Ecological intelligence and monitoring are essential to underpin effective reef protection and restoration initiatives. Improving knowledge on mortality, growth and recovery of reef-building corals, alongside abundance, distribution and mortality of the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, is critical to informing how, why, where and when reef restoration and COTS control actions are deployed. Presentations in this session will highlight new empirical knowledge on reef-building corals and crown-of-thorns starfish, while also describing emerging tools for mapping the recruitment, growth, recovery and survival of corals across the life-cycle. Topics in this session will also provide insight into the design of monitoring programs to address multiple objectives, and advances in metrics that move beyond measuring coral cover to a wholistic understanding of the indicators of coral reef health.