Top-Down Controls of Bacterial Metabolism: A Case Study from a Temperate Freshwater Lake Ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: In freshwater environments, limited data exist on the impact of mortality forces (viruses and heterotrophic nanoflagellates) on bacterial growth efficiency (BGE, index of bacterial carbon metabolism) compared to resource availability. An investigation to determine the relative influence of viral lysis and flagellate predation (top-down forces) on BGE was conducted in a mesotrophic freshwater system (Lake Goule, France) with time and space. Viral abundance was significantly (p < 0.001) related to bacterial abundance by a power law function with an exponent less than 1, emphasizing that the increases in host population (bacteria) together with viruses were not proportionate. A lytic viral strategy was evident throughout the study period, with high lysis of the bacterial population (up to 60%

SUBMITTER: Pradeep Ram AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9031129 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature