Geographical comparisons suggest that coral reef communities can vary as a function of their environmental context, differing not just in terms of total coral cover but also in terms of relative abundance (or coverage) of coral taxa. While much work has considered how shifts in benthic reef dynamics can shift dominance of stony corals relative to algal and other benthic competitors, the relative performance of coral types under differing patterns of environmental disturbance has received less attention. We construct an empirically-grounded numerical model to simulate coral assemblage dynamics under a spectrum of disturbance regimes, contrasting hydrodynamic disturbances (which cause morphology-specific, whole-colony mortality) with disturbances that cause mortality independently of colony morphology. We demonstrate that the relative representation of morphological types within a coral assemblage shows limited connection to the intensity, and essentially no connection to the frequency, of hydrodynamic disturbances. Morphological types of corals that are more vulnerable to mortality owing to hydrodynamic disturbance tend to grow faster, with rates sufficiently high to recover benthic coverage during inter-disturbance intervals. By contrast, we show that factors causing mortality without linkage to morphology, including those that cause only partial colony loss, more dramatically shift coral assemblage structure, disproportionately favouring fast-growing tabular morphologies. Furthermore, when intensity and likelihood of such disturbances increases, assemblages do not adapt smoothly and instead reveal a heightened level of temporal variance, beyond which reefs demonstrate drastically reduced coral coverage. Our findings highlight that adaptation of coral reef benthic assemblages depends on the nature of disturbances, with hydrodynamic disturbances having little to no effect on the capacity of reef coral communities to resist and recover with sustained coral dominance.

地理比较表明，珊瑚礁群落可以根据其环境而变化，不仅在总珊瑚覆盖率方面，而且在相对生物多样性（或覆盖率）方面也有所不同。尽管许多工作已经考虑到底栖生物礁动态的变化如何相对于藻类和其他底栖生物竞争者改变石质珊瑚的优势，但是在不同环境扰动模式下珊瑚类型的相对性能却受到的关注较少。我们构建了一个以经验为基础的数值模型，以模拟一系列扰动范围内的珊瑚组合动态，将水动力扰动（引起特定形态，全殖民地死亡率）与扰动引起的死亡率进行了对比，而扰动引起的死亡率独立于殖民地形态。我们证明珊瑚组合物中形态类型的相对表示显示出与水动力扰动的强度有限相关，而与频率无关。由于水动力扰动而更易造成死亡的珊瑚形态类型趋向于更快地生长，其速率足够高，可以在干扰间隔期间恢复底栖生物的覆盖。相比之下，我们发现导致死亡的因素与形态没有联系，包括仅导致部分菌落丧失的因素，会更显着地改变珊瑚的组装结构，特别有利于快速增长的表格形态。此外，当此类干扰的强度和可能性增加时，组合将无法平滑适应，而是会显示出时间方差的升高水平，除此之外，珊瑚礁表明珊瑚的覆盖面大大减少。我们的发现强调，珊瑚礁底栖生物的适应性取决于干扰的性质，水动力干扰对珊瑚礁珊瑚群落抵抗和恢复珊瑚持续优势地位的能力几乎没有影响。