Reef-scale impacts of the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak.

Anthropogenic and natural disturbances have modified coral reef ecosystems over the last decades, ultimately, exerting negative impacts on the persistence of the carbonated matrix and the physical function. In 2014, the Caribbean region saw the onset of a new deadly coral disease, often known as the stony coral tissue loss disease. In summer of 2018, the outbreak was first reported in the Mexican Caribbean in a diving site named 'Fish Market'. From July 2018 to March 2019, surveys were made to assess the impacts of this new outbreak in the stony coral community in terms of composition and the effect on the coral community calcification. This disease outbreak had severe consequences for this site. Several colonies of susceptible species were lost, which resulted in significant changes in the coral community composition and reductions in the gross carbonate production in a period of only 8 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]