Research and Epidemiology Team

The Research & Epidemiology Team is responsible for identifying the overarching research needs related to the current coral disease outbreak and working collaboratively to begin addressing the research gaps. The Research & Epidemiology Team will review all research project proposals and reports. 

The Research & Epidemiology Team is sub-divided into four specific research areas:

• Histopathology
• Coral Immune Health & “-omics"
• Pathogen Identification & Microbiome Characterization
• Environmental Factors & Transmission

Research & Epidemiology Team Reports: General

• Data Collection for the Southeast Florida Action Network (SEAFAN) to Assess Reef Conditions Before and During the 2015 Coral Disease Outbreak
• Investigating the Ongoing Coral Disease Outbreak in the Florida Keys: Collecting Corals to Diagnose the Etiological Agent(s) and Establishing Sentinel Sites to Monitor Transmission Rates and the Spatial Progression of the Disease.
• Grecian Rocks Disease Outbreak 7/16/2016
• Spatial Epidemiology Modeling of the Florida Coral Disease Outbreak
• Southeast Florida Large Coral Assessment 2015
• Southeast Florida reef-wide Post-Irma coral disease surveys
• Grant: Disease investigation: in search of a cause for the widespread coral mortality event in Florida

Histology and Pathogen Transmission Reports:

• Presentation: 2015 coral disease epizootic
• Presentation: 2016 coral disease epizootic (update II)
• Presentation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute to the SEFCRI TAC meeting - Grecian Rocks Outbreak
• Technical Report: Postdoctoral research in coral pathogen isolation
• Presentation: MCAV disease lab analyses update
• Investigation of the coral disease outbreak affecting scleractinian coral species along the Florida Reef Tract
• Coral Disease Lab Analyses
• Investigation of the transmission, infectivity and differential host specificity of a disease outbreak on the Florida reefs

Contact

Team leads: Andy Bruckner (andy.bruckner@noaa.gov) and Cheryl Woodley (cheryl.woodley@noaa.gov)