Bacterial communities of antibiotic-challenged staghorn coral

This study aimed to understand how antibiotic treatment affects microbial community composition of the Caribbean staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) microbiome. Several antibiotics are used to treat diseased corals, yet only a handful of studies have looked at how these antibiotics may affect non-diseased corals -- potentially equivalent to healthy corals surrounding antibiotic-treated, diseased corals. Three different antibiotics, and a mixture of the three, at two different doses were used over a 96-hour experiment.