Problem
Coral reefs worldwide are under increasing pressure from environmental stress and disease outbreaks, with major consequences for ecosystem health and biodiversity. Researchers at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine studied the bacterial microbiome of coral samples collected from reefs near St Kitts during a period when Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease emerged on the reef. Understanding how the coral microbiome changes before and during disease outbreaks is an important step toward identifying early warning signals, tracking disease-associated shifts, and improving reef health monitoring.
Question
Are there detectable pre-disease alterations in the coral microbiome, and how does the microbiome change during the onset and progression of coral disease?
What we did
The client collected coral samples over time and generated a longitudinal microbiome dataset spanning the period before and during the emergence of coral disease. Biomcare received the raw sequencing data together with supporting metadata on sampling design, disease status, location, and other relevant variables, and carried out the statistical analysis of the microbiome dataset. Our work focused on structuring and analysing a complex longitudinal dataset so that microbiome changes could be assessed in the context of time, disease development, and reef location.
Insight
This project advances research into microbiome perturbations linked to coral disease emergence and progression. It also demonstrates Biomcare's ability to support clients flexibly, whether by contributing a specific analytical component or by strengthening the interpretation of complex microbiome studies. While this project was research-driven, the same capabilities are highly relevant for commercial clients working with microbiome data in environmental monitoring, aquaculture, animal health, and other applied settings.
