Simulations of Long-Term Community Dynamics in Coral Reefs - How Perturbations Shape Trajectories
Figure 2
Flow chart of important processes of an individual coral colony.
If recruit settling is successful, the coral colony enters its life-cycle. Within each iteration the temperature is checked, upon which it is decided if the colony will bleach or not. If it bleaches it can die or recover. In the next step the colony interacts with its neighborhood and if it does not die, it grows. Reproduction only takes place when the reproductive cycle allows it.