Café Scientifique / Science Cafe — Orlando

Coral reefs worldwide are in severe decline. In Florida and elsewhere in the Caribbean, the once common reef-building elkhorn coral is showing high rates of decline due to a combination of environmental stressors. In the Florida Keys, where 87% of the elkhorn population has already died, the majority of the loss has been attributed to white pox disease. This disease exclusively affects elkhorn coral and is caused by a human strain of the common fecal enteric bacterium, Serratia marcescens. This coral pathogen was recently found in both reef and sewage sources in the Florida Keys, establishing a causal link between sewage contamination of coral reefs and the demise of an iconic coral species now listed as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act.

The presenter is Kathryn Sutherland. She is presently an assistant professor at Rollins College, and she got her biological oceanography doctorate from the University of Georgia.