Spatial and Temporal Variability of Prokaryotes, Viruses, and Viral Infections of Prokaryotes in an Alkaline, Hypersaline Lake

1Brum et al (submitted to Aquatic Microbial Ecology) Spatial and Temporal Variability of Prokaryotes, Viruses, and Viral Infections of Prokaryotes in an Alkaline, Hypersaline Lake Jennifer R Brum1*, Grieg F Steward1, Sunny C Jiang2, Robert Jellison3 71 Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA 82Environmental Health, Science and Policy, University of California, Irvine, California 92696, 9USA 103Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA 11 12 13 14 15 16*jbrum@hawaii.edu 1Brum et al (submitted to Aquatic Microbial Ecology) 1ABSTRACT: Mono Lake is a large, alkaline, moderately hypersaline lake containing planktonic 2prokaryotes and viruses at concentrations that are among the highest reported for natural aquatic 3environments We hypothesized that pronounced seasonality in physical and biological forcing and 4strong vertical gradients of chemical, physical, and biological parameters in this meromictic lake would 5result in dramatic temporal and spatial variability in concentrations of viruses and viral infections of 6prokaryotes To test this, we investigated the temporal, vertical, and horizontal variability in hydrography, 7microbial concentrations, and viral infections of prokaryotes at four stations over a 10-month period in 8Mono Lake The infection parameters quantified included the frequency of visibly infected cells (FVIC), 9burst size, intracellular virus diameter, and volume of infected cells Concentrations of chlorophyll a, 10prokaryotes, and viruses in individual samples ranged from 3.311150 µg l-1, 0.10-1.2 x 1011 l-1 and 0.14-1.9 x 1012 l-1, respectively, with the highest concentrations of each 12occurring in the spring For all data combined, concentrations of viruses were significantly correlated 13with concentrations of prokaryotes (r = 0.68, P < 0.001, n = 68), but not with chlorophyll a FVIC ranged 14from