Thierry M Work

We assessed the distribution and prevalence of growth anomalies (GAs) in Acropora from French Frigate Shoals (Hawaii, USA), Johnston Atoll and Tutuila (American Samoa), developed a nomenclature for gross morphology, characterized GAs at the cellular level and obtained preliminary indices of their spatial patterns and progression within coral colonies. Acropora GAs were found in all 3...

We describe a new myxozoan, Henneguya akule n. sp., infecting the carangid fish Selar crumenophthalmus in Hawaii. Spores were found only in the aortic bulb, characterized by elliptical capsule with 2 tails, and pyriform polar capsules that angled toward the anterior end of the spore. Polar filaments had 3–4 coils. Parasites were present in apparently healthy fishes and caused no evident...

We investigated cause-specific temporal and spatial trends in sea turtle strandings in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Five species of sea turtle were recorded in 3,861 strandings over a 22-year period (1982–2003). Green turtles comprised 97% of these strandings with size and gender composition reflecting the demographic structure of the resident green turtle population and relative green...

Coral disease surveys in American Samoa and Hawai‘i revealed colonies with a distinct dark discoloration affecting 20–60% of the colony surface (Fig. 1a). In some cases, tissue loss with algal infiltration was present within discolored areas. On microscopy, these lesions had marked overgrowth of the coral skeleton and tissues with septate branching structures that stained positive with...

Coral reefs can undergo relatively rapid changes in the dominant biota, a phenomenon referred to as phase shift. Various reasons have been proposed to explain this phenomenon including increased human disturbance, pollution, or changes in coral reef biota that serve a major ecological function such as depletion of grazers. However, pinpointing the actual factors potentially responsible...

A balanced approach to coral disease investigation is critical for understanding the global decline of corals. Such an approach should involve the proper use of biomedical concepts, tools, and terminology to address confusion and promote clarity in the coral disease literature. Investigating disease in corals should follow a logical series of steps including identification of disease...

The Laysan duck (Anas laysanensis), also known as the Laysan teal because of its small size, is a critically endangered waterfowl species that once occurred widely across the Hawaiian Archipelago. For the past 150 years, however, it was restricted to a single population on Laysan, a 4-square-kilometer (1.5-square-mile) island with a hypersaline shallow lake. Laysan is part of the...

The phylogenetic relationship of avian Babesia with other piroplasms remains unclear, mainly because of a lack of objective criteria such as molecular phylogenetics. In this study, our objective was to sequence the entire 18S, ITS-1, 5.8S, and ITS-2 regions of the rRNA gene and partial ß-tubulin gene of B. poelea, first described from brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) from the central...

Many coral diseases are characterized based on gross descriptions and, given the lack or difficulty of applying existing laboratory tools to understanding causes of coral diseases, most new diseases will continued to be described based on appearance in the field. Unfortunately, many existing descriptions of coral disease are ambiguous or open to subjective interpretation, making...

The study of coral disease has suffered from an absence of systematic approaches that are commonly used to determine causes of diseases in animals. There is a critical need to develop a standardized and portable nomenclature for coral lesions in the field and to incorporate more commonly available biomedical tools in coral disease surveys to determine the potential causes of lesions in...

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) of marine turtles is an emerging neoplastic disease associated with infection by a novel turtle herpesvirus, fibropapilloma-associated turtle herpesvirus (FPTHV). This report presents 23 kb of the genome of an FPTHV infecting a Hawaiian green turtle (Chelonia mydas). By sequence homology, the open reading frames in this contig correspond to herpes simplex virus...

The study of coral disease has suffered from an absence of systematic approaches that are commonly used to determine causes of diseases in animals. There is a critical need to develop a standardized and portable nomenclature for coral lesions in the field and to incorporate more commonly available biomedical tools in coral disease surveys to determine the potential causes of lesions in...