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As coral reefs face accelerating threats at global scales, examining how different coral species respond to local disruption from top-down and bottom-up forces can inform management at local scales. This may provide additional time for reducing global stressors. We conducted a full factorial experiment examining the effects of corallivory, herbivory, and fertilizer addition on 2 corals:Acropora pulchraandPorites rus, the former of which is faster-growing but more susceptible to predation, disease, and heat-induced mortality. Fertilizer addition enhanced corallivory but did not affect net coral growth. Consumer exclusion enhanced the net growth ofA. pulchraby 18.1 times regardless of fertilizer treatment, while the net growth ofP. rusdid not differ among caging and fertilizer treatments.A. pulchrawas rarely overgrown by algae regardless of treatment, while herbivore exclusion and fertilizer enrichment produced opposing effects on overgrowth ofP. rus. In uncaged treatments, fertilizer enrichment led to greater herbivory but also 1.8 times greater algal overgrowth ofP. rusrelative to unfertilized treatments. However, in caged treatments, algal overgrowth ofP. ruswas 1.9 times higher in unfertilized versus fertilized treatments. Our results suggest that interactions between corallivory, herbivory, and fertilizer enrichment can have alternative effects on different coral species, with a hardier coral experiencing more negative impacts of fertilizer enrichment than a more sensitive coral, which was, in turn, more strongly suppressed by predation. Local stressors that disrupt top-down and bottom-up processes may increase the vulnerability of even the most robust corals, and it is these corals that have been predicted to become more common under future ocean scenarios. 

As coral reefs degrade worldwide, researchers and managers need to determine whether corals can acclimatize to altered local conditions or whether their fixed phenotypes prevent coral persistence under these new environmental conditions. Fixed phenotypes could produce environmental mismatches that reduce population connectivity and exacerbate decline in the near-term, but a capacity for acclimatization could be harnessed in both passive and proactive coral restoration efforts. Here, we conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment in Mo‘orea, French Polynesia, to test how intraspecific performance of 2 common coral species (Acropora hyacinthusandPocillopora verrucosa) varied between a neighboring forereef and backreef that differed dramatically in trajectories of coral loss, resilience over decadal time scales, and cover of corals versus competing macroalgae. We also tested how corals responded to 2 common stressors—corallivory and macroalgal competition—and how this varied as a function of transplant location and the area of origin. Growth and survival of both coral species were affected by macroalgal competition, corallivory, transplant location, or some combination thereof, but we found limited evidence that the habitat of origin significantly impacted intraspecific performance. These results suggest that acclimatization capacity may outweigh local adaptation for these common reef-building species and could be leveraged to facilitate coral restoration.