Fig. 3

Reef microbial observation should extend beyond taxonomy and towards function, to move from descriptive to predictive reef monitoring. 16S rRNA amplicon-sequence data has clearly shown that opportunistic and potentially pathogenic microbes robustly correlate to degraded reefs characterised by poor water quality, increased macroalgae cover and coral disease/bleaching. However, amplicon-sequence data has a limited resolution to go beyond description of past or present changes in the reef, as the consequences of the enrichment of particular microbial indicator taxa on reef health often cannot be inferred from microbial taxonomy alone (left, shown in red). Microbial meta-omics data would allow prediction of how environmental changes will affect the services microbes provide to coral reefs (e.g., primary productivity, nutrient/biogeochemical cycling, and exposure to pathogens), and how the altered microbial activity may translate to reef ecosystem dynamics (right). This predictive monitoring is needed for successful reef management and decision making (bottom)