“…Correlative and experimental studies highlighted severe shifts in the structure of coralligenous assemblages subjected to several kinds of stressors (Balata et al, ; Balata, Piazzi, & Benedetti‐Cecchi, ; Balata et al, ; Gatti et al, ; Gatti, Bianchi, Parravicini, et al, ; Piazzi et al, ; Piazzi, Gennaro, & Balata, ). Indicators used to assess the ecological quality of coralligenous reefs are different, and include erect bryozoans (de la Nuez‐Hernández, Valle, Forcada, González Correa, & Fernández Torquemada, ; Deter, Descamp, Ballesta, et al, ; Garrabou, Sala, Arcas, & Zabala, ; Gatti et al, ; Gatti, Bianchi, Morri, et al, ; Sala, Garrabou, & Zabala, ), erect anthozoans (Cerrano et al, ; Deter, Descamp, Ballesta, et al, ; Gatti, Bianchi, Morri, et al, ; Kipson et al, ) and sensitive macroalgae, such as Udoteaceae, Fucales and erect Rhodophyta (Balata et al, ; Cecchi et al, ; Piazzi, Gennaro, et al, ), as the most effective indicators of good environmental conditions. On the other hand, the dominance of algal turfs, hydroids and encrusting sponges seems to indicate degraded conditions (Gatti, Bianchi, Parravicini, et al, ; Piazzi, Cecchi, et al, ; Piazzi, Gennaro, et al, ).…”