Abstract: Coral bleaching induced by global warming has greatly affected coral reef ecosystems. In the past three decades, there have been three mass bleaching events with a complex chain-regime shift among coral, macroalgae, and fish communities. Global bleaching events have important effects on coral reef ecosystem. For instance, population structure of coral community could shift to smaller and younger colony groups with dominant taxa changes. The coral-algal phase shifts from coral to macroalgae dominance, with Lobophora and Sargassum as dominants. Fish community declines with a lag in total abundance and richness, with increased abundance of some herbivorous fishes, decreased corallivores generally, but almost no change in cryptobenthic fishes. Coral reefs are predicted for several possible futures. First, coral would migrate to deeper and higher-latitude waters. Second, thermal resistant populations could serve as germplasm reservoirs, such as ‘super coral’ in the northern Red Sea. Third, the thermal adaptability of coral might effectively resist the negative impacts of ocean warming and realize the in-situ ecological restoration of coral community. Research in China has mostly focused on the thermal adaptability of coral and the ecological relationship between coral and its symbiotic zooxanthellae. More attention should be paid to coordinated ecological changes between corals, fish and macroalgae, so as to provide scientific basis for the protection and development of coral reefs.

Key words: coral bleaching, ecological phase shift, global warming, adaptation, ecosystem recovery.