title: Through bleaching and tsunami: Coral reef recovery in the Maldives.
abstract: Coral reefs are degrading worldwide, but little information exists on their previous conditions for most regions of the world. Since 1989, we have been studying the Maldives, collecting data before, during and after the bleaching and mass mortality event of 1998. As early as 1999, many newly settled colonies were recorded. Recruits shifted from a dominance of massive and encrusting corals in the early stages of recolonisation towards a dominance of Acropora and Pocillopora by 2009. Coral cover, which dropped to less than 10% after the bleaching, returned to pre-bleaching values of around 50% by 2013. The 2004 tsunami had comparatively little effect. In 2014, the coral community was similar to that existing before the bleaching. According to descriptors and metrics adopted, recovery of Maldivian coral reefs took between 6 and 15years, or may even be considered unachieved, as there are species that had not come back yet.
authors.affiliation: DiSTAV (Department of Earth, Environment and Life Sciences), University of Genoa, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morri
authors.affiliation: DiSTAV (Department of Earth, Environment and Life Sciences), University of Genoa, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montefalcone
authors.affiliation: DiSTAV (Department of Earth, Environment and Life Sciences), University of Genoa, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lasagna
authors.affiliation: UMR 7263 Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Station Marine d'Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, 13007 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.affiliation: MARUM, Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, & ZMT, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology, Leobener Str. 20, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rovere
authors.affiliation: CRIOBE, USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, LABEX 'CORAIL', University of Perpignan, 58 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Valeriano
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parravicini
authors.affiliation: DiSTeVA (Department of Earth, Life and Environment Sciences), University of Urbino, loc. Crocicchia, 61029 Urbino, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baldelli
authors.affiliation: DiSTeVA (Department of Earth, Life and Environment Sciences), University of Urbino, loc. Crocicchia, 61029 Urbino, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colantoni
authors.affiliation: DiSTAV (Department of Earth, Environment and Life Sciences), University of Genoa, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: nbianchi@dipteris.unige.it.
authors.forename: Carlo Nike
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Bianchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D057894:Coral Reefs; D017753:Ecosystem; D007195:Indian Ocean Islands; D009026:Mortality; D013997:Time Factors; D057192:Tsunamis
keywords: Coral reefs; Hard coral cover; Indian Ocean; Maldives; Recruitment; Resilience