Future of Coral Reefs

Serge Planes is a CNRS Senior Research Director (DRCE1) and Associate Professor at the EPHE. A global authority in marine population genetics and marine ecology of coral reef, he has authored over 500 publications, accumulating more than 25,000 citations. His pioneering work revealed that connectivity in coral reef ecosystems is far more limited than previously thought, shifting international conservation strategies. He was the first to apply parentage analysis in marine settings, enabling reconstruction of pedigrees over multiple generations in wild populations—advancing understanding of self-recruitment and local adaptation, together investigating variability in reproductive success. He directed the CRIOBE research center and lead the French center for excellence on coral reef (LabEx CORAIL), uniting French coral reef researchers. As Scientific Director of the Tara Pacific expedition, he coordinated a vast “omics” investigation of reef biodiversity and resilience. Recognized with France’s National Order of Merit (2019) and Legion of Honor (2022), Planes continues to shape marine conservation policy and innovation across the coral reefs.

• Chapter 1. Trophodynamics in Coral Reefs: Current Knowledge and Research Perspectives.- Chapter 2. Disentangling Current and Latent Dimensions of Vulnerability in Social-Ecological Systems.- Chapter 3. Scleractinian Coral Skeletons as Natural Archives of Global Change: A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation.- Chapter 4. Bleaching of Reef Organisms: Current Knowledge, Challenges, and Future Directions into the Anthropocene.- Chapter 5. Evaluating the Role of Natural and Human Assisted Coral Reproduction to Maintain and Recover Disturbed Reefs.- Chapter 6. Vulnerability of Coral Reefs to Contaminants of Emerging Concern.- Chapter 7. The Use of New Biologically-Based Technological Development in the Management of Crown-of-Thorns Sea Stars.- Chapter 8. Coral Heterotrophy in an Era of Climate Change.- Chapter 9. The Biodiversity of Metazoan Parasites of Coral Reef Fishes of the Central and Eastern Indo-Pacific.- Chapter 10. Snapshots of Coral Reef Biodiversity.- Chapter 11. Living among the Reefs: Insights and Perspectives from Island Archaeology in the Pacific.