Biogeography of Viruses in the Sea Cheryl-Emiliane T. Chow 1 and Curtis A. Suttle 1, 2, 3, 4 1 Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, 2 Department of Botany, and 3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada; email: suttle@science.ubc.ca 4 Integrated Microbial Biodiversity Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada Annu. Rev. Virol. 2015. 2:41–66 First published online as a Review in Advance on August 26, 2015 The Annual Review of Virology is online at virology.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-virology-031413-085540 Copyright c  2015 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved Keywords marine, metacommunity, community ecology, biogeography, phage, NCLDV, RNA virus, metagenomics Abstract Viral ecology is a rapidly progressing area of research, as molecular methods have improved significantly for targeted research on specific populations and whole communities. To interpret and synthesize global viral diversity and distribution, it is feasible to assess whether macroecology concepts can ap- ply to marine viruses. We review how viral and host life history and physical properties can influence viral distribution in light of biogeography and meta- community ecology paradigms. We highlight analytical approaches that can be applied to emerging global data sets and meta-analyses to identify in- dividual taxa with global influence and drivers of emergent properties that influence microbial community structure by drawing on examples across the spectrum of viral taxa, from RNA to ssDNA and dsDNA viruses. 41 Click here to view this article's online features: • Download figures as PPT slides • Navigate linked references • Download citations • Explore related articles • Search keywords ANNUAL REVIEWS Further Annu. Rev. Virol. 2015.2:41-66. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Sun Yat-Sen University on 12/21/16. For personal use only.