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Helical Orientation — A Novel Mechanism for the Orientation of Microorganisms

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Biological Motion

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Biomathematics ((LNBM,volume 89))

Abstract

This paper describes how helical motion can act both as a strategy for sampling a stimulus field and as a mechanism for orienting to that field. Namely, an organism can orient to a stimulus by pointing its rotational velocity vector towards the source of the stimulus. This is accomplished if the components of the rotational velocity are simple functions of the stimulus intensity. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is presented both from published observations of microorganisms and from experiments in which spermatazoa of the sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata, are tracked in three dimensions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27706, USA

    Hugh C. Crenshaw

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  1. Hugh C. Crenshaw
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung Theoretische Biologie, Universität Bonn, 5300, Bonn, Germany

    Wolfgang Alt

  2. Zoologisches Institut II, Universität Würzburg, 8700, Würzburg, Germany

    Gerhard Hoffmann

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Crenshaw, H.C. (1990). Helical Orientation — A Novel Mechanism for the Orientation of Microorganisms. In: Alt, W., Hoffmann, G. (eds) Biological Motion. Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol 89. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51664-1_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51664-1_26

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-53520-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-51664-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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