Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS41 Diversity in the Plankton: Patterns & Mechanisms at Different Scales (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 4:00:00 PM

Location: Dona Ana

Jiang, S, , University of California, Irvine, USA, sjiang@uci.edu

Steward, G, , University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, gsteward@cats.ucsc.edu

ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF VIRUSES IN AN ALKALINE HYPERSALINE LAKE - MONO LAKE, CALIFORNIA

Mono Lake, CA currently has a salinity nearly 3 times that of the ocean, and a pH ~10. The concentration of virus-like particles is estimated at 1.4E8/ml, more than an order of magnitude greater than the bacterial direct counts (6.4E6/ml) in a surface water sample taken in Dec. 1999. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis analysis of viral concentrates indicates the presence of at least 25 different types of viruses. Genome sizes ranged from ca. 14 to >400 kb with most of the DNA in the 30 to 60 kb size range. Subsequent samples were taken from 5 locations in May 2000 with 8 to 14 depths sampled at each station covering a vertical depth from 2 to 36 meters. The viral abundance ranged from 2.5E8 to over 4.1E8/ml. The virus to bacterium ratios ranged from 7 to 17, averaging 13. No significant correlation between viruses and bacteria was detected (r=0.2). The diversity of the viruses at different depths is currently under investigation. It is expected that different viral community profiles are present at different depths due to the meromictic condition of the lake.

This Session Listing

Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

Quicklinks