Mass coral bleaching events are one of the main threats to coral reefs. A severe bleaching event impacted Moorea, French Polynesia, between March and July 2002, causing 55 ± 14% of colonies to suffer bleaching around the island. However, bleaching varied significantly across coral genera, locations, and as a function of water depth, with a bleaching level as high as 72% at some stations. Corals in deeper water bleached at a higher rate than those in shallow water, and the north coast was more impacted than the west coast. The relatively small scale of variability in bleaching responses probably resulted from the interaction between extrinsic factors, including hydrodynamic condition, and intrinsic factors, such as differential adaptation of the coral/algal association. To cite this article: L.

-This article aims to review 1) the major and most frequent human-induced physical disturbances and their consequences on coral reef habitats using a multi-scale approach, and 2) the scale-related indicators and conceptual aspects used to detect and measure the effects of these physical impacts. By physical disturbances, we mean direct perturbations that lead to the destruction/erosion of the carbonate framework. Human-induced direct physical disturbances are numerous from coastal development, tourism, harvesting, accidents and nuclear/weapon testing. Since methods for monitoring and measuring indicators are generally scale-implicit, coral reefs are first presented according to different ecological-spatial scales of organization, from colony to region (colony, reefscape, reef zone, whole reef, island and region). In this way, it is easier to link a couple {habitat, disturbance} to their potential indicators and to the descriptors they target. Three classes of descriptors, related to the response of the living component of coral reef ecosystem, are considered here: stony coral, reef fishes and the human uses. A synthesis of the different options for coral habitat assessments is proposed. We sort them according to their objectives (monitor, initial status or improvement of knowledge), their specificities (identification or not of a specific disturbances) and their scale of investigation (small, mesoor large scales). Usually, the majority of the indicators of human-induced disturbances are non-specific. They reveal that something is happening but not the actual causality and can only detect differences across time or space. A major weakness lies in the difficulty in deconvoluting the signals from a conjunction of stressors occurring at different scales. As such, a hierarchical concept of disturbances in coral reefs would be the next logical step to enhance our capabilities in monitoring and forecasting coral reefs status. Key words:Coral reef / Physical disturbances / Habitat / Human-induced disturbances / Indicator Résumé -Indicateurs des perturbations physiques et anthropiques de l'habitat corallien : une approche multi spatiale. Cet article a pour but d'examiner à travers une approche multi-spatiale 1) les principales et les plus fréquentes perturbations physiques sur l'habitat corallien et leurs conséquences, 2) les indicateurs de ces perturbations et les aspects conceptuels utilisés pour détecter et mesurer les effets de ces impacts. Seules, les dégradations physiques ayant un impact direct sur la destruction et l'érosion de la trame carbonatée du récif corallien sont considérées. Ce type d'impact, fréquent en milieu corallien, peut être généré par l'urbanisation du littoral, les activités touristiques (plongée sous-marine), la récolte d'organismes (piétinement, pêche à la dynamite), les essais nucléaires ou des accidents (échouage de navires). Les méthodes d'échantillonnage et les indicateurs utilisés pour le suivi des récifs étant reliés à l'échelle d'observation, les récifs coralliens sont abordés ...