Bacteria Do Not Respond Directly to a Concentration Gradient by Curving

question 7

Essay

Bacteria do not respond directly to a concentration gradient by curving their trajectory toward an attractant; instead, they tumble (randomly switch directions) unless inhibited from doing so. How do larger organisms navigate toward the source of a chemoattractant? With which other sensory system might we expect to see parallels in circuitry organization?

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Definitions:

External Validity

The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people.

Experimental Controls

Refers to conditions that researchers manipulate or maintain constant to determine their effects on the dependent variable in an experiment.

Analogue Designs

Experimental designs used in laboratory settings that aim to replicate aspects of the real world within a controlled environment to test hypotheses about behavior or phenomena.

Extraneous Variables

Variables that can influence the outcome of an experiment but are not the variables being studied, potentially confounding the results.