Characteristics of tidepools from seasonal surveys conducted at tidepools along the California coast from 2017 to 2018

This dataset includes overall attributes of the tide pools in each of three study regions. Data include tide height, depth, perimeter, and surface area of the pools. Sampling took place in 2017 and 2018 at tide pools located in three regions along the California (USA) coast: (1) Bodega Head, Sonoma County (38.31°N, 123.07°W); (2) Kenneth Norris Rancho Marino Reserve and Hazards Canyon Reef, San Luis Obispo County (35.54°N, 121.09°W and 35.29°N, 128.88°W, respectively); and (3) Corona del Mar State Beach, Orange County (33.59°N, 117.87°W).

In the fall of 2017, initial surveys and measurements were conducted quantifying physical attributes, including surface area, volume, and height on the shore. Surveys were repeated every three months until immediately prior to the establishment of grazing experiments at each site in the summer of 2018. During the quarterly surveys, consumer abundances, nutrient fluxes, oxygen fluxes, and photosynthetic biomass in each tide pool were quantified.