Common dynamics in biological traits observed in corals living in mangrove environments, characterized of higher temperatures (red color in the scheme), higher or lower salinity levels (red and blue color together), and lower oxygen, light, and pH levels (blue color) compared to neighboring reef sites 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 97 , 98 (see Supplemental Table 1 ). To cope with such climate change like fluctuations in abiotic environmental features, corals put in place trade-offs spanning between different scales of biological organization (organismal to population levels). For example, higher metabolic rates, e.g. coral host respiration rates, and energy expenditure (upward arrows) leads to reduction in calcification rates and skeleton density (downward arrows). Such environmental setting also drives strong selective pressure which tends to reduce intra-population genetic diversity. At higher levels of biological hierarchy, both increases and decreases in species abundance and richness have been observed between different coral species (indicated by a slash).
