Species tell you who is in the community. Functional markers describe what that community has the potential to do – for example, produce short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, which are of considerable research interest in gut health. Two people can have quite different species lists and similar functional profiles, or the reverse. Reading function alongside composition usually gets closer to the question a practitioner is actually asking.
What are functional markers, in plain terms?
Learn more about functional markers.
H
Written by Hana