Murray, A.G.
CSIRO Division of Marine Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia.
Appropriately used, modelling can be a useful tool for unravelling phytoplankton - virus interactions. The applicability of modelling is assessed for key processes in viral ecology: physical transmission, retention of viability, host defences, behaviour within the host, and ecosystem scale effects. Viral transmission depends on simple physics and is highly suited to modelling. The continued viability of viruses during transmission depends on a variety of environmental factors; models of the effects of individual factors are presented. The potential host’s defences that involve physical effects and ecological interactions are explored. The behaviour of viruses within their hosts depends upon biology, and so is complex; however, information is becoming available and preliminary modelling is practical. Finally, viruses can alter entire ecosystems by diverting fluxes of nutrients between pathways; budgets and simple steady-state models are used to estimate the viral role. In conclusion, many of the individual processes controlling the ecology of phytoplankton viruses can usefully be modelled (to varying degrees). Unfortunately, modelling the dynamic interaction of viruses with host populations is still only of limited practicality.