Viral predation pressure on coral reefs.
Cynthia B SilveiraAntoni LuqueAndreas F HaasTy N F RoachEmma E GeorgeBen KnowlesMark LittleChristopher J SullivanNatascha S VaronaLinda Wegley KellyRussel BrainardForest RohwerBarbara BaileyPublished in: BMC biology (2023)
The results presented here support the hypothesis that viral predation of bacteria is associated with high coral cover and, thus, coral health and stability. We propose that combined predation pressures from fishes and viruses control energy fluxes, inhibiting the detrimental accumulation of ecosystem energy in the microbial food web.