Viruses were recognized because the causative agents of fish diseases, like infectious pancreatic necrosis and Oregon sockeye disease, within the early 1960s , and have since been shown to be liable for diseases altogether marine life from bacteria to protists, mollusks, crustaceans, fish and mammals. However, it had been not until the first 1990s that viral infections were discovered to affect marine systems beyond their role as pathogens of plants and animals, and
viruses infecting unicellular organisms like bacteria (i.e., the bacteriophages) and phytoplankton were shown to possess an outsized influence on
ecosystem processes. Since Karl-Heinz Moebus’ pioneering work on bacteriophage isolation and
infection patterns obtained during a transect across the North Atlantic research in marine
viruses has developed into a big and independent research field in marine biology, prompted by the increasing realization of the important and diverse roles of
viruses within the marine
ecosystem the invention that
viruses were the foremost abundant biological entities in oceanic marine environments ,reaching up to 108
viruses mL−1, further stimulated marine
virus research. Technical improvements in detection and enumeration of marine
viruses promoted advances in additional detailed studies of viral abundance and variety at high spatial and temporal resolution. Later, the expansion of
virus research to coral reefs, sediments,the deep biosphere, and freshwater environments emphasized that
viruses are integrated inhabitants of all aquatic environments.
Relevant Topics in General Science
