Are viruses important in the plankton of highly turbid glacier-fed lakes?

ABSTRACT: Viruses are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems where they significantly contribute to microbial mortality. In glacier-fed turbid lakes, however, viruses not only encounter low host abundances, but also a high number of suspended mineral particles introduced by glacier meltwaters. We hypothesized that these particles potentially lead to unspecific adsorption and removal of free virus from the plankton, and thus significantly reduce their abundance in this type of lake. We followed the distribution of free virus-like particles (VLP) during the ice-free season across a turbidity gradient in four alpine lakes including one adjacent clear system where hydrological connectivity to the receding glacier is already lost. In the glacier-fed turbid lakes, VLP abundance increased with distance to the gl

SUBMITTER: Drewes F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4837353 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature