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12 páginas, 6 figuras, 2 tablas., Batch culture experiments using viral enrichment were conducted to test the response of a coastal bacterial community to autochthonous (i.e., co-existing) or allochthonous riverine viruses. The effects of viral infections on bacterial dynamics and activity were assessed by epifluorescence microscopy and thymidine incorporation, respectively, whereas the effect of viral infection on bacterial community composition was examined by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism 16S ribosomal RNA fingerprinting. The percentages of high nucleic acid-containing cells, evaluated by flow cytometry, were significantly correlated (r 2 =0.91, n=12, p, This work was supported by grants from the French ‘Programme National en Environnement Côtier’ (PNEC, ART 5), the ‘Contrat de Plan Etat Région’ (CPER 2000–2005) and the ‘Conseil Général de Charente-Maritime’ (PhD grant to J.-C. Auguet). EO Casamayor is a ‘Ramon y Cajal’ Fellow supported by project REN 2003-08333 from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) and the European Community. At the final writing period for this work, J.-C. Auguet benefited from a SEUI-MEC Spanish postdoctoral fellowship.