Includes bibliographical references and index.

Ch. 1. Defining the ecology of viruses -- Ch. 2. An introduction to viral taxonomy and the proposal of Akamara, a potential domain for the genomic acellular agents -- Ch. 3. Virus morphology, replication, and assembly -- Ch. 4. An introduction to the evolutionary ecology of viruses -- Ch. 5. Ecology of bacteriophages in nature -- Ch. 6. Ecological, evolutionary, and geochemical consequences of viral infection of cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae -- Ch. 7. Viruses of fungi and protozoans: is everyone sick? Ch. 8. Ecology of plant viruses, with special reference to whitefly-Transmitted Geminiviruses(WTGs) -- Ch. 9. Viroid diseases of plants -- Ch. 10. Ecology of insect viruses -- Ch. 11. Ecology of viruses of cold-blooded vertebrates -- Ch. 12. Virus cycles in aquatic mammals, poikilotherms, and invertebrates -- Ch. 13. Macroecology and microecology of viruses of terrestrial mammals -- Ch. 14. Relationship between humans and their viruses -- Ch. 15. Impact of avian viruses -- Ch. 16. Prion diseases of humans and animals.