Temporal Trends of Viral Abundance and Community in an Oligotrophic Coastal System

VIII International Symposium on Marine Sciences, 6-8 July 2022, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, España
Marine viruses, considered the smallest and most abundant (1030) biological entities in the sea, play key roles in controlling microbial communities and modifying global biogeochemical cycles (Lara et al., 2014). Yet, although nowadays their dynamics and distribution are being increasingly explored, little is known about temporal patterns of viral abundance, diversity and community structure (Gasol et al., 2012). In fact, the growing concern about climate change and its impacts make it fundamental to study these trends and their effects in marine ecosystems (Sotomayor et al., 2020). Blanes Bay Microbial Observatory (BBMO) monthly monitored the viral abundance (2005) and community structure (2010) of an oligotrophic coastal system, as well as other environmental and biological factors that could modulate them (Gasol et al., 2012; Lara et al., 2014). To perform this study, several molecular and statistical techniques were used, being RAPDPCR (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) the main one. The time – series results from the last 12 years (2010 – 2021) showed that temperature had a significant tendency to increase, while viral abundance tended to decrease; nevertheless, the latter did not follow any clear seasonal pattern. Furthermore, these results showed that viral communities were mainly correlated with salinity (-), chlorophyll (+), turbidity (-) and photosynthetic protists (+). However, the community structure, represented with a NMDS (Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling), seemed to cluster the populations according to the season. The analyzed data not only contributed to a better understanding of viral communities and their trends in marine oligotrophic systems, but also demonstrated the complexity of their dynamics and structure