Effects of nutritional status on cyanobacterial buoyancy, blooms, and dominance, with special reference to inorganic carbon

Evidence from correlative studies suggesting that nutrient deficiency is responsible for cyanobacterial surface blooms is contrasted with evidence from lake and laboratory experiments suggesting that the ability of cyanobacterial populations to monopolize light in the surface layers of stratified water columns depends on the availability of nutrients required for gas-vesicle synthesis as well as for growth. A resolution of the paradoxical roles of inorganic carbon in cyanobacterial buoyancy regulation is advanced and is used to explain the success of different types of cyanobacteria in environments that differ greatly in bicarbonate content.