Aim: We explored how repeated marine heatwaves and the local environment (wave exposure and depth) influenced responses of coral assemblages to bleaching events. Location: Lakshadweep Archipelago, Northern Indian Ocean. Time Period: 1998 to 2022. Major Taxa Studied: Scleractinian corals. Methods: We collected coral genera data using photoquadrat methods across deep and shallow reefs, subjected to three major bleaching events. We tracked coral mortality and recovery rates from these events to determine if they were influenced by wave exposure and depth. We then used regression models to explore how temporal trends of 29 common genera were influenced by wave exposure, depth, past bleaching events and recovery time. Finally, we used hierarchical clustering to group genera with similar responses. Results: Over 24 years, coral cover declined from 37.24% to 19.6%, reflecting a roughly 50% reduction from the 1998 baseline. This decline was explained by reduced recovery rates after each bleaching event, despite coral mortality (both absolute and proportional) decreasing with successive events. Recovery rates dramatically increased after 6 years, suggesting a critical period of bleaching‐free years needed for reefs to recover. We observed contrasting responses of coral genera which clustered in six groups representing distinct assemblage‐wide patterns in distribution (depth and wave exposure) and bleaching responses. Genera with different life histories clustered together, highlighting the importance of local environments in determining the survival and recovery of corals across taxa. Main Conclusion: Resistance to bleaching events and recovery potential of coral reefs in the Lakshadweep Archipelago is mediated by environmental filtering of coral composition by wave exposure and depth. Our results provide a predictive framework based on coral clusters that could inform resilience planning. Coral fate, however, will be determined by the return time of bleaching events, underscoring that urgent climate action is critical to secure the ecological integrity of tropical reefs.
