Taxis is a response towards a stimulus, specifically, a precise, specialized, directed motion, when an organism encounters a certain stimulus. Taxis, are able to be subcategorized, with the direction of the motion in reaction towards the stimulus being the decisive factor, when grouping taxis. Taxis are often categorized in numerous ways, as in terms of the specific response towards a stimulus. For instance, in phototaxis when the response of the organism is to move towards the stimulus, it is considered a positive taxis; meanwhile a response away from the stimulus, it is seen as a negative taxis. An example of this type of taxis, involves dasies, as pictured above, as they will often bend and reach over towards the source of light. Moreover, in menotaxis, is an animal maintaining a constant angle towards a stimulus; tropotaxis is simultaneously receiving signal samples from paired receptors; magnetotaxis involves organisms utilizing the magnetic field of Earth to orient themselves; while mnemotaxis, is “memory movement”, as when salmon swim, they utilize their surroundings to help guide them upstream. And the list continues on and on, as there are numerous taxis, not mentioned like aerotaxis, gravitaxis, thermotaxis, and so on. As can be seen, taxis are quite intriguing and much research can be done in this field, in hopes of gaining an even greater understanding of how organisms react when exposed to certain stimuli, and why.


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