France, which has the world's second-largest maritime territory, will sequence the genomes of thousands of species in its waters in order to draw up a "genetic map" to help efforts to conserve its marine biodiversity.
Over eight years, 4,500 plant and animal species will be studied as part of a programme called ATLASea, co-directed by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
