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[14] [15] Marine viruses, although microscopic and essentially unnoticed by scientists until recently, are the most abundant and diverse biological entities in the ocean. Viruses have an estimated abundance of 10 30 in the ocean, or between 10 6 and 10 11 viruses per millilitre. [4]
Phycodnaviridae is a family of large (100–560 kb) double-stranded DNA viruses that infect marine or freshwater eukaryotic algae. Viruses within this family have a similar morphology, with an icosahedral capsid (polyhedron with 20 faces). As of 2014, there were 33 species in this family, divided among 6 genera.
Microorganisms make up about 70% of the marine biomass. [4] A microorganism, or microbe, is a microscopic organism too small to be recognised adequately with the naked eye. In practice, that includes organisms smaller than about 0.1 mm. [12]: 13
Organic matter produced by autotrophic bacteria is then used to support the upper trophic levels. The hydrothermal vent fluid and the surrounding ocean water is rich in elements such as iron , manganese and various species of sulfur including sulfide , sulfite , sulfate , elemental sulfur from which they can derive energy or nutrients. [ 9 ]
Heterotrophic bacterioplankton are main consumers of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in pelagic marine food webs, including the sunlit upper layers of the ocean. Their sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), together with some recently discovered mechanisms bacteria have evolved to benefit from photosynthetically available radiation (PAR ...
Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, plants, algae, fungi, protists, single-celled microorganisms and associated viruses living in the saline water of marine habitats, either the sea water of marginal seas and oceans, or the brackish water of coastal wetlands, lagoons ...
Cyanophages are viruses that infect cyanobacteria. Cyanophages can be found in both freshwater and marine environments. [145] Marine and freshwater cyanophages have icosahedral heads, which contain double-stranded DNA, attached to a tail by connector proteins. [146] The size of the head and tail vary among species of cyanophages.
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea.Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy.