Purple sea urchin morphometrics from Marna Laboratory Experiments at the Quadra Island Ecological Observatory from Sep to Dec 2021

These data include morphometrics of individual purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:240747), involved in a multifactorial laboratory experiment at the Hakai Institute Quadra Island Ecological Observatory between 2021-09-15 and 2021-12-11. The experiment investigated impacts of contemporary high pCO2 and imposed dynamic historical temperature trends on multiple aspects of individual thermal performance. Morphometrics included test diameter and height, overall wet mass, gonad wet mass, overall dry mass, gonad dry mass, overall ash mass, and gonad ash mass. Test dimensions were measured using digital calipers (Mitutoyo America Corporation®, Aurora IL, USA). Mass measurements were made using a calibrated digital scale (Mettler-Toledo, LLC., Columbus, OH, USA). Ocean warming and acidification threaten the stability of foundation species not just through direct physiological stress, but also indirectly via impacts on primary consumption. However, the effects of these drivers on this critical ecological interaction may not be generalizable due to complex energetic impacts on both consumers and their resource(s). Therefore, understanding consumer responses to multiple drivers and dynamic conditions are especially important for key taxa, such as S. purpuratus, which exert strong grazing impacts on kelp forests. All animals were simultaneously collected from Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada (48° 56.604N, 125° 34.699W) from a depth of 7-8 m relative to mean low tide on 3 September 2021 using SCUBA and immediately transported to the Marna Laboratory flow through seawater system.