Short-term (5-120 sec) transport of cadmium (Cd-109) into cells of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis aquatilis was studied using a rapid filtration technique. The transport was strongly pH-dependent, occurring at pH 7, but not at pH 5.5, and was also observed in long-term (40 min) experiments. For this process the optimum pH was approximately 7.5; uptake was considerably reduced at lower pHs. The entrance of cadmium disturbed photosynthetic activity and related processes. At pH 7, cadmium (8.9 muM) decreased CO2 fixation by about 55%, inhibited carbonic anhydrase activity (completely in intact cells, by 65%, in cell-free extracts) and photosynthetic O2-evolution by about 50%. At pH 5.5 no effects were observed.