Deployment of heated panels in the Menai Strait: applications to a temperate ecosystem and community analysis of a short-term deployment. DNA barcodes of subtidal communities

In this study, we employed the Ashton et al., (2017) panel design to evaluate the effects of in situ oceanic warming on marine benthic recruitment and community development in a temperate ecosystem, the Menai Strait. Multiple arrays with heated panels (1°C and 2°C above ambient temperature and non-heated) were deployed subtidally in the Menai Strait for a period of 12 months. The effect of temperature on species composition of the assemblage, seasonal effects and on the growth rates of one of the main colonisers, the polychaete Spirobranchus triqueter was assessed.