Researcher discovers corals resist disease

Friday, November 21, 2008 - 14:28 in Biology & Nature

(PhysOrg.com) -- In recent years, tropical coral reefs have become drastically altered by disease epidemics. In a new study published by PLoS ONE, lead author Steven V. Vollmer, assistant professor of biology at the Marine Science Center at Northeastern University, finds that acroporid corals listed on the US Endangered Species List due to epidemics of White Band Disease can recover because up to six percent of the remaining corals are naturally resistant to the disease. This is the first evidence of natural disease resistance in tropical reef corals.

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