Climate Change Group, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia.
Environ Manage. 2012 Jan;49(1):1-13. doi: 10.1007/s00267-011-9770-9. Epub 2011 Nov 1.
Predicted increases in coral disease outbreaks associated with climate change have implications for coral reef ecosystems and the people and industries that depend on them. It is critical that coral reef managers understand these implications and have the ability to assess and reduce risk, detect and contain outbreaks, and monitor and minimise impacts. Here, we present a coral disease response framework that has four core components: (1) an early warning system, (2) a tiered impact assessment program, (3) scaled management actions and (4) a communication plan. The early warning system combines predictive tools that monitor the risk of outbreaks of temperature-dependent coral diseases with in situ observations provided by a network of observers who regularly report on coral health and reef state. Verified reports of an increase in disease prevalence trigger a tiered response of more detailed impact assessment, targeted research and/or management actions. The response is scaled to the risk posed by the outbreak, which is a function of the severity and spatial extent of the impacts. We review potential management actions to mitigate coral disease impacts and facilitate recovery, considering emerging strategies unique to coral disease and more established strategies to support reef resilience. We also describe approaches to communicating about coral disease outbreaks that will address common misperceptions and raise awareness of the coral disease threat. By adopting this framework, managers and researchers can establish a community of practice and can develop response plans for the management of coral disease outbreaks based on local needs. The collaborations between managers and researchers we suggest will enable adaptive management of disease impacts following evaluating the cost-effectiveness of emerging response actions and incrementally improving our understanding of outbreak causation.
预测气候变化引起的珊瑚疾病爆发增加，这对珊瑚礁生态系统以及依赖它们的人和行业都有影响。珊瑚礁管理者了解这些影响，并具备评估和降低风险、检测和控制疾病爆发以及监测和最小化影响的能力是至关重要的。在这里，我们提出了一个珊瑚疾病应对框架，该框架有四个核心组成部分：（1）预警系统，（2）分层影响评估计划，（3）分级管理措施，以及（4）沟通计划。预警系统结合了监测温度相关珊瑚疾病爆发风险的预测工具，以及由定期报告珊瑚健康和珊瑚礁状态的观察员网络提供的现场观测结果。疾病流行率增加的验证报告触发了更详细的影响评估、目标研究和/或管理措施的分层响应。响应的规模取决于爆发的风险，这是影响的严重程度和空间范围的函数。我们审查了减轻珊瑚疾病影响和促进恢复的潜在管理措施，同时考虑了针对珊瑚疾病的新兴策略以及支持珊瑚礁恢复的更成熟策略。我们还描述了有关珊瑚疾病爆发的沟通方法，这些方法将解决常见的误解，并提高对珊瑚疾病威胁的认识。通过采用这个框架，管理者和研究人员可以建立一个实践社区，并根据当地需求制定珊瑚疾病爆发管理的应对计划。我们建议的管理者和研究人员之间的合作将使我们能够在评估新兴应对措施的成本效益并逐步提高对爆发原因的理解后，对疾病影响进行适应性管理。
