How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Type II White-Band Disease
Reference
Ritchie, K.B. and Smith, G.W.  1998.  Type II white-band disease.  Revista De Biologia Tropical 46: 199-203.

What was done
The authors of this study examined an infectious coral ailment, termed type II white-band disease (WBD II), found in stands of the coral Acropora cervicornis in the Bahamas in 1993.

What was learned
Visual observations of the diseased corals revealed that they exhibited conditions similar to coral bleaching.  The authors also reported that "bleached A. cervicornis tissue caused by WBD II shows increased population levels of a bacterium morphologically and metabolically similar to Vibrio charcharia in their surface mucopolysaccharide layers that could not be isolated from apparently healthy areas from the same colony or unaffected colonies."

What it means
This study indicates that, in some instances, coral bleaching may be caused by a bacterial infection.


Reviewed 1 June 1999