Name: Honey Grace S.

Bayron
Course & Year: BS Bio 3
Date Performed: August 30, 2016

Execise No. 1

The Reaction of Paramecium to Various Stimuli

Guide Questions:

1. What is kinesia, and how is this different from taxis?

Kinesis is the movement of an organism in response to positive and negative stimulation.
The difference between kinesis and taxis is that with taxis it is the directional locomotion of an
organism in response to the stimulus wherein organisms move away a negative taxis or towards a positive
taxis while kinses is an animals non-directional response to a stimulus in which organisms wont move
towards or away from the stimulus but rather, will show random movements to be in a comfortable piece.
(http://www.revolvy.com/stage/index.php?s=Kinesis%20(biology)&item_type=topic)
( http://wikidiff.com/kinesis/taxis)
( http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-kinesis-and-vs-taxis/)

2. a) In which portions of the upright test tube do Paramecium tend to aggregate. Explain.
Paramecium tend to aggregate at the top portion of the upright test tube. The experiment showed
that Paramecia exhibit a similar negative response to this magnetically simulated gravity environment as
they do in centrifugation experiments. Their self-propulsion is greater when swimming against the simulated
gravity force than when swimming with it. The gravikinetic response is linear from simulated 5 to 5 g and
becomes nonlinear at higher simulated gravities. The gravikinetic factor obtained for the linear regime agrees
with previous centrifugation results When the simulated gravity approaches 10 g, most paramecia orient
antiparallel to the force direction and on average propel without advancing.
(http://www.pnas.org/content/103/35/13051.full)

b) What is geotaxis? Are the Paramecium positively or negatively geotactic.

Geotaxis is a living creature's ability to move by orienting itself by gravitational forces.
Paramecia is said to be negatively geotactic. Paramecia in a test tube tend to place themselves
with the anterior ends directed upward and swim toward the top of the container.

(https://books.google.com.ph/books?
id=JB_pBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=are+the+paramecium+positively+or+negatively+ge
otactic&source=bl&ots=HdSQqrgOR2&sig=ftwp0X_ysFIpKZehMSUOEQXZe24&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0
ahUKEwjC8_qI_PXOAhVEk5QKHcvYAKcQ6AEIRTAI#v=onepage&q=are%20the%20paramecium
%20positively%20or%20negatively%20geotactic&f=false)
c) Is there any other factor which may account for the observed aggregation of Paramecia in the test
tube?
Paramecium exhibits a linear response up to fgm = 5 g, modifying its swimming as it would in the
hypergravity of a centrifuge. Moreover, experiments from fgm = 0 to 5 g show that the response is symmetric,
implying that the regulation of the swimming speed is primarily related to the buoyancy of the cell.
(http://www.pnas.org/content/103/35/13051.full)

3. a) At which half of the petri dish are Paramecium most numerous.

To the side where light did not penetrated much. Specimen of Paramecia were found to respond
visible light. They accumulate themselves in the shaded region (photodispersal) of a half shaded petri dish
during 2 min of exposure to visible light.
(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-1097.1983.tb04494.x/abstract)
b) What is phototaxis? Are the Paramecium negatively or positively phototactic?
Phototaxis is the ability of an organism to move directionally in response to a light source. Yes,
Paramecium are said to be positively photactic but with a certain condition with a light having a
wavelength of 440 nm the velocity was highest, while the frequency was lowest, specimen will not show
photataxis.
(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-1097.1983.tb04494.x/abstract)

c) Could this taxis be demonstrated with the tube in a vertical positioned? Explain.
No, phototaxis cannot be demonstrated in vertical cuvette. In darkness, in the absence of gaseous
gradients, most cells swims straight upwards. While in a horizontal cuvette the transition between positive
and negative phototaxis is found at about 1.5 W m-2 an excess of 30 W m -2 is required to reverse the
upward swimming (due to the combined stimulus of negative gravitaxis and positive phototaxis) in a
vertical cuvette.
(http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF0041528)

d) Distinguish taxis from a tropism.

Taxis is the directional locomotion of an organism in response to the stimulus while tropism is he
turning of an organism in response to a stimulus either towards or away from the stimulus.

4. Describe what happens when the Paramecium bumps against something. Illustrate with arrows the
direction of the movement of Paramecium after it has bumped the thread.
When a Paramecia encounters a strong stimulus may it be chemical or physical and ends up
turning itself to 360 degrees to locate an escape route.

(http://www.ebiomedia.com/the-biology-classics-paramecium-behavior.html)
5. What is thigmotaxis?
Thigmotaxis is an organism's response to the stimulus of contact or touch.

6. What was the reaction of Paramecium to an obstacle in its path? What kind of behavior does it suggest?
Avoidance reaction is the behavior Paramecium possess when it encounters an obstacle. In which
Paramecium moves not only in forward direction but also moves backward whenever it comes across an
object. The animal moves backward and will take a slight turn and moves forward again until its path is
cleared with barriers.
(http://vle.du.ac.in/mod/book/print.php?id=13172&chapterid=28469)
7. What is chemotaxis?
Chemotaxis is characterized as the bacterial movements in response to certain chemicals in their
environment. This movement is often directed towards favorable chemicals or away from favorable
chemicals.
(http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0001251.html)
(https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/textbooks/boundless-microbiologytextbook/microbial-genetics-7/sensing-and-signal-transduction-91/chemotaxis-490-6641/)
8. Does the acid solution cause a positive or negative response in the Paramecium?
Paramecium exhibit positively chemotactic response to acid solutions and it is also according to
(Jennings, 1906; Dryl, 1959, a) as the bacteria tends to create a slightly acid environment around
themselves. Paramecia discharges tiny thread-like objects called trichocysts that can cling to the object to
stabilize its position so that optimal feeding may occur.
(http://www.ebiomedia.com/the-biology-classics-paramecium-behavior.html)
(http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/27465/1/16(4)_P553-563.pdf)