@article{fdi:010061895,
  title = {{A} new synthetic index to evaluate reef coral condition},
  author = {{L}asagna, {R}. and {G}none, {G}. and {T}aruffi, {M}. and {M}orri, {C}. and {B}ianchi, {C}. {N}. and {P}arravicini, {V}aleriano and {L}avorano, {S}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{C}oral reefs are threatened worldwide by climatic change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. {S}tandardized and simple metrics assessing their status and their potential to recover are urgently needed to achieve large scale homogeneous information. {H}ere we propose a synthetic {C}oral {C}ondition {I}ndex ({CCI}) based on the proportional abundance of coral colonies belonging to six ordinal categories which represent their condition: recently dead, bleached, smothered, upturned, broken, and healthy. {CCI} ranges from 0 (100% of dead corals) to 1(100% of healthy corals) with low values suggesting large scale disturbances (e.g., climate impacts), and high values suggesting disturbances acting on a small scale that can be averted by local management actions. {W}e tested the performance of this index in {M}aldives, which suffered from coral mass mortality following bleaching in 1998 and mechanical damage due to the tsunami of 2004. {I}n our evaluation {CCI} was applied on the most represented species, i.e., tabular {A}cropora and {P}ocillopora, which were counted from 2005 to 2010 using replicated belt transects at several depths and across different habitats. {CCI} did not show correlated to the number of total coral colonies suggesting the possibility to employ the index under different levels of coral abundance. {CCI} detected high levels of coral damage, which is likely due to the documented slow recovery of {M}aldivian reefs after the two major disturbance events. {F}urther tests in other tropical regions with different coral species might promote {CCI} as an additional parameter for coral reef monitoring and restoration programs.},
  keywords = {{T}abular {A}cropora ; {P}ocillopora ; {C}oral damage ; {R}eef monitoring ; {M}aldives ; {MALDIVES}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{E}cological {I}ndicators},
  volume = {40},
  numero = {},
  pages = {1--9},
  ISSN = {1470-160{X}},
  year = {2014},
  DOI = {10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.12.020},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010061895},
}