title: The role of environment and microorganisms in diseases of corals: overview of DAO Special 5.
abstract: Coral reefs are in decline worldwide. In the last several decades, bleaching and disease in a warming ocean have emerged as dominant drivers of ecological change on coral reefs. This special issue of DAO presents papers based on presentations from the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (2008, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA). The articles herein document disease outbreaks involving novel hosts, pathogens and/or locations, experimental studies investigating processes and mechanisms underlying pathogen dynamics, and the application of increasingly sophisticated laboratory and modeling approaches to understanding disease epizootiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, American University, Washington, DC 20016, USA. kiho@american.edu
authors.forename: Kiho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Cathie A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Page
authors.forename: C Drew
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Harvell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000382:microbiology*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008386:Marine Biology; D009792:Oceans and Seas