Generalized receptor law governs phototaxis in the phytoplankton Euglena gracilis.

ABSTRACT: Phototaxis, the process through which motile organisms direct their swimming toward or away from light, is implicated in key ecological phenomena (including algal blooms and diel vertical migration) that shape the distribution, diversity, and productivity of phytoplankton and thus energy transfer to higher trophic levels in aquatic ecosystems. Phototaxis also finds important applications in biofuel reactors and microbiopropellers and is argued to serve as a benchmark for the study of biological invasions in heterogeneous environments owing to the ease of generating stochastic light fields. Despite its ecological and technological relevance, an experimentally tested, general theoretical model of phototaxis seems unavailable to date. Here, we present accurate measurements of the behavior of

SUBMITTER: Giometto A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4460502 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature