Science Current Events #1

The article I read is about new viruses that were discovered in Antarctica. A virus is DNA surrounded by a capsule structure. They are parasites, so in order to survive, they must infect the hosts cells. Nearly 10,000 species were discovered, coming from 12 different families, some which were never discovered before. The Antarctic lake is more diverse than many aquatic environments around the world. Weather also has an affect on the viruses. In the winter, when the lake is completely frozen up, there were only small viruses. In the summer, the lake was inhabited by large viruses.
I am surprised. I didn't think Antarctic lakes had such a diverse microbial ecosystem, even if it's just viruses. That would probably explain why there was few animal life in those lakes. If there were a lot of animals, they would most likely be infected by the viruses. This is a good article because it expands my thinking of ecosystems. It makes me realize an ecosystem can simply be just microbial organisms such as viruses.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33676044/ns/technology_and_science-science/