UVI Receives $2.5 million To Study Devastating Coral Disease

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS —The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) has been awarded a $2.5 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study stony coral tissue loss disease in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This devastating disease affecting reef-building corals is ravishing the reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Since first discovered in the Territory in 2019, many reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands have lost more than half of their coral. Negative effects of coral loss include less diversity of marine life, less protection from storm surge, and lower water quality. Unfortunately, the cause(s) of stony coral tissue loss disease has yet to be identified and existing methods of modeling the disease fall short. With the newly awarded grant money, UVI will lead the development of a new way to model this complex marine disease.

“Stony coral tissue loss disease is radically altering coral reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands and other Caribbean territories and nations,” explains Dr. Marilyn Brandt, a marine disease ecologist and a Research Associate Professor of Marine Science in UVI’s Center for Marine and Environmental Studies (CMES). “The results of this collaborative project will provide critical information on how stony coral tissue loss disease spreads among diverse coral reefs. This research is innovative and exciting and has the potential to change the way we approach studying marine disease transmission.”

Dr. Brandt is the lead researcher on the project. Her research team includes ocean connectivity modelers, microbiologists, and coral immunologists from other institutions who have all previously collaborated with Dr. Brandt on studies of coral disease in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Additional researchers will investigate how the different types of corals use different immune responses to fight off the disease and how other organisms, like fish, may be contributing to disease transmission.

The project will also support research experiences and exchanges for graduate and undergraduate students at UVI and the other contributing institutions. The community is invited to follow along. Results of the research will be posted on the territory’s coral disease website: vicoraldisease.org.

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