Long-term Barnacle Settlement Near Creekbank Plots from the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Fall Marsh Monitoring Program

This data set includes long-term observational data on barnacle recruitment at the creekbank, and across a gradient in salinity and distance to ocean. PVC poles were deployed to passively sample barnacle settlement. Eight poles were deployed between 4-5 meters apart adjacent to the creekbank vegetation monitoring plots at each GCE LTER permanent monitoring site each Fall beginning in 2012. These poles were then collected the following Fall and all barnacle that settled on the poles were identified and counted on 50cm-long sections of the 8, 3/4" diameter PVC poles. Although a few other barnacle species occur within this estuary, only two species settled on poles: Chthamalus fragilis and Balanus spp. Beginning in 2018, Geukensia dimissa and Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) that settled on the poles were also counted and recorded. This data set includes observations from 2013 to 2023 and will be updated annually to include the prior year observations.