Also available on PeerJ, was the rebuttal letter written by Elizabeth Sherman.
Within these letters, she explained what suggestions she decided to change, in order for the paper to finally be published. 
Elizabeth Sherman was very receptive towards the changes suggested by the reviewers and the academic editor.  She thoroughly considered all changes that were suggested, and made most of these changes. 
Any changes she didn't make, she explained why she didn't make them within the letters. 
After all changes were made, the author accepted the paper on May 18, 2015.

Information Credit: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo credit: Echinoderms, sea urchins.  2005.  Diverosa, pictures from under the sea.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  Available from: http://www.diverosa.com/categories/Urchins.htm

For the second review one reviewer and the academic editor reviewed the paper for any changes that need to be made.

Reviewer 1:
This reviewer was also one of the reviewers from the first review.  This time around the reviewer didn't have much changes to suggest to the author.  They mostly just stated how well written the paper now was, and how well the figures were presented.  They also stated how happy they were that the author made the changes they had mentioned in the first review. 

Academic Editor:
Overall the editor that the paper was well written.  However, there was one change they wanted the author to consider.  They wanted Elizabeth Sherman to consider the first line of the conclusion (which was "Sea urchins will likely encounter stressful temperatures in the next 100 years due to global climate change").  They did not believe that this statement was supported by the data that was collected and presented in the paper.  Therefore, the editor wanted the author to change this sentence to something that was actually supported by the data collected.

The author was asked to make minor changes before the paper would be accepted. 

Information credit:Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo credit: Violet sea urchins.  2015.  AnimalsBase.com.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  Available from: http://www.animalsbase.com/violet-sea-urchins/

For the first review, two reviewers looked at this paper and made suggestions on what needed to be changed in order for the paper to be published.

Reviewer 1:
This reviewer believed that parts of the paper completely missed the mark.  They believed that the author made the paper slightly more complicated then it should have been by not explaining all of the terms they used, or using terms in a way that they would not normally be used.  They also believed that there were quite a few words within the paper that the reader had to read between the lines or guess in order to understand. 
This reviewer also believed that there was a lot of awkward sentencing within the paper, that needed to be changed in order for the paper to flow better.
Finally, the reviewer stated that the limitations were not stated.  One of the major limitations that was left out was the temperature limitations.  As this research was done within the lab, there are limitations as to what kind of temperature the water can be.  Also, since there was no heating system set up to heat the tanks, there was limitations to how the water could be heated and to what degree the water could be heated throughout the tank, as the warm water was added by adding in new water instead of just heating the old water.

Reviewer 2:
One of the main problems that this reviewer found was the figures.  For all figures found within the paper the reviewer suggested adding symbols in order to indicate the significant differences found.  They also suggested adding the sample size to all figures, in order to better understand how many of each species of urchin was used.  For figure 6 the reviewer suggested to put both figures on the same axis so that a comparison between both species could be made.
This reviewer also wanted the author to consider whether the fact that Elizabeth Sherman used different urchins each year skewed the data.
Finally this reviewer believed that Elizabeth Sherman needed to further discuss how the seawater temperature variability from year to year may affect the thermal tolerance of the sea urchins.

After both reviewers looked over the paper and made their suggestions, it was decided that Elizabeth Sherman needed to make major changes before the paper would be accepted. 

Information cite: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo Credit: Red sea urchin.  2015.  Friends of La Jolla Shores: Preserve the reserves.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  Available from: http://friendsoflajollashores.com/marinelife/redseaurchin/

This paper went through a peer review process before being accepted to PeerJ.  The Peer review process was available on PeerJ for everyone to read. 
The process took about three months for the paper to be accepted.
It was first submitted on February 16 2015.  It was reviewed by two reviewers and the author was told to do major revisions before the paper would be accepted.  The revision was submitted on May 1 2015, and was reviewed by one reviewer and the academic editor.  This time the author was asked to make minor revisions.  The author made the minor revisions and was finally accepted on May 18 2015.

