RESEARCH ARTICLE Selective Impact of Disease on Coral Communities: Outbreak of White Syndrome Causes Significant Total Mortality of

Coral diseases represent a significant and increasing threat to coral reefs. Among the most destructive diseases is White Syndrome (WS), which is increasing in distribution and preva-lence throughout the Indo-Pacific. The aim of this study was to determine taxonomic and spatial patterns in mortality rates of corals following the 2008 outbreak of WS at Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. WSmainly affected Acropora plate corals and caused total mortality of 36 % of colonies across all surveyed sites and depths. Total mortality varied between sites but was generally much greater in the shallows (0–96 % of colonies at 5 m depth) compared to deeper waters (0–30 % of colonies at 20 m depth). Site-specific mortal-ity rates were a reflection of the proportion of corals affected by WS at each site during the initial outbreak and were predicted by the initial cover of live Acropora plate cover. TheWS outbreak had a selective impact on the coral community. Following the outbreak, live Acro-pora plate coral cover at 5 m depth decreased significantly from 7.0 to 0.8%, while the cover of other coral taxa remained unchanged. Observations five years after the initial outbreak revealed that total Acropora plate cover remained low and confirmed that corals that lost all their tissue due to WS did not recover. These results demonstrate that WS represents a sig-nificant and selective form of coral mortality and highlights the serious threat WS poses to coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific