The health status and future of tropical coral reefs, as tourist destinations, are regularly subjected to media coverage. Many documentaries recognize the natural beauty and biological richness of the Australian Great Barrier Reef and French Polynesian lagoons, but point to the equally significant risk that would result from current global warming and human-made hazards. The future of coral reefs is usually a matter of death foretold, real or purely imaginary. In this context, it has become necessary to differentiate between what is falling within reality of scientific facts or fantasy. To this end, the present general review aims at: (1) defining the conditions and life requirements of reefbuilding corals; (2) the history of corals along with that of a number of associated, skeletal organisms involved in reef building since the very beginning, i.e. the last 540 million years, including the ups and downs they have experienced; (3) giving special reference to the development patterns of recent and modern reefs; (4) projecting corals and reefs into a still unknown future. Understanding how corals and reefs have originated, how they have been able to face the major biological crises which have punctuated the Earth's history, how they have survived is a prerequisite to better gain a significant picture of their future.

Autorentext

Bertrand Martin-Garin is an associate professor at Aix-Marseille université. His skills are mainly guided by cnidarians - corals and jellyfish; coral reefs - in all their states! Paleontologist and marine biologist, the study of its organisms takes him on a spatio-temporal journey through the oceans and the seas of the Jurassic, the Miocene and the recent with themes related to climate and biodiversity, ecotoxicology, or mathematical concepts. Lucien F. Montaggioni is a professor emeritus at Aix-Marseille université. His skills refer to sedimentology and palaeoecology of coral reefs and shallow-water carbonate platforms, from the Oligo-Miocene to Recent, in relation to palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. His research has focused on systems from islands in the Western Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Australia, Myanmar, New Caledonia and French Polynesia.