We defined ecological variables. supra-specific characteristics of organization in benthic coral reef communities, and used theae to study the variation in community organization in Indonesian coral reefs. We measured 87 of these variables, such as cover of living and dead bottom components, spatial interaction and predation, in 39 survey localities on fore reef slopes in the eastern Indonesiain archipelago. Principal Component Analysis showed the ordination along the first three axis to be from exposed to sheltered (important variables: bare bottom, encrusting. excavating sponges. crustose corallines, respectively, branching thin, foliose. maxistim colony size), from biologically disturbed (variables: predation, new wounds. interaction) to physically disturbed (variables: rubble, loose coral fragments, fungud corals) and from conditions with a prominence of spatial competition to conditions characterized by predation of Acanthaster. The three main structuring factors in these communities appear to be water movement, disturbance and biological interaction. Water movement per se is not a disturbing factor. Coral cover is highest at sheltered conditions. Additional data on coral species richness show a positive relation to disturbance.