Jet-Suspended Calcite-Ballasted Cyanobacterial Waterwarts in a Desert Spring

摘要

We describe a population of colonial cyanobacteria (waterwarts) that develops as the dominant primary producer in a bottom-fed, O(sub 2)-poor, warm spring in the Cuatro Cienegas karstic region of the Mexican Chihuahuan Desert. The centimeter-sized waterwarts were suspended within a central, conically-shaped, 6-m deep well by upwelling waters.