Table 1.

Biological traits and processes of coral taxa with the rationale for their tolerance to and recovery from a thermal stress.

physical trait	rationale	tolerant	intolerant
morphology	influences thermal and light exposure	massive	branching
tissue thickness	provides energy storage	thick	thin tissues
distance between corallites	promotes partial mortality	large	small: no coenosteum
calcification rate	increases demand for energy	low	high rate
colony size	increases available energy	large	small
corallite size	promotes energy storage	large	small
association with Symbiodinium Clade D	gives thermal tolerance	greater than10% D by numbers reported	≤10% D by numbers
skeletal structure	creates refuge for tissue	porous	non-porous
biological process	rationale	high recovery	low recovery
mode of sexual reproduction	low investment and high numbers good in disturbed environments	broadcasting	brooding
recruitment density	high numbers good in disturbed environments	high	low
colony regrowth	allows recovery from partial mortality	regrowth from remaining tissue	no regrowth
colony growth	allows recovery after disturbance	high	low