Heated settlement panels were used to evaluate effects of in situ elevated temperature on marine benthic recruitment and community development in Antarctica over an 18 month period. The water in a thin layer above the panels was either unheated (controls) or set to +1°C or +2°C. After 18 months the transcriptomic response to temperature was evalauated via RNA-Seq for one of the main colonisers, the spirorbid worm Protolaeospira stalagmia.