Scientific Interpretation Our nested ANOVA analysis revealed substantial spatial heterogeneity in algae cover, with significant variation among patches within each treatment. The effect of urchin density treatments on filamentous algae cover was marginally significant at the α = 0.05 level (p = 0.043). The descriptive statistics show a clear pattern where algae cover increases as urchin density decreases, with None/Removed showing the highest cover (39.20%), followed by Medium/33% Density (19.00%), High/66% Density (21.55%), and Low/Control showing minimal algae cover (1.30%). This pattern demonstrates a density-dependent relationship between urchin grazing and algal abundance. The substantial variance component associated with patches nested within treatments (294.31, approximately 39.5% of total variance) underscores the importance of spatial heterogeneity in structuring algal communities. This finding highlights the necessity of accounting for spatial variability when designing and analyzing ecological field experiments. From an ecological perspective, these results suggest that sea urchins significantly influence algal communities through grazing, though local environmental factors and patch-specific conditions also play an important role in determining algae cover. This has important implications for ecosystem management, as it indicates that the effects of urchin density manipulations are context-dependent and influenced by local environmental conditions.