CIESM Workshop Monographs, n°21:

Ecology of marine viruses
Banyuls (France), 19-22 March 2003, 94 p. (222 ref.)

Less than ten years ago, it was discovered that viruses are at least 1,000 times more abundant in the marine environment than previously thought. This illustrated monograph reviews the fast-growing body of knowledge on these micro-organisms, and in particular their potential impact on Mediterranean biogeochemistry, their influence on bacterial diversity, on food web structure, their relation with anthropogenic impacts, etc. This volume, offering original syntheses on viral dynamics and diversity, and providing a review of key research questions in the field, should prove of high value to many marine scientists.

This volume, fully illustrated and rich in references, is available in print from our on-line bookstore.

You may also download the Executive Summary

This book is protected by international copyright law.

Contents:

I - Executive summary

1 - Introduction
2 - Viral abundance, production and virus-mediated mortality
3 - Viral diversity

II - Workshop communications

Virioplankton as a driving force in biogeochemical cycles and for biodiversity
- Virioplankton and the biological paradigms of the sea.
K. Eric Wommack

- Generic questions in marine microbiology addressed by analysis of simple food web models.
T. Frede Thingstad

- Do viral life cycles correspond to ecological strategies ?
Markus G. Weinbauer

Viral dynamics and their environmental control
- Viruses in aquatic systems: agents of disease and ecosystem impacts.
Rachel T. Noble

- Relationships between viral abundance and environmental factors across diverse aquatic environments.
Núria Guixa-Boixereu and Carlos Pedrós-Alió

- Impact of pollution on marine viruses, benthic viral production and lysogeny.
Roberto Danovaro

Dynamics of bacteriophages: methods and their application
- Bacteriophages of the North Sea – state of the art
Antje Wichels, Meinhard Simon, Thorsten Brinkhoff and Christian Schuett

- Viral regulation of bacterial biodiversity
Denis Mestivier, K.Pakdaman, P.Y.Boelle, J.C.Nicolas and P.Lebaron

- Can we use flow cytometry to analyse the dynamic of virus-host systems ?
Philippe Lebaron, Jean-Claude Nicolas and Anne-Claire Baudoux

Phytoplankton – virus interactions
- Molecular dynamics of viruses in marine ecosystems.
Willie Wilson

- Role of viruses in controlling phytoplankton blooms.
Corina P.D. Brussaard

- Viral diversity and its implications for infection in the sea.
Curtis Suttle

III - bibliographic references

IV - List of participants