Phase diagrams for bloom formation.

<p>A-C: Phase diagrams for bloom formation. Open squares indicate that no bloom were observed within a time window of 24 hour while solid squares show that blooming occurred. The later are color coded with the timescale of bloom formation. For various values of the light intensity (A), initial cell density (B) and nutritional history (i.e relative nutrient concentration in the mother culture -C), 8 values of the salinity (relative BG11 concentration) were tested. D-F: Details of the phase diagrams A-C for fixed values of the salinity. Lowering the light intensity (D) increased the blooming timescale while changing the initial cell density OD₅₈₀ had little effect on this timescale (E). For nutritional history in the range 0.2 − 2X no effect on bloom formation were seen while below 0.2X the blooming timescale increased sharply (F).