From Washington Post
“Since 2014, a mysterious illness known as stony coral tissue loss disease has plagued Florida’s reef tract, killing off nearly half the state’s hard corals… Unlike other coral diseases, which typically affect about 2 to 3 percent of corals on a reef and fluctuate seasonally, stony coral tissue loss targets more than 20 species and kills its host within a few months — sometimes even weeks. No one knows what causes the waterborne disease or what sparked its initial outbreak. Climate change, however, has made such events increasingly common.” |