Dataset: Urchins

Palau and Yap:
Sea urchins were measured for test diameter and classified as either Diadema, Echinometra, and 'other' in transects. Survey depth was maintained between 2 to 5 meters, to examine the potential of shallow-water reef-carbonate production. Urchins were identified in 10 m long by 60 cm wide transects, 30 cm either side of the 10 m tape. Each urchin’s test diameter was measured in the field. Surveys in Palau were conducted in June 2 to June 24, 2017, and from June 25 to July 6, 2017 in Yap.

Federated States of Micronesia (FSM):
Twenty-four study sites were randomly selected in each of Pohnpei (6.2°N, 158.2°E) and Kosrae (5.3°N, 162.9°E) FSM using a randomly stratified sampling approach with the package sp in R. In Pohnpei, reefs were stratified as inner reefs, patch reefs, and outer reefs. In Kosrae, we only stratified the reefs as either inner reefs or outer reefs (because of the lack of patch reefs). Sample size of each strata was determined by calculating the geographic area of each reef type, using the area function from the R package raster, and allocating the number of sites in accordance with the area estimates. Reef surveys focused on the 2–5 meters depth contour to estimate shallow-water carbonate production.

Six, 10 m transects, using a modified line-intercept technique that followed the reef substrate, were used to measure the benthic composition for every centimeter, at each site of the 48 sites. A few meters gap was allocated between the ends of the transects to ensure no overlap of substrate between transects. The urchins were recorded as Echinometra, Diadema, and 'Other', and the diameter of each echinoid test was measured to the nearest 0.5 cm.

Majuro (Republic of the Marshall Islands) and Kiritimati (Republic of Kiribati):
A stratified random sampling approach was used to survey the reefs of Majuro (7.0667° N, 171.2667° E) and Kiritimati (1.8721° N, 157.4278° W), by randomly selecting 24 study sites at each island using the package 'sp' in R. In both locations, a stratified random sampling approach was used to survey the reefs for carbonate production by randomly selecting 24 sites on each island, with the exception of Kiritimati where only 22 of the 24 sites were surveyed because of inclement weather. At both locations, the sites were stratified as either (i) outer reefs, or (ii) patch reefs in lagoons. The number of sites sampled per habitat varied according to the area of available habitat at each location. The investigators were particularly interested in determining the potential of shallow-water reef carbonate production, and therefore focused surveys between 2–5 m. Majuro was surveyed from 6/17/2019 to 7/6/2019 and Kiritimati was surveyed from 7/10/2019 to 7/22/2019.