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- Title
Major viral impact on the functioning of benthic deep-sea ecosystems.
- Authors
Danovaro, Roberto; Dell'Anno, Antonio; Corinaldesi, Cinzia; Magagnini, Mirko; Noble, Rachel; Tamburini, Christian; Weinbauer, Markus
- Abstract
Viruses are the most abundant biological organisms of the world's oceans. Viral infections are a substantial source of mortality in a range of organisms-including autotrophic and heterotrophic plankton-but their impact on the deep ocean and benthic biosphere is completely unknown. Here we report that viral production in deep-sea benthic ecosystems worldwide is extremely high, and that viral infections are responsible for the abatement of 80% of prokaryotic heterotrophic production. Virus-induced prokaryotic mortality increases with increasing water depth, and beneath a depth of 1,000 m nearly all of the prokaryotic heterotrophic production is transformed into organic detritus. The viral shunt, releasing on a global scale approximately 0.37-0.63 gigatonnes of carbon per year, is an essential source of labile organic detritus in the deep-sea ecosystems. This process sustains a high prokaryotic biomass and provides an important contribution to prokaryotic metabolism, allowing the system to cope with the severe organic resource limitation of deep-sea ecosystems. Our results indicate that viruses have an important role in global biogeochemical cycles, in deep-sea metabolism and the overall functioning of the largest ecosystem of our biosphere.
- Publication
Nature, 2008, Vol 454, Issue 7208, p1084
- ISSN
1476-4687
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature07268