One of our recent initiatives has focused on understanding the context-dependent factors that either exacerbate or mitigate bleaching (e.g., local pollution, protected areas) that may be targets for local management interventions to minimize the impact of bleaching on coral reefs. One of our main goals has been to determine the ‘bright spots’ and ‘dark spots’ of coral bleaching worldwide, where reefs have been bleaching less or more, respectively, than one would expect based on the presence of marine heat waves. Our research has generated several important findings showing the context of coral bleaching and mortality in response to marine heatwaves. First, our experimental approach has shown that biotic interactions such predation by corallivores can increase the likelihood of mortality for corals during thermal stress events. Second, our group has shown that marine heat waves can have disproportionate effects on the smallest and largest corals on reefs, with these corals often showing the highest levels of mortality. Third, we have shown that nutrient pollution can increase the prevalence of coral bleaching and mortality at the colony scale in small-scale experiments and that, at the island scale, reefs with higher levels of nutrient pollution have more frequent and severe coral bleaching. Lastly, our synthesis of coral bleaching data at the global scale has shown that excess macroalgae, and abundant sea urchins can all create ‘dark spots’ on reefs, resulting in more coral bleaching or coral mortality in response to heat stress events. Our findings are especially important as nutrients, macroalgae, and urchins are all stressors that can be managed at the local level by targeted conservation interventions.