FIT: Coral Disease Outbreaks Fluctuate with El Niño Years

The findings from Florida Institute of Technology research associate Carly Randall and biology professor Robert van Woesik, published earlier this month in the journal Scientific Reports, are based on an analysis of 18 years of coral disease data, at nearly 2,100 sites collected by the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment Program. Those data were compared with 18 years of coinciding climate data to see if the disease cycles matched the climate cycles.