Brussaard Corina P D
Department of Biological Oceanography, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, NL-1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands.
J Eukaryot Microbiol. 2004 Mar-Apr;51(2):125-38. doi: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2004.tb00537.x.
Phytoplankton population dynamics are the result of imbalances between reproduction and losses. Losses include grazing, sinking, and natural mortality. As the importance of microbes in aquatic ecology has been recognized, so has the potential significance of viruses as mortality agents for phytoplankton. The field of algal virus ecology is steadily changing and advancing as new viruses are isolated and new methods are developed for quantifying the impact of viruses on phytoplankton dynamics and diversity. With this development, evidence is accumulating that viruses can control phytoplankton dynamics through reduction of host populations, or by preventing algal host populations from reaching high levels. The identification of highly specific host ranges of viruses is changing our understanding of population dynamics. Viral-mediated mortality may not only affect algal species succession, but may also affect intraspecies succession. Through cellular lysis, viruses indirectly affect the fluxes of energy, nutrients, and organic matter, especially during algal bloom events when biomass is high. Although the importance of viruses is presently recognized, it is apparent that many aspects of viral-mediated mortality of phytoplankton are still poorly understood. It is imperative that future research addresses the mechanisms that regulate virus infectivity, host resistance, genotype richness, abundance, and the fate of viruses over time and space.
浮游植物种群动态是繁殖与损失之间失衡的结果。损失包括捕食、沉降和自然死亡。随着微生物在水生生态中的重要性得到认可，病毒作为浮游植物死亡因子的潜在意义也得到了认可。随着新病毒的分离以及用于量化病毒对浮游植物动态和多样性影响的新方法的开发，藻类病毒生态学领域正在不断变化和发展。随着这一进展，越来越多的证据表明，病毒可以通过减少宿主种群数量或防止藻类宿主种群达到高水平来控制浮游植物动态。病毒高度特异性宿主范围的确定正在改变我们对种群动态的理解。病毒介导的死亡不仅可能影响藻类物种演替，还可能影响种内演替。通过细胞裂解，病毒间接影响能量、营养物质和有机物质的通量，尤其是在生物量较高的藻华事件期间。尽管目前已经认识到病毒的重要性，但显然浮游植物病毒介导的死亡的许多方面仍知之甚少。未来的研究必须解决调节病毒感染性、宿主抗性、基因型丰富度、丰度以及病毒在时间和空间上的归宿的机制。
