Estimating Virus Production Rates in Aquatic Systems

Review the principles of virus-mediated microbial mortality and how reduction-reoccurrence techniques estimate viral production rates in marine and freshwater environments.

Apply ultrafiltration methods to remove viral particles from seawater, creating a virus-free baseline for subsequent viral production assays.

Execute the reduction phase of the technique by depleting viral populations in the sample, then monitor their reoccurrence to calculate production rates.

Incubate samples under natural environmental conditions to obtain ecologically relevant viral production estimates.

Apply microscopy protocols to quantify viral particles at each timepoint, generating data for production rate calculations.

Analyze results to extract viral turnover rates and discuss implications for microbial mortality in the studied aquatic system.