And the main reason behind the resilience of Indo-Pacific reefs is that they have less seaweed than the Caribbean Sea, said the scientists.
"Seaweed and corals are age-old competitors in the battle for space. When seaweed growth rates are lower, such as the Indo-Pacific region, the reefs recover faster from setbacks," said Dr George Roff of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia.
"This provides coral with a competitive advantage over seaweed, and our study suggests that these reefs would have to be heavily degraded for seaweeds to take over," he explained.
He said: "This doesn't mean that we can be complacent