Recovery under thermal stress: the effect of copper enrichment on the branching coral Stylophora pistillata

induced seawater temperature warming and ocean acidification (Hughes et al. 2017a, 2017b). In such a context, the identification of local coral refugia, where corals display beyond expected thermal resistance, is crucial (Cacciapaglia and van Woesik 2015). The Gulf of Aqaba (GoA), located in the northern Red Sea, has been defined as a coral refuge and hosts such resistant coral species (Fine et al. 2013; Bellworthy and Fine 2017; Osman et al. 2018). However, coral reefs of the GoA are mostly fringing reefs, located very close to the shore, and exposed to land-based pollution. Land-and seabased anthropogenic pollution has already been extensively studied for coral reefs, and has been proven to alter the coral bleaching threshold (Fabricius 2005; Wooldridge 2009). With a growing coastal population, mass-tourism, intense urbanization, and increasing numbers of on-shore industrial activities (namely oil and mineral terminals, commercial harbor) the corals of the GoA are increasingly threatened by pollution (Fine et al. 2019).