Members of the Voss Lab headed to Summerland Key and the Mote Tropical Research Lab this past week to revisit long term monitoring sites in the lower Florida Keys. The team conducted comprehensive coral surveys and sampled corals actively infected with black band disease, as well as recovering colonies that have been tracked since 2007. The good news, few coral colonies experience total colony mortality after getting hit with black band. The bad news, most corals experience slow degradation and bioerosion in the exposed areas left behind by the disease. With assistance from Erich Bartels and Cory Walter, the team had a very productive week completing all our project goals! |