Microbial diseases of corals and global warming

Summary Coral bleaching and other diseases of corals have increased dramatically during the last few decades. As outbreaks of these diseases are highly correlated with increased sea‐water temperature, one of the consequences of global warming will probably be mass destruction of coral reefs. The causative agent(s) of a few of these diseases have been reported: bleaching of Oculina patagonica by Vibrio shiloi ; black band disease by a microbial consortium; sea‐fan disease (aspergillosis) by Aspergillus sydowii ; and coral white plague possibly by Sphingomonas sp. In addition, we have recently discovered that Vibrio coralyticus is the aetiological agent for bleaching the coral Pocillopora damicornis in the Red Sea. In the case of coral bleaching by V. shiloi , the major effect of increasing temperature is the expression of virulence genes by the pathogen. At high summer