<p>Temporal patterns of biofouling establishment and persistence were investigated at two field sites (Nelson, hereafter NN; Ruakaka Bay, hereafter RK) over a 19-month period between 19 December 2007 and 29 July 2009 (Fletcher et al. data.csv). The RK study site was situated within a fish farm located in New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds region (41°12'40.2"S, 174°08'26.1"E), whereas the NN site was situated approximately 60 km west (41°15'23.7"S 173°16'33.7"E) within a commercial port at Nelson. The RK site was in relatively deep water (c. 30 m depth), while the NN site was shallower (c. 5 m depth) with a large (c. 4 m) tidal exchange.</p><p><br></p><p>Arrays of roughened black Perspex settlement plates (20 x 20 cm; n = 3 plates per array) were deployed from floating structures at each site (steel fish farm pontoons at RK and plastic marina pontoons at NN), with arrays spaced approximately 5 m apart. The settlement plates were positioned horizontally within each array, and configured to ensure they remained at a constant depth (0.5 - 1.5 m) with respect to the water surface. Sampling involved taking photographs of the downward-facing surface of each plate, reflecting the orientation where maximum D. vexillum recruitment occurs [32]. Plate photos were analysed using the random dot method in Coral Point Count software (CPCe v4.1), with 50 stratified random points overlaid on each image. Based on the frequency of occurrence of D. vexillum, other major taxa, bare space, or sediment at each point, percent cover was calculated. A margin of 1 cm around each experimental plate was excluded from analyses to avoid edge effects.</p><p><br></p><p>In a second concurrent study (Fletcher et al. data2.csv), we investigated the establishment and persistence of D. vexillum following exposure of settlement plates to ambient larval recruitment, compared with plates also exposed to larval recruitment, but to which a fragment of colony tissue was also attached. The treatments consisted of 10 blank settlement plates (‘Recruitment’ treatment) and 10 blank plates to which a D. vexillum fragment was attached to the downward-facing side (‘Fragment’ treatment). Hence, whereas all plates were exposed to ambient larval recruitment, half of them were additionally subjected to a single fragment inoculation event. Each fragment was c. 10 cm² in area (c. 20 g) and was secured within the central portion of each plate using two rubber bands. All Fragment plates were photographed and initial fragment size determined using the image analysis software ImageJ. </p
