Viruses within the ocean floor comprise the greatest fraction of the deep biosphere
Wednesday, January 22, 2014 - 10:00
in Earth & Climate
In the current issue of the Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME Journal, 20.1.2014) scientists from the University of Oldenburg and from the GFZ German Centre for Geosciences show that in deep, old and nutrient-poor marine sediments there are up to 225 times more viruses than microbes. In such extreme habitats viruses make up the largest fraction of living biomass and take over the role as predators in this bizarre ecosystem.