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Assessments of reef sediments in the North Ari Atoll (Maldives) were conducted in 2015 and 2018 on reefs of three islands with different management strategies: community, resort, and uninhabited. Indices applied were the Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring Index (FI) and the Sediment Constituents Index (SI). Both indices are based on shells or fragments of functional groups, which for the FI are foraminiferal shells and for the SI are sediment components. The FI is considered to be an indicator of water quality and the SI an indicator of water quality, community structure, and processes such as grazing and bioerosion. Both indices indicated that environmental deterioration occurred between 2015 and 2018, likely related to the intense temperature anomaly in March-June 2016 that caused widespread coral bleaching and mortality. Median FI declined from 5.1 to 4.0 overall, indicating that water quality still supports reef accretion, though the replacement of coral cover by algae and sponges likely provides more food sources for smaller, faster-growing foraminiferal species. The median SI values similarly declined from 3.8 to 3.0, reflecting a decrease in identifiable coral fragments and an increase in unidentifiable clasts, likely indicative of increased bioerosion. Although a minor component, molluscan fragments also increased by 25%, likely in response to more algal cover for grazers. In 2015, the FI and SI data indicated that the island management regime contributed to the reef health status. Uninhabited islands were associated with higher indices compared to resort and community islands. A clear distinction between management regimes was not observed in 2018, because a major decrease in FI (median: 4.9 in 2015, 2.9 in 2018) was recorded offshore from an agricultural settlement on the previously "uninhabited" island surveyed. These observations support the usefulness of these indices in reef assessment, and provide additional understanding that the FI can respond to a coral-mortality event that alters food sources in the benthic community. 1. Introduction Coral reefs are among the most diverse, complex and vulnerable ecosystems on Earth, and their status is influenced by a wide range of environmental variables (e.g.

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Since its first use in the late 80’s, the term chevron has been employed in numerous studies to describe large U- and V-shaped ridges found in or near shorelines worldwide. Most studies have so far focused on Bahamian chevrons that are exclusively of Late Pleistocene age, and on the supposed Holocene chevrons found in S-Madagascar and Australia. In the Bahamas, these deposits have been interpreted as the product of extreme storms at the end of the last interglacial (LIG) warm period. In contrast, the extensive chevrons complex exposed in S-Madagascar and on the western coast of Australia have been associated with a tsunami induced by a meteorite impact. Finally, several authors have also proposed a non-catastrophic (i.e. eolian) origin based on the recognized importance of wind-related processes in these coastal areas, and term such deposits parabolic dunes. In this paper, we collect and synthesize existing data on the morphology, sedimentology and age of these chevrons, and review the different interpretations proposed in the literature with the aim to lay out a consistent database to assist further investigations on these important coastal morphologies. In addition, we generated a synthesis of wind data at the three study areas, which highlights the relationship between present wind regimes and chevrons morphologies. The ubiquity of chevrons (likely actually parabolic dunes) in coastal areas around the globe and their relationship with coastal processes makes them crucial archives for reconstructing past wind regimes.