Information Credit: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo Credit: Sea urchins enjoying sunbathing.  2007.  Wikimedia Commons.  Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sea_Urchins_enjoying_sunbathing.jpg   

The mean righting times of the sea urchins (A- long spined urchin and B- rock boring urchin) when compared to increasing temperatures.

Within this study, it was found that both species of sea urchin acclimatized to the changing temperature over time.  However, even though they both acclimatized, they did have different thermal tolerance levels.  The long spined urchins had the biggest range of thermal tolerance during the winter, and a much smaller range for the summer; the rock boring urchin, however, had the opposite.  The rock boring urchin had a large range of thermal tolerance during the summer, and a much smaller range during the winter.  This difference in thermal tolerance may be due to where these urchins can be found during the day.  The long spined urchins are often found out in the open during the day, while the rock boring urchins spend most of the day crammed between rocks and coral.  Since the rock boring urchins are hidden they are protected from the ever changing environment surrounding them.  Since the urchins are protected  they are less likely to be affected by the drastically changing temperature, and thus have less of a need for a higher thermal tolerance.
     
As can be seen from the figure above, the urchins also had very different righting times when the temperature was below the thermal tolerance.  There is one main theory for the different righting times (other than the idea of urchins having different thermal tolerances). It could be due to the fact that the long spined urchins have longer spines, which they used to flip themselves over.  Whereas the rock boring urchins don't have these long spines, so have to use other means such as their tube feet, to flip themselves over, which is much more time consuming.

Further studies need to be conducted to further understand how the changing temperatures of the water will affect the urchins.  The studies need to focus on both the long term and the short term effects of the changing environment.  Further studies also need to be conducted to figure out how fast the temperature can change before the sea urchins are unable to acclimatize.  This will give us an idea of how rapid the temperature change needs to be before the sea urchins are killed off, thus severely affecting the coral reefs ecosystem.    

Information Credit: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo Credit: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance and climate change.  [Cited November 15, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

 

For this experiment, the urchins were placed into a testing tank.  The temperature of these testing tanks was changed, in order to test the urchins thermal tolerance, by removing a small amount of the existing tank water and adding in some heated water.  This added water was then mixed into the tank, so that the heat was displaced to the whole tank.  The temperature of the tank was collected constantly so that the temperature of the water could be maintained.
In order to calculate the thermal tolerance, the urchins were placed upside-down (they were inverted).  The time it took them to right themselves was then calculated.  Elizabeth Sherman considered the thermal tolerance of the urchin to be the temperature at which the urchin was no longer able to right itself. 
Statistic tests were than conducted to figure out whether there was a significant difference between the different sea urchins thermal tolerance.  A two- way ANOVA test was used (species and collection temperature=fixed factors, righting time=dependant variable).  Regression tests were also done in order to see if there was any significant differences to be found. 

 

Information Credit: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo Credit: Sherman E. 2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance and climate change.  [Cited November 14, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006 Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

   

Rock Boring Urchin



Long Spined Urchin

 

For this experiment two different types of urchins were collected and observed.  These two urchins were the Diadema antillarum (the long spined urchin, which is the bottom picture), and the Echinometra lucunter (The rock boring urchin, which is the top picture).  As can be seen from the top picture, the Echinometra lucunter  are generally found in the crevices of rocks or coral.  Therefore, these urchins are not as exposed to the changing conditions of the water.  The long spined urchins are generally found on top of rocks, or on top of the sandy bottom, but are almost always out in the open. Therefore, these urchins are generally more exposed to the changing conditions around them.  The sea urchins were collected from different depths, varying from just below the surface of the water to 3m down.  Only the rock boring urchins were found just below the surface of the water (shallow depths), however both urchins were found when they were collected at a depth of 3m below the surface.  Diadmea were always found 30cm below the surface or deeper.  All urchins were brought into a laboratory and were tested three days after being collected.  During this time they were not fed, and where in tanks with other urchins in natural lighting conditions. 

Information Credit: Sherman E.  2015.  Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance, and climate change.  [Cited November 16, 2015].  PeerJ 3:e1006  Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1006

Photo credit:
Myself