kinesis & taxis

Question 1

what is kinesis

Answer 1

undirected orientation movements

Question 2

what is an example of kinesis

Answer 2

paramecium; they move more rapidly and randomly when not near food and slow down when near food

Question 3

what is taxis

Answer 3

directed orientation movements directed with respect to a stimulus

Question 4

what is phototaxis

Answer 4

sensitivity to light

ex: fungus

Question 5

what is phonotaxis

Answer 5

sensitivity to sound

ex: cricket

Question 6

what is chemotaxis

Answer 6

sensitive to food/chemicals

ex: amoeba

Question 7

what is menotaxis

Answer 7

maintaining a constant angle to a stimulus

ex: silk moth

Question 8

how do silk moths use menotaxis

Answer 8

1. initially searching for odor: flies at 90 degrees to wind (menotaxis)
2. finds some odor molecules: flies upwind (positive anemotaxis)
3. loses the odor: flies in a random zigzag (kinesis)
4. high odor concentration: flies up chemical gradient (positive chemotaxis)

Question 9

what is klinotaxis

Answer 9

a side to side motion of the head occurring as an organism moves forward/backward in response to a source of stimulation, caused by the alternating reaction of sensory receptors on either side of the body

Question 10

what is the taxis of a fly maggot

Answer 10

negative phototaxis (away from sun) and klinotaxis

Question 11

what is tropotaxis

Answer 11

taking simultaneous samples from paired receptors

ex: ants using antennae

Question 12

how do bees use olfactory tropotaxis

Answer 12

Y-maze
-control bee 1: normal antenna
correct orientation

-control bee 2: antenna glued, but not crossed
correct orientation

-experimental bee: antenna glued and crossed
incorrect orientation

Question 13

what is the minimum concentration difference that bees can detect

Answer 13

martin: bees turn towards the stronger odor (1.5x difference)

Question 14

what is teleotaxis

Answer 14

goal directed orientation by fixation on a distant stimulus

ex: archerfish, praying mantis, chameleon

Question 15

what is mnemotaxis

Answer 15

landmark orientation, chemical landmarks

ex: salmon

Question 16

what is the difference between kinesis and taxis

Answer 16

a kinesis is composed of undirected movements and a taxis consists of directed movements

Question 17

what is magnetotaxis

Answer 17

orientation with respect to magnetic cues

ex: magnetic bacteria

Question 18

how does earth’s magnetic field affect bacteria

Answer 18

magnetic field has an incline, bacteria when exposed to O2 die so they move deeper into the water using magnetic north pole to avoid O2

Question 19

what is the difference between north and south-orienting bacteria

Answer 19

live bacteria normally swim in a specific direction relative to the field

magnetic bacteria can use both magnetotaxis and chemotaxis to assist them in avoiding high concentrations of oxygen