Zostera marina whole genome sequencing
Higher species diversity leads to higher functioning of ecosystems. The same is true within species - higher genetic diversity leads to higher ecosystem function. This is especially relevant for ecosystems whose foundation is dominated by one species, like seagrass meadows. We sequenced genomes from eelgrass (Zostera marina) plants from a previous field experiment to understand which genomic regions contribute to correlations between diversity and ecosystem function. Our results suggest that genomic information increases power to predict assemblage success, insight that can be applied to restoration of foundation species.