Table 1.

Key stressors on coral reefs, their pulse- vs. press-type characteristics and their role in adaptive resilience-based management (ARBM)

Stressor	Pulse/Press	Drivers or activities	Impact	Resilience processes affected	Potential management levers (see also Table2)
Storms	Pulse (stochastic)	Natural cycles, climate change	Structural damage, floods and sediment-ation	Recovery and connectivity if damage is extensive	Preparedness and recovery planning locally; compensatory measures
Destruct-ive fishing	Pulse	e.g. bomb fishing, poison fishing	Structural damage, mortality of flora and fauna	Recovery, reproduction, recruitment and connectivity if damage is extensive	Increase incentives for nondestructive harvest of resource through education, regulation and enforcement
Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS)	Pulse	Nutrient enrichment, natural cycles	Coral mortality	Recovery, recruitment and connectivity if mortality is extensive	Improved management of catchment, protection of CoTS predators, tactical CoTS control
Thermal anomalies	Pulse, with press-type after-effects	Climate change, natural cycles	Coral bleaching, diseases and mortality	Reduced growth and reproduction, and potentially connectivity if impact is extensive	Identify sites that may have lower vulnerability; protect from local stressors; manage for enhanced recovery
Sedimenta-tion/turbidity	Mixed depending on source	Mixed: land use and river catchment practices, flooding, resuspension, coastal construction	Sediment stress and light limitation, enhancement of algal growth	High turbidity from re-suspension can cause long-term suppression of coral recovery and provide competitive advantage to other benthic groups such as algae and sponges	Improved management of catchment land use through education, regulation, incentives and penalties. Restore land vegetation. Control coastal development activities.
Nutrient enrichment	Press, but pulse if linked to flood events	Mixed: land use and river catchment practices, flooding	Enhanced algal growth, increased turbidity	Increases susceptibility of corals to thermal bleaching. Provides competitive advantage to algae, which can suppress coral recovery.	Improved management of sewage and intensive agriculture activities through education, regulation, incentives and penalties
Pollution (herbicides, pesticides and heavy metals)	Press, but pulse if linked to flood events or marine incidents	Land-based (urban and agriculture) and from shipping	Toxicity, affects metamorphosis and larval survival.	Reduced coral growth and reproduction. Suppresses reef supply-side ecology.	Improved management of urban, agricultural and shipping activities through education, regulation, incentives and penalties
Ocean acidification	Press	Direct CO2 effect, point and nonpoint sources of low pH runoff	Reduced coral growth and strength, enhanced algal growth	Coral growth rates, skeletal strength and recruitment reduced.	Identify sites that could have lower vulnerability and target for protection from local stressors, control land-based sources of pollutants that decrease pH (e.g. nitrogen/sulfur oxides)
Decline in herbivores	Press	Human use	Reduced algal mortality, algal overgrowth of corals	Potentially drive phase shift to macroalgae, exacerbated by nutrients, warming and acidification	Improved fisheries management through education, regulation, incentives and penalties.