Evolutionary Ecology of the Viruses of Microorganisms

Ford, BE; Baloh, M; Dennehy, JJ

doi:10.21775/9781910190852.03

Evolutionary Ecology of the Viruses of Microorganisms

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Brian Ford ORCiD

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Abstract

With estimated numbers greater than 10³¹, viruses are the most abundant organisms on the planet, and occupy all habitats: aquatic, atmospheric and terrestrial. No cellular organisms - whether animal, plant or microbe - are free from viral parasitism. Consequently, the effects and influences of viruses are pervasive, directly or indirectly affecting all organisms, populations, communities and ecosystems. Here we consider the evolutionary ecology of the viruses of microorganisms (VoMs) which, due to the abundance of their hosts, outnumber all other types of viruses. Subfields of evolutionary ecology include life history evolution, population biology, biogeography, and community ecology. Like blind men describing an elephant, each approach only describes a facet of VoM evolutionary ecology. Here we describe some of the approaches used to describe VoM evolutionary ecology in hopes that a synthesis will allow some perception of the whole.