Kayal Mohsen auteur aut IRD Adjeroud Mehdi auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Amidst global environmental changes, predicting species' responses to future environments is a critical challenge for preserving biodiversity and associated human benefits. We explored the original idea that coral competitive performances, the ability of corals to preempt ecological space on the reef through territorial warfare, serve as indicators of species' ecological niches and environmental windows, and therefore, responses to future environments. Our surveys indicated that coral performances varied with taxonomic identity, size and position along environmental gradients, highlighting complex interplays between life-history, warfare-strategy and niche segregation. Our results forewarn that growing alterations of coastal environments may trigger shifts in coral dominance, with the decline of major reef-building taxa like acroporids, and emphasize the importance of limiting human impacts for coastal resilience. Our empirical approach untangles the complexity of species' battle-like interactions and can help identify winners and losers in various communities caught in the interplay between ecological niches, environmental windows and global changes. specialized coral reef ecological competition territorial war niche segregation species coexistence global change 034 021 9 6 220003 [12 p.] 2022 2054-5703 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010085375 10.1098/rsos.220003 2054-5703 [F B010085375] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010085375 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2022-09/010085375.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2022-09-02 2025-02-24 fdi:010085375 fre