A new paper published in Nature suggests that climate change may not have the devastating effect on corals that has been predicted. Scientists documented the regeneration of 21 reefs in the Seychelles that had been largely killed off during the coral beaching episode of 1998. The study shows that by 2011, 12 of the reefs had recovered to pre 1998 levels. However, the other 9 reefs have not recovered at all.

Reef recovery was then tested against 6 factors: Three-dimensional structural complexity of the reef, water depth, abundance of juvenile corals, nutrient load, density of herbivorous fish and whether the reefs were part of ‘no-take’ marine reserves. Of these, the first three seemed to be the primary differentiation that allowed some reefs to recover and conversely meant that others did not.