
• Bioeroding sponges, macroalgae, cyanobacteria and other competitors have colonized tissue-denuded skeleton, minimizing the likelihood of resheeting; and
• No recruitment of these species has been observed over eight years.

The full text will be available shortly.

Return to the main disease page.