Most coral reefs have experienced large declines in coral cover in the last few decades, thereby creating a coral reef crisis. Examples of recovery on denuded reefs rarely are encountered, and thus when it occurs, important opportunities are created to study the mechanisms favoring coral population growth on present-day reefs. Since 2005, the reefs of Mo’orea have provided a remarkable example of death and recovery of coral communities, with recovery driven by negative density-dependent recruitment by Pocillopora corals. Through manipulate experiment and time-series analysis, this study reveals how a classic ecological process – density dependence – can modulate coral community recovery. [Photo Gallery